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 used to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.
But such is the need across Europe that imports now represent 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 coming in, specialists think it is also ripe for scams.
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Reducing emissions from transport is proving to be one of the hardest difficulties for governments all over the world.
They have actually motivated the usage of biofuels as a crucial means of curbing carbon from vehicles and trucks.
Biofuels are usually a mix of nonrenewable fuel source 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 released when utilized in engines.
Soy and palm oil were once extensively utilized as parts of biodiesel however this practice has actually been commonly rejected due to the fact that it encourages logging.
So for the last years approximately, the use of used cooking oil has actually expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.
Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a crucial part of biodiesel with an effective 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 because 2014, there merely isn't sufficient chip fat to go around.
According to a report from the project group Transport & Environment, external, over half of the UCO used in Europe is imported.
Their research study recommends this is extremely bothersome when it concerns effects on the environment.
While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the question 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 readily available however the flow of UCO is likely to be comparable.
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 people, handled to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.
"Because we are buying 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 just buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is largely palm oil, because that's the most affordable oil offered.
"So indirectly, we're simply motivating more deforestation in Southeast Asia."
Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.
Because of need from Europe, the price of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The worry is that some unscrupulous traders are merely diluting 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 specialists believe fraud is swarming.
The suggestion 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 actually taken steps to completely curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.
He says a new database being established by the EU will make sure that trading, certification and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.
"The combination of revised certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability problems 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 first mooted in 2018, may not be reliable in stemming believed scams.
The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and air travel looking to decarbonise by using biofuels, need for UCO could double over the next years.
"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and dangers of utilizing 'fake' UCO, possibly causing indirect impacts such as logging."
Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.
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Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel
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