Climate modification: 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 used to make biodiesel it conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need across Europe that imports now account for majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any testing of what's being available in, specialists believe it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports may enhance logging

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

They have actually encouraged using biofuels as an essential ways of suppressing carbon from vehicles and trucks.

Biofuels are usually a blend of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or vegetables.

The truth that these crops can be re-grown and soak up more CO2 means they counteract the carbon produced when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once extensively used as parts of biodiesel but this practice has been extensively rejected because it encourages deforestation.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being a crucial element of biodiesel with a reliable industry emerging throughout Europe to gather and process the product.

But with the amount of biodiesel 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, more than half of the UCO used in Europe is imported.

Their study suggests this is extremely problematic when it concerns impacts on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the question 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 nations aren't readily available but the circulation of UCO is likely to be comparable.

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

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

"Because we are buying it, they have actually less used cooking oil to utilize on the things that they were previously using it for," stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mostly palm oil, since that's the cheapest oil available.

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

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of need from Europe, the rate of UCO is often higher than palm oil. The concern is that some deceitful traders are merely diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

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

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

"It is extensively known that the European Commission has taken appropriate actions to totally 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 ensure that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The combination of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability concerns arise in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

Others in the field are concerned that the database concept, which was very first mooted in 2018, might not work in stemming believed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and air travel seeking 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 risks of utilizing 'fake' UCO, possibly leading to indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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