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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research concerns the environmental effect 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 saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

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

With no screening of what's being available in, specialists think it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might enhance logging

Consumers position 'growing hazard' to tropical forests

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

They've motivated making use of biofuels as an essential ways of curbing carbon from automobiles and lorries.

Biofuels are usually a mix of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or veggies.

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 suggests they cancel out the carbon discharged when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as commonly used as components of biodiesel but this practice has been commonly rejected because it encourages logging.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a key component of biodiesel with an effective 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 since 2014, there simply isn't sufficient chip fat to walk around.

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

Their study recommends this is extremely problematic when it comes to influence 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 question 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 offered however the circulation of UCO is most 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 comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, handled to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're simply purchasing more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mostly palm oil, since that's the least expensive oil readily available.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the cost of UCO is often higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are just diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the materials is performed, some professionals think fraud is rife.

The idea 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 plans in place.

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

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

"The combination of modified accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability concerns occur in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

Others in the field are concerned that the database concept, which was first mooted in 2018, may not be reliable in stemming suspected fraud.

The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and air travel looking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO might double over the next decade.

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and dangers of utilizing 'phony' UCO, potentially resulting in indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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