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Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the ecological effect of increasing imports of utilized 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 need across Europe that imports now account for over half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

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

Used cooking oil imports may increase logging

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

They have actually motivated making use of biofuels as an essential means of suppressing carbon from vehicles and lorries.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were when commonly used as parts of biodiesel but this practice has actually been commonly challenged due to the fact that it encourages logging.

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

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

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year considering that 2014, there just isn't sufficient chip fat to go around.

According to a report from the campaign group Transport & Environment, external, more than half of the UCO used in Europe is imported.

Their study suggests this is highly troublesome when it concerns influence on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, and Malaysia it has actually long been utilized 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 flow 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, managed to gather around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

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

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

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

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the materials is brought out, some experts 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 say there are robust certification schemes in location.

"It is widely known that the European Commission has actually taken pertinent actions to completely curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He says a brand-new database being established by the EU will make sure that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.

"The mix of modified certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability concerns develop in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database concept, which was very first mooted in 2018, may not be effective in stemming suspected fraud.

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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