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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study questions the environmental impact of increasing imports of utilized 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 conserves 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 show these imports are sustainable.

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

Used cooking oil imports may boost logging

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Reducing emissions from transportation is to be one of the hardest obstacles for governments all over the world.

They've encouraged using biofuels as a crucial ways of suppressing carbon from automobiles and lorries.

Biofuels are usually a mix of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or vegetables.

The truth that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 indicates they counteract the carbon emitted when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were as soon as extensively used as parts of biodiesel but this practice has been extensively rejected because it encourages deforestation.

So for the last years approximately, using used cooking oil has actually expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being a key component of biodiesel with a reliable industry emerging across Europe to gather and process the item.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year because 2014, there just isn't sufficient chip fat to go 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 suggests this is extremely bothersome when it pertains to impacts 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 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 readily available but the flow of UCO is most likely to be comparable.

With a population 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 comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, managed to gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, since that's the least expensive oil available.

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

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

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

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transport, and no testing of the materials is performed, some specialists think 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 understood that the European Commission has taken pertinent steps to totally 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 guarantee that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.

"The mix of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability issues occur in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

Others in the field are worried that the database idea, which was very first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming believed fraud.

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

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and threats of using 'phony' UCO, potentially resulting in indirect impacts such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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