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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the environmental impact 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 across Europe that imports now represent over half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

With no testing of what's can be found in, professionals believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports might improve logging

Consumers posture 'growing danger' to tropical forests

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

They have actually encouraged the usage of biofuels as an essential ways of curbing carbon from vehicles and lorries.

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

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

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

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a crucial part of biodiesel with a reliable market emerging across Europe to gather and process the item.

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

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

Their research study recommends this is highly bothersome when it concerns effects 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 countries aren't available however 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 gathered and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, managed to collect 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 previously utilizing it for," stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mostly palm oil, because that's the most affordable oil offered.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

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

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transportation, 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 state there are robust accreditation plans in location.

"It is widely known that the European Commission has actually taken relevant steps to entirely curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He says a brand-new database being developed by the EU will guarantee that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.

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

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

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and aviation seeking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need 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 causing indirect impacts such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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