Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the ecological effect 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 conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the demand throughout Europe that imports now represent majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

With no testing of what's coming in, specialists believe it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports may boost logging

Consumers posture 'growing risk' to tropical forests

Reducing emissions from transport is proving to be one of the most difficult obstacles for governments all over the world.

They've motivated the usage of biofuels as an essential means of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks and lorries.

Biofuels are usually a blend of fossil fuel 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 used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as widely used as parts of biodiesel however this practice has been commonly challenged due to the fact that it encourages deforestation.

So for the last decade approximately, making use of used cooking oil has expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being an essential part of biodiesel with an effective market springing up throughout Europe to collect and process the product.

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year because 2014, there just isn't enough 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 study suggests this is extremely troublesome when it comes to impacts on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been used 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, 90 million litres of UCO to the UK and Ireland. Figures for their exports to other European countries aren't available however the flow of UCO is 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 Ireland alone.

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

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

"And they're just buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, since that's the least expensive oil available.

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

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

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

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the products is brought out, some experts believe scams is swarming.

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 certification plans in location.

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

He says a brand-new database being developed by the EU will ensure that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The mix of revised accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability problems emerge 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 reliable in stemming believed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and aviation wanting to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO might double over the next years.

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and risks of utilizing 'fake' UCO, potentially causing indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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