Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the environmental impact 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 conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

According to the research study, external, there’s no way to prove these imports are sustainable.

With no testing of what’s being available in, specialists think it is likewise ripe for scams.

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Reducing emissions from transportation is showing to be one of the toughest obstacles for federal governments all over the world.

They’ve motivated using biofuels as an essential ways of suppressing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

Biofuels are usually a mix of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or veggies.

The fact that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 means they counteract the carbon discharged when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were when extensively utilized as components of biodiesel but this practice has actually been widely discredited due to the fact that it encourages deforestation.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being a crucial component of biodiesel with an effective industry springing up throughout Europe to collect and process the product.

But with the amount of made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there simply isn’t sufficient chip fat to walk around.

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

Their research study suggests this is highly bothersome when it comes to effect on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the question of what individuals in these countries 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 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 collected and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

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

“Because we are buying it, they have actually less utilized cooking oil to use on the important things that they were formerly using it for,” said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

“And they’re simply buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, because that’s the least expensive oil available.

“So indirectly, we’re simply encouraging more logging in Southeast Asia.”

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The worry is that some deceitful traders are simply diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the materials is brought out, some professionals think fraud is rife.

The suggestion of fraud anywhere along the chain of supply is rejected by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust certification plans in place.

“It is extensively understood that the European Commission has taken appropriate steps to completely curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets,” stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA’s secretary general.

He says a new database being established by the EU will make sure that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.

“The combination of modified accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability issues arise in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain,” he told BBC News.

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

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and air travel seeking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO could double over the next decade.

“Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and threats of utilizing ‘phony’ UCO, possibly causing indirect effects such as deforestation.”

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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