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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the ecological 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 utilized to make biodiesel it conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the demand throughout Europe that imports now represent over half 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.

Without any screening of what's can be found in, professionals believe it is also ripe for scams.

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Reducing emissions from transport is proving to be one of the toughest difficulties for governments all over the world.

They've encouraged making use of biofuels as an important methods of suppressing carbon from vehicles 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 take in more CO2 means they cancel out the carbon given off when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once commonly used as components of biodiesel but this practice has actually been commonly challenged because it motivates logging.

So for the last years approximately, using used cooking oil has actually broadened massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have become a crucial element of biodiesel with an effective industry springing up across Europe to gather and process the item.

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

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

Their research study recommends this is extremely problematic 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 utilized to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what people 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 nations aren't readily available but the circulation of UCO is likely to be similar.

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 people, managed 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 simply purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is mostly palm oil, since that's the cheapest oil available.

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

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the cost of UCO is typically greater than palm oil. The worry is that some dishonest traders are simply diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transport, and no testing of the products is performed, some specialists believe scams is rife.

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

"It is widely understood that the European Commission has actually taken appropriate actions 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 make sure that trading, accreditation and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will have to be signed up.

"The mix of revised certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability issues arise in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

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

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and aviation aiming to decarbonise by using biofuels, need for UCO could double over the next decade.

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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