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Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research concerns the environmental effect of rising 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 throughout Europe that imports now account for more than half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

According to the study, external, there's no way to prove these imports are sustainable.

With no testing of what's can be found in, professionals think it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might improve deforestation

Consumers present 'growing risk' to tropical forests

Reducing emissions from transport is proving to be among the toughest obstacles for governments all over the world.

They've motivated making use of biofuels as an important ways of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks and lorries.

Biofuels are usually a mix of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or vegetables.

The fact that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 means they counteract the carbon discharged when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as commonly utilized as parts of biodiesel but this practice has been widely discredited because it encourages deforestation.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have become a key part of biodiesel with an effective industry springing up throughout Europe to collect and process the item.

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year considering that 2014, there merely isn't adequate chip fat to go around.

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

Their study suggests this is highly bothersome when it concerns effect on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the question of what individuals in these countries are replacing the UCO with, when it is exported.

In 2019, 90 million litres of UCO to the UK and Ireland. Figures for their exports to other European nations aren't readily available however the circulation of UCO is likely to be similar.

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, managed to gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

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

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The concern is that some deceitful traders are simply watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the materials is performed, some experts think scams is swarming.

The recommendation of fraud anywhere along the chain of supply is declined by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust certification plans in place.

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

He says a brand-new database being developed by the EU will guarantee that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be signed up.

"The combination of modified certification plans 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 told BBC News.

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

The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and aviation wanting to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO might double over the next decade.

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and risks of using 'phony' UCO, possibly leading to indirect effects such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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