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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research concerns the environmental effect of increasing imports of used 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 more than half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any testing of what's can be found in, specialists think it is likewise ripe for scams.

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Reducing emissions from transportation is showing to be one of the most difficult challenges for federal governments all over the world.

They've motivated the usage of biofuels as an important methods of suppressing carbon from vehicles and lorries.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were once extensively used as elements of biodiesel but this practice has been commonly rejected due to the fact that it motivates deforestation.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being an essential component of biodiesel with an effective market emerging throughout Europe to collect and process the item.

But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year given 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 research study suggests this is highly problematic when it pertains to effect on the environment.

While UCO is considered 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 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 likely to be similar.

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

By contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, managed to gather around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

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

Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

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

As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no testing of the materials is brought out, some professionals believe scams is rife.

The idea of fraud anywhere along the chain of supply is turned down by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust certification plans in place.

"It is widely known that the European Commission has actually taken appropriate actions to completely 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, certification and sustainability information on all bio-liquids will have to be signed up.

"The mix of modified accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability problems emerge in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

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

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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