mission-biofuels-india-private-ltd

Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

comments

354 Comments

New research concerns the ecological impact of rising imports of used cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.

Chip fat and other oils are considered waste, so when they are utilized to make biodiesel it conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

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

With no screening of what's coming in, professionals think it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might improve logging

Consumers pose 'growing hazard' to tropical forests

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

They have actually motivated making use of biofuels as a crucial means of suppressing carbon from vehicles and trucks.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were when widely utilized as parts of biodiesel but this practice has been widely rejected since it encourages deforestation.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have become a key component of biodiesel with an efficient industry springing up throughout Europe to collect 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 adequate chip fat to go around.

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

Their study recommends this is highly troublesome when it pertains to influence on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste product 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 countries 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 of around 33 million, that's close to three 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, managed to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

"Because we are buying it, they have actually less used 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 purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that's the cheapest oil offered.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is frequently higher than palm oil. The worry is that some deceitful traders are simply watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transport, and no testing of the products is carried out, some professionals believe scams is rife.

The recommendation of scams anywhere along the chain of supply is turned down by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who say there are robust accreditation schemes in location.

"It is extensively known that the European Commission has actually taken relevant actions to entirely curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He states a brand-new database being established by the EU will ensure that trading, accreditation and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will have to be signed up.

"The combination of modified accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability concerns arise in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

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

The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and air travel looking to decarbonise by using biofuels, need for UCO might double over the next decade.

"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and risks of using 'phony' UCO, potentially causing indirect impacts such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

Related subjects

COP26

Paris environment arrangement

Climate