Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel

Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the ecological effect of increasing imports of utilized 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 demand throughout Europe that imports now account for more than half of the UCO that’s made into fuel.

According to the study, external, there’s no chance to prove these imports are sustainable.

Without any testing of what’s being available in, experts think it is likewise ripe for fraud.

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Reducing emissions from transportation is showing to be among the hardest difficulties for federal governments all over the world.

They’ve motivated making use of biofuels as an essential methods of curbing carbon from vehicles and lorries.

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

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 implies they counteract the carbon discharged when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were when commonly utilized as parts of biodiesel however this practice has been commonly discredited due to the fact that it encourages logging.

So for the last years or so, making use of utilized cooking oil has expanded massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have become an essential part of biodiesel with an efficient industry emerging 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 merely isn’t enough chip fat to walk around.

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

Their research study recommends this is extremely problematic 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 used to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what individuals in these nations 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 similar.

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 around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

“Because we are buying it, they have actually less utilized cooking oil to use on the things that they were previously utilizing it for,” said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

“And they’re simply purchasing more virgin oil and that virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that’s the least expensive oil available.

“So indirectly, we’re simply encouraging more deforestation in Southeast Asia.”

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of need from Europe, the cost of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The worry is that some unethical traders are simply diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is carried out, some experts believe scams is swarming.

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

“It is widely understood that the European Commission has taken relevant steps to entirely curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets,” stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA’s secretary general.

He states a brand-new database being developed by the EU will make sure that trading, certification and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.

“The mix of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability problems occur in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain,” he informed BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database concept, which was very first mooted in 2018, might not be reliable in stemming believed fraud.

The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and aviation wanting to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO could double over the next decade.

“Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and threats of utilizing ‘fake’ UCO, potentially resulting in indirect impacts such as deforestation.”

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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