Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research concerns the environmental effect of increasing imports of utilized 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 need across Europe that imports now represent majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any testing of what's being available in, specialists believe it is also ripe for scams.

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Reducing emissions from transportation is showing to be among the most difficult difficulties for governments all over the world.

They've encouraged making use of biofuels as an essential methods of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were once commonly utilized as parts of biodiesel however this practice has actually been widely challenged since it motivates deforestation.

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

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

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

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

Their research study suggests this is extremely problematic when it concerns influence on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has 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 however the flow 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 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 purchasing it, they have less used cooking oil to use on the important things that they were previously using it for," said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

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

"So indirectly, we're simply encouraging more logging in Southeast Asia."

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is frequently higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unethical traders are merely watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the products is performed, some experts think 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 schemes in place.

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

He states a new database being established by the EU will make sure that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be signed up.

"The combination of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability problems emerge 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, may not be efficient in stemming presumed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and air travel wanting to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO might double over the next years.

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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