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Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the environmental 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 used to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the demand across Europe that imports now represent more than half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

With no screening of what's coming in, experts believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports might boost logging

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Reducing emissions from transport is showing to be among the hardest challenges for governments all over the world.

They've encouraged making use of biofuels as an essential methods of suppressing carbon from vehicles and trucks.

Biofuels are typically a mix of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or vegetables.

The truth that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 means they counteract the carbon given off when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as commonly utilized as components of biodiesel but this practice has actually been extensively rejected since it motivates logging.

So for the last decade approximately, the usage of used cooking oil has expanded massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being an essential component of biodiesel with an efficient industry emerging throughout Europe to collect and process the item.

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year considering that 2014, there just isn't enough chip fat to go around.

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

Their research study recommends this is extremely bothersome when it pertains to influence on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what people in these nations are replacing 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 countries aren't available but the flow 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 collected and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

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

"Because we are purchasing it, they have actually 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 just purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, because that's the least expensive oil readily available.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the rate of UCO is frequently higher than palm oil. The concern is that some dishonest traders are merely watering down shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the products is performed, some experts believe scams is rife.

The recommendation of scams anywhere along the chain of supply is declined by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who say there are robust certification schemes in place.

"It is widely known that the European Commission has taken pertinent actions to completely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He states a brand-new database being established by the EU will ensure that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The combination of modified accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability issues develop in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

Others in the field are concerned that the database idea, which was first mooted in 2018, may not be reliable in stemming suspected scams.

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and aviation wanting to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO might double over the next years.

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and threats of utilizing 'fake' UCO, potentially leading to indirect effects such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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