Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the ecological impact of increasing of used cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

Chip fat and other oils are thought about waste, so when they are utilized to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the demand throughout Europe that imports now account for more than half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

With no screening of what's coming in, professionals think it is also ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports might improve deforestation

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Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be among the toughest challenges for governments all over the world.

They have actually motivated using biofuels as an essential ways of curbing carbon from cars and trucks and lorries.

Biofuels are typically a mix of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or vegetables.

The fact 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 been extensively rejected due to the fact that it motivates logging.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being a key element of biodiesel with an efficient industry springing up across Europe to collect and process the item.

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

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

Their research study suggests this is extremely problematic when it pertains to impacts on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste material 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 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 countries 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 3 litres per head of utilized oil that's collected and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

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

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

"And they're just buying more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mostly palm oil, because that's the least expensive oil available.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

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

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transport, and no testing of the materials is performed, some experts believe scams is swarming.

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

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

He states a new database being established by the EU will guarantee that trading, certification and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The combination of revised accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability issues occur 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, might not work in stemming presumed scams.

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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