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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research 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 utilized to make biodiesel it conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need throughout Europe that imports now account for majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

With no testing of what's coming in, specialists think it is also ripe for fraud.

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

They have actually motivated using biofuels as an essential methods of suppressing carbon from vehicles and trucks.

Biofuels are generally a blend of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or vegetables.

The fact that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 indicates they cancel out the carbon released when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as widely used as parts of biodiesel but this practice has actually been commonly rejected since it motivates deforestation.

So for the last decade approximately, making use of used cooking oil has actually broadened enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have become a crucial component of biodiesel with an effective industry emerging throughout Europe to collect and process the item.

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year given that 2014, there merely isn't sufficient chip fat to walk 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 comes to influence 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 concern of what individuals 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 likely to be comparable.

With a population of around 33 million, that's close to 3 litres per head of used oil that's gathered and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

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

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

"And they're just buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mostly palm oil, because that's the most affordable oil readily available.

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

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of need from Europe, the cost of UCO is often higher than palm oil. The worry is that some unscrupulous traders are merely watering down shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is performed, some specialists believe scams is swarming.

The suggestion of fraud 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 known that the European Commission has taken pertinent steps to completely suppress unsound market practices 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, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be signed up.

"The mix of modified accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability problems develop 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 very first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming thought fraud.

The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and aviation seeking to decarbonise by using biofuels, need for UCO might double over the next years.

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and dangers of using 'phony' UCO, potentially resulting in indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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