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Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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

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

Without any screening of what's can be found in, specialists believe it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might improve deforestation

Consumers position 'growing hazard' to tropical forests

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

They've motivated making use of biofuels as an essential ways of suppressing carbon from vehicles and lorries.

Biofuels are generally a mix of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or veggies.

The reality that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 suggests they cancel out the carbon emitted when used in engines.

Soy and palm oil were when extensively used as elements of biodiesel however this practice has actually been commonly challenged because it motivates deforestation.

So for the last decade approximately, using utilized cooking oil has broadened massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being a key element of biodiesel with an efficient market springing up across 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 adequate chip fat to walk around.

According to a report from the project group Transport & Environment, external, majority of the UCO used in Europe is imported.

Their study suggests this is extremely problematic 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 actually long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what people in these nations are changing 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 available but 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 used oil that's collected and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

By comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, handled to gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil and that virgin oil is mainly palm oil, because that's the cheapest oil available.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of need from Europe, the rate of UCO is often higher than palm oil. The worry is that some dishonest traders are merely diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no testing of the products is carried out, some professionals think fraud is rife.

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

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

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

"The combination of revised certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability issues 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 presumed scams.

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

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and threats of utilizing 'phony' UCO, potentially causing indirect effects such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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