Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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

But such is the demand throughout Europe that imports now represent over half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

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

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Reducing emissions from transportation is to be one of the most difficult challenges for governments all over the world.

They've motivated making use of biofuels as a crucial methods of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

Biofuels are typically a blend of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or veggies.

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

Soy and palm oil were once widely used as elements of biodiesel however this practice has actually been extensively discredited because it encourages logging.

So for the last decade approximately, making use of used cooking oil has actually broadened enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being an essential component of biodiesel with an efficient industry springing up throughout 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 enough chip fat to go around.

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

Their research study recommends this is extremely troublesome when it comes to effect on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material 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 offered however the flow of UCO is most likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three litres per head of used oil that's collected and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, 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 things that they were formerly utilizing it for," stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

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

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

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is often higher than palm oil. The worry is that some deceitful traders are merely diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the products is carried out, some specialists think fraud 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 certification schemes in place.

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

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

"The combination of revised accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability issues develop in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

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

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and aviation aiming to decarbonise by using biofuels, demand for UCO could double over the next years.

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and threats of using 'phony' UCO, possibly leading to indirect impacts such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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