Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the ecological impact of increasing imports of utilized 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 over half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

With no screening of what's can be found in, professionals believe it is also ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports might boost logging

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Reducing emissions from transport is showing to be one of the most difficult difficulties for federal governments all over the world.

They've encouraged the usage of biofuels as an essential ways of suppressing carbon from cars and lorries.

Biofuels are typically 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 suggests they cancel out the carbon produced when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were when extensively utilized as elements of biodiesel but this practice has actually been commonly discredited due to the fact that it motivates logging.

So for the last decade or so, making 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 an essential element of biodiesel with an effective market springing up across Europe to gather and process the product.

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

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

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

While UCO is considered a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been used to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what people in these countries 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 countries aren't available but the circulation of UCO is most likely to be comparable.

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 alone.

By comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, handled to gather around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, because that's the most affordable oil offered.

"So indirectly, we're simply motivating more logging in Southeast Asia."

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the rate of UCO is often greater than palm oil. The worry is that some dishonest traders are merely watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the products is carried out, some professionals believe scams is rife.

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

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

He says a brand-new database being established by the EU will guarantee that trading, accreditation and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.

"The mix of modified certification schemes 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 worried that the database concept, which was very first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming suspected scams.

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and air travel seeking to decarbonise by using biofuels, demand for UCO could double over the next years.

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and risks of using 'phony' UCO, possibly leading to indirect impacts such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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