Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the ecological effect of rising imports of used cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

Chip fat and other oils are considered waste, so when they are utilized to make biodiesel it conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need throughout Europe that imports now represent majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

According to the research study, external, there's no other way to show these imports are sustainable.

With no testing of what's coming in, professionals believe it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might increase deforestation

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Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be one of the hardest challenges for federal governments all over the world.

They've motivated making use of biofuels as a crucial methods of curbing carbon from vehicles and lorries.

Biofuels are usually a mix of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or vegetables.

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and soak up more CO2 means they cancel out the carbon given off when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as widely utilized as components of biodiesel however this practice has actually been commonly discredited since it motivates deforestation.

So for the last decade or two, the use of used cooking oil has actually broadened massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being a key part of biodiesel with a reliable industry springing up across Europe to gather and process the item.

But with the quantity of made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year considering that 2014, there merely isn't adequate chip fat to walk around.

According to a report from the project group Transport & Environment, external, over half of the UCO utilized in Europe is imported.

Their research study recommends this is extremely problematic when it concerns effects on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been used to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what individuals in these nations are changing the UCO with, when it is exported.

In 2019, Malaysia exported 90 million litres of UCO to the UK and Ireland. Figures for their exports to other European nations aren't available however the circulation of UCO is most likely to be similar.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 litres per head of used oil that's gathered and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, handled to collect around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

"Because we are purchasing it, they have less utilized cooking oil to utilize on the important things that they were formerly utilizing it for," said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

"And they're simply buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mostly palm oil, since that's the cheapest oil readily available.

"So indirectly, we're just motivating more deforestation in Southeast Asia."

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the cost of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unethical traders are merely diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is performed, some specialists think fraud is rife.

The idea of scams anywhere along the chain of supply is rejected by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust certification schemes in location.

"It is widely known that the European Commission has taken relevant steps to totally curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He states a new database being established by the EU will ensure that trading, accreditation and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.

"The combination of revised certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability concerns develop in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database concept, which was very first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming believed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and air travel wanting to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO might double over the next decade.

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and threats of using 'phony' UCO, potentially resulting in indirect impacts such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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