mission-biofuels-sdn.-bhd

Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

remarks

354 Comments

New research questions the environmental impact 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 used to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need across Europe that imports now represent over half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any screening of what's can be found in, experts think it is also ripe for fraud.

Used cooking oil imports might enhance deforestation

present 'growing danger' to tropical forests

Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be among the hardest obstacles for federal governments all over the world.

They've encouraged using biofuels as a crucial ways of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

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 soak up more CO2 suggests they cancel out the carbon released when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as commonly utilized as components of biodiesel however this practice has actually been widely discredited due to the fact that it motivates deforestation.

So for the last years approximately, the usage of utilized cooking oil has actually expanded massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being a crucial element 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 given that 2014, there just isn't enough 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 research study suggests this is highly bothersome when it concerns effect on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the question of what people 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 nations aren't offered but the circulation of UCO is most 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 comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, handled to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're simply buying more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mostly palm oil, since that's the most affordable oil readily available.

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

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The worry is that some unscrupulous traders are simply diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the materials is carried out, some specialists think fraud is swarming.

The recommendation of fraud 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 actually taken appropriate 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 ensure that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The mix of modified accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability issues emerge in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

Others in the field are concerned that the database concept, which was first mooted in 2018, may not be reliable in stemming presumed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and air travel aiming to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO could double over the next years.

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

Related topics

COP26

Paris climate arrangement

Climate