Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel
21 April 2021
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New research concerns the ecological 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 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 transport is proving to be among the toughest difficulties for governments all over the world.
They have actually motivated making use of biofuels as an essential means of suppressing carbon from automobiles and lorries.
Biofuels are generally a mix of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or vegetables.
The fact that these crops can be re-grown and soak up more CO2 indicates they counteract the carbon discharged when utilized in engines.
Soy and palm oil were once extensively used as elements of biodiesel but this practice has actually been extensively discredited since it motivates deforestation.
So for the last decade approximately, making use of used cooking oil has expanded massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.
Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a crucial component of biodiesel with a reliable industry emerging across Europe to collect and process the product.
But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year considering that 2014, there just isn't adequate 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 problematic when it concerns influence 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 question 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 nations aren't available however the circulation of UCO is likely to be comparable.
With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three litres per head of used oil that's gathered and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.
By contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, handled to gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.
"Because we are purchasing it, they have less used cooking oil to use on the important things that they were formerly using it for," stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.
"And they're simply purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, because that's the most affordable oil offered.
"So indirectly, we're simply encouraging more logging in Southeast Asia."
Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.
Because of need from Europe, the cost of UCO is often higher than palm oil. The worry is that some dishonest traders are simply watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.
As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the products is performed, some professionals believe scams is rife.
The recommendation of scams anywhere along the chain of supply is declined by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who say there are robust certification plans in location.
"It is extensively known that the European Commission has actually taken relevant steps to totally suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.
He states a new database being developed by the EU will ensure that trading, accreditation and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.
"The mix of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability concerns emerge in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.
Others in the field are concerned that the database idea, which was first mooted in 2018, might not be reliable in stemming thought scams.
The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and aviation looking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO could double over the next years.
"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and threats of using 'phony' UCO, potentially causing indirect impacts such as deforestation."
Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.
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