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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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

Chip fat and other oils are thought about 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 represent majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any screening of what's coming in, specialists believe it is likewise ripe for scams.

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

They've motivated using biofuels as an important methods of curbing carbon from vehicles and lorries.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were once commonly utilized as components of biodiesel however this practice has actually been commonly discredited since it motivates deforestation.

So for the last decade or two, making use of used cooking oil has actually broadened massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being a key element of biodiesel with a reliable market springing up across Europe to collect and process the item.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year considering that 2014, there simply isn't sufficient 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 study suggests this is extremely troublesome when it concerns impacts 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 individuals in these 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 offered however the flow of UCO is most likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three litres per head of utilized 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 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 things that they were previously utilizing it for," stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

"And they're just buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, since that's the least expensive oil available.

"So indirectly, we're simply motivating more logging in Southeast Asia."

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the cost of UCO is often higher than palm oil. The worry is that some dishonest traders are just watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the materials is performed, some professionals believe fraud is swarming.

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

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

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

"The combination of modified accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability problems develop in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

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

The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and air travel wanting to decarbonise by using biofuels, demand for UCO might double over the next decade.

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and threats of using 'fake' UCO, potentially causing indirect impacts such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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