Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel

Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel


21 April 2021


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New research study questions the ecological effect of increasing imports 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 conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.


But such is the need 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 way to show these imports are sustainable.


Without any screening of what's being available in, professionals think it is likewise ripe for scams.


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Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be one of the toughest difficulties for federal governments all over the world.


They have actually encouraged using biofuels as an essential methods of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks and lorries.


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


The fact that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 implies they cancel out the carbon emitted when utilized in engines.


Soy and palm oil were as soon as commonly utilized as components of biodiesel however this practice has actually been extensively challenged due to the fact that it encourages logging.


So for the last years or two, making use of used cooking oil has broadened 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 efficient market springing up across Europe to collect and process the product.


But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year considering that 2014, there simply isn't enough chip fat to go around.


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


Their study suggests this is highly problematic when it concerns effect on the environment.


While UCO is thought about 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 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 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 utilized 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 gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.


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


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


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


Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.


Because of need from Europe, the price of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unethical traders are just watering down shipments of UCO with palm.


As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the materials is carried out, some professionals think fraud is swarming.


The recommendation of fraud anywhere along the chain of supply is turned down by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust certification plans in place.


"It is extensively understood that the European Commission has actually taken appropriate steps to entirely suppress unsound 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 information on all bio-liquids will have to be signed up.


"The mix of modified accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability problems develop in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.


Others in the field are worried that the database concept, which was first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming presumed fraud.


The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and aviation aiming to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO might double over the next decade.


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


Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.


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