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 concerns the ecological impact of rising 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 conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.


But such is the need across 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.


Without any screening of what's coming in, professionals believe it is likewise ripe for scams.


Used cooking oil imports might enhance logging


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


They have actually encouraged the usage of biofuels as an important ways of suppressing carbon from automobiles and lorries.


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


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


Soy and palm oil were when extensively utilized as parts of biodiesel but this practice has actually been extensively challenged due to the fact that it motivates logging.


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


Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being a key part of biodiesel with a reliable industry emerging throughout Europe to gather and process the item.


But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year because 2014, there merely isn't sufficient chip fat to go around.


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


Their study recommends this is extremely problematic when it concerns effect on the environment.


While UCO is thought about a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been utilized 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 nations aren't readily available but 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 used oil that's gathered and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.


By comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, managed to collect around five million litres of UCO in 2019.


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


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


"So indirectly, we're just encouraging more deforestation in Southeast Asia."


Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.


Because of demand from Europe, the cost of UCO is often greater than palm oil. The worry is that some unethical traders are merely watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.


As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the materials is performed, some professionals believe scams is swarming.


The suggestion of scams anywhere along the chain of supply is rejected by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who say there are robust accreditation plans in place.


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


He says a brand-new database being established by the EU will ensure that trading, certification and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will have to be signed up.


"The mix of revised accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability concerns occur in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.


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


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


"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and dangers of using 'fake' UCO, possibly resulting in indirect effects such as deforestation."


Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.


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