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Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the ecological effect of rising imports of utilized 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 across Europe that imports now account for majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any screening of what's coming in, professionals believe it is likewise ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might boost deforestation

Consumers position 'growing threat' to tropical forests

Reducing emissions from transport is proving to be one of the most difficult difficulties for governments all over the world.

They have actually motivated using biofuels as an important means of curbing carbon from cars and trucks and lorries.

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

The fact that these crops can be and soak up more CO2 suggests they cancel out the carbon given off when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as extensively used as elements of biodiesel however this practice has actually been extensively rejected since it encourages deforestation.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being an essential element of biodiesel with a reliable market emerging throughout Europe to gather and process the product.

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

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

Their study suggests this is extremely problematic when it concerns impacts on the environment.

While UCO is thought about a waste product in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the concern of what people 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 nations aren't offered but the circulation of UCO is most likely to be similar.

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

By comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, managed to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're simply purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, because that's the cheapest oil offered.

"So indirectly, we're simply encouraging 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 typically higher than palm oil. The worry 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 screening of the products is performed, some professionals believe scams is swarming.

The idea of fraud anywhere along the chain of supply is rejected by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust accreditation schemes in location.

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

He says a new database being developed by the EU will make sure that trading, accreditation and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.

"The combination of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability problems 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, might not work in stemming thought fraud.

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

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and risks of utilizing 'fake' UCO, potentially leading to indirect impacts such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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