mission-biofuels-india-private-ltd

Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

remarks

354 Comments

New research questions the environmental effect 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 conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

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

Without any testing of what's can be found in, professionals believe it is likewise ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might improve deforestation

Consumers present 'growing threat' to tropical forests

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

They have actually motivated the use of biofuels as a crucial ways of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

Biofuels are typically a mix of fossil fuel 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 released when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as extensively used as components of biodiesel but this practice has been extensively challenged because it motivates deforestation.

So for the last years 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 an essential part of biodiesel with an effective industry emerging throughout Europe to collect and process the product.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there merely isn't enough 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 recommends this is extremely troublesome when it comes to impacts on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually 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 readily available however the flow of UCO is likely to be similar.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 litres per head of utilized oil that's collected and exported to the UK and alone.

By contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, managed to gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're simply purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that's the least expensive oil offered.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

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

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the products is performed, some experts think fraud is swarming.

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

"It is extensively understood that the European Commission has taken relevant steps to entirely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He says a brand-new database being established by the EU will make sure that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.

"The combination of revised accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability concerns arise in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.

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

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

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and dangers of utilizing 'fake' UCO, potentially causing indirect impacts such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

Related topics

COP26

Paris environment contract

Climate