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1 Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel

Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the ecological impact of rising 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 saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the demand throughout Europe that imports now account for more than half 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 of what's coming in, experts believe it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports may enhance logging

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Reducing emissions from transportation is showing to be among the hardest challenges for federal governments all over the world.

They've motivated using biofuels as an important methods of suppressing carbon from vehicles and trucks.

Biofuels are normally 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 counteract the carbon emitted when utilized in engines.

Soy and palm oil were once commonly utilized as parts of biodiesel however this practice has actually been extensively challenged since it motivates deforestation.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being a key part of biodiesel with a reliable market emerging throughout Europe to gather and process the item.

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

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

Their research study suggests this is extremely problematic 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 question of what individuals 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 countries 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 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 people, managed to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

"Because we are purchasing it, they have 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 and that virgin oil is mostly palm oil, since that's the most inexpensive oil offered.

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of need from Europe, the rate of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The worry is that some dishonest traders are simply watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of different types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the products is performed, some specialists believe fraud is swarming.

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 plans in place.

"It is commonly known that the European Commission has taken appropriate steps to completely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

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

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

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

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and dangers of utilizing 'phony' UCO, possibly causing indirect effects such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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