Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel

Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the environmental 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 used to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the demand across Europe that imports now account for over half of the UCO that’s made into fuel.

According to the research study, external, there’s no other way to prove these imports are sustainable.

Without any screening of what’s can be found in, specialists believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

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

They have actually motivated making use of biofuels as an essential means of suppressing carbon from vehicles and lorries.

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

The fact that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 implies they counteract the carbon discharged when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were when extensively used as elements of biodiesel however this practice has actually been commonly challenged due to the fact that it motivates .

So for the last decade or two, the use of utilized cooking oil has expanded 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 market 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 since 2014, there merely 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 recommends this is highly troublesome when it comes to impacts on the environment.

While UCO is considered 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 individuals 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 countries aren’t offered however the flow of UCO is likely to be similar.

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

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

“And they’re just buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that’s the cheapest oil offered.

“So indirectly, we’re simply motivating more logging in Southeast Asia.”

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the price of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The concern is that some deceitful traders are merely watering down shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the products is carried out, some specialists believe fraud 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 say there are robust certification schemes in place.

“It is extensively known that the European Commission has taken appropriate steps to entirely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets,” said Angel Alberdi, EWABA’s secretary general.

He states a brand-new database being developed by the EU will make sure that trading, accreditation and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.

“The mix of modified accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability problems develop 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 first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming suspected scams.

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

“Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and dangers of using ‘fake’ UCO, possibly resulting in indirect impacts such as logging.”

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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