Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research concerns the ecological impact of increasing 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 saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the demand across 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 prove these imports are sustainable.

With no screening of what's can be found in, experts believe it is likewise ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports may increase 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 the usage of biofuels as a crucial ways of suppressing carbon from automobiles and lorries.

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

The truth that these crops can be re-grown and soak up more CO2 implies they cancel out the carbon emitted when used in engines.

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

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being an essential element of biodiesel with an effective industry springing up across Europe to gather and process the product.

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year because 2014, there merely isn't adequate chip fat to go around.

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

Their research study suggests this is highly problematic when it pertains to effects 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 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 readily available but the flow of UCO is most likely to be comparable.

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

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

"Because we are purchasing it, they have actually less used cooking oil to use 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 largely palm oil, since that's the cheapest oil offered.

"So indirectly, we're just motivating 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 often greater than palm oil. The worry is that some unscrupulous traders are merely watering down shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is brought out, some professionals think fraud is rife.

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

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

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

"The combination of revised accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability concerns emerge in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database idea, which was very first mooted in 2018, may not be effective in stemming presumed fraud.

The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and aviation seeking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO could double over the next years.

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and risks of utilizing 'fake' UCO, potentially resulting in indirect impacts such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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