Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel
21 April 2021
comments
354 Comments
New research study questions the ecological effect 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 demand across Europe that imports now represent over 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 likewise ripe for fraud.
Used cooking oil imports may enhance deforestation
Consumers pose 'growing threat' to tropical forests
Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be one of the toughest challenges for governments all over the world.
They've motivated making use of biofuels as an important ways of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks.
Biofuels are typically a mix of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or veggies.
The fact that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 indicates they cancel out the carbon discharged when used in engines.
Soy and palm oil were when commonly used as parts of biodiesel but this practice has actually been extensively challenged because it motivates logging.
So for the last decade approximately, making use of utilized cooking oil has expanded 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 throughout Europe to collect and process the product.
But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year considering that 2014, there merely isn't sufficient chip fat to walk 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 recommends this is highly troublesome when it concerns effect on the environment.
While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been used to feed animals. The report raises the concern 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 circulation of UCO is most likely to be similar.
With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three litres per head of utilized oil that's gathered 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 used cooking oil to utilize on the things that they were previously utilizing it for," said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.
"And they're simply buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mostly palm oil, since that's the most inexpensive oil offered.
"So indirectly, we're just motivating more logging in Southeast Asia."
Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.
Because of need from Europe, the rate of UCO is often greater than palm oil. The concern is that some dishonest traders are merely diluting shipments of UCO with palm.
As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the products is performed, some specialists believe fraud is rife.
The recommendation of scams anywhere along the chain of supply is rejected by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust certification plans in place.
"It is widely understood that the European Commission has actually taken relevant actions to completely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.
He states a new database being established by the EU will ensure that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.
"The combination of revised accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability issues emerge in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he told BBC News.
Others in the field are concerned that the database idea, which was first mooted in 2018, might not be reliable in stemming thought scams.
The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and air travel looking 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 dangers of using 'fake' UCO, potentially causing indirect effects such as logging."
Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.
Related subjects
COP26
Paris climate agreement
Climate
