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Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel

Gina Learmonth edited this page 2025-01-12 10:14:21 +00:00

Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the environmental impact of rising imports of utilized 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 conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need throughout Europe that imports now account for majority 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 coming in, specialists believe it is likewise ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports may boost deforestation

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

They've motivated using biofuels as a crucial means of curbing carbon from cars and lorries.

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

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

Soy and were when commonly utilized as components of biodiesel however this practice has been widely discredited since it encourages deforestation.

So for the last decade or so, making use of utilized cooking oil has actually broadened enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

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

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there simply isn't adequate chip fat to walk around.

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

Their research study suggests 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 used to feed animals. The report raises the concern 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 countries aren't readily available however the flow 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 people, managed to collect around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

"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 price of UCO is typically greater than palm oil. The worry is that some dishonest traders are merely diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no testing of the products is brought out, some experts think fraud is rife.

The recommendation of fraud anywhere along the chain of supply is rejected by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust accreditation schemes in location.

"It is widely known that the European Commission has taken pertinent actions to entirely curb 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, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.

"The combination of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability issues emerge 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 work in stemming presumed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and air travel looking to decarbonise by using biofuels, need for UCO might double over the next years.

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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