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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the ecological effect of increasing 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 throughout Europe that imports now represent majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

With no screening of what's being available in, experts believe it is also ripe for scams.

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Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be among the most difficult difficulties for federal governments all over the world.

They've encouraged the use of biofuels as an important ways of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.

Biofuels are generally a blend of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or veggies.

The truth that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 implies they cancel out the carbon discharged when utilized in engines.

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

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being an essential part of biodiesel with an effective market emerging across Europe to gather and process the item.

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, over half of the UCO utilized in Europe is imported.

Their research study recommends this is extremely troublesome when it pertains to 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 used 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, Malaysia exported 90 million litres of UCO to the UK and Ireland. Figures for their exports to other European countries aren't readily available but 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 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 five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that's the cheapest oil readily available.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the cost of UCO is often greater than palm oil. The concern is that some unethical traders are just watering down shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the materials is brought out, some experts think scams 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 schemes in place.

"It is known that the European Commission has actually taken relevant actions 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 make sure that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The mix of revised accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability issues emerge 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, may not work in stemming presumed scams.

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

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and dangers of using 'fake' UCO, potentially causing indirect impacts such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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