Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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

But such is the need throughout 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 chance to prove these imports are sustainable.

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

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

They've motivated the use of biofuels as an essential means of curbing carbon from cars and lorries.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were when extensively used as components of biodiesel however this practice has been widely rejected because it encourages logging.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a crucial component of biodiesel with an efficient industry springing up across Europe to gather and process the product.

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

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

Their study recommends this is highly troublesome when it comes to influence on the environment.

While UCO is considered 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 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 circulation of UCO is likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 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 gather around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

"Because we are buying it, they have actually less used cooking oil to utilize on the things that they were formerly using it for," stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

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

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

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

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the products is performed, some specialists believe scams is rife.

The recommendation 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 plans in location.

"It is widely 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 brand-new database being developed by the EU will guarantee that trading, certification and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.

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

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

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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