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Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the environmental effect of rising imports of used cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

Chip fat and other oils are considered waste, so when they are used to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need throughout Europe that imports now for more than half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

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

Used cooking oil imports might enhance logging

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Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be among the hardest challenges for governments all over the world.

They have actually motivated making use of biofuels as an essential means of curbing carbon from cars and lorries.

Biofuels are generally a blend of nonrenewable fuel source 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 emitted when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once commonly used as parts of biodiesel but this practice has been widely discredited since it motivates 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 part of biodiesel with a reliable market emerging across 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 just isn't sufficient chip fat to go around.

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

Their study suggests this is highly bothersome when it pertains to effects on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been used to feed animals. The report raises the question of what people 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 available but the circulation of UCO is most 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 individuals, handled to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

"So indirectly, we're just motivating more deforestation in Southeast Asia."

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

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

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the products is carried out, some professionals believe scams is swarming.

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

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

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

"The combination of modified certification plans 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, might not be reliable in stemming presumed fraud.

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

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and dangers of utilizing 'phony' UCO, potentially resulting in indirect impacts such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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