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1 Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel

Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study 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 demand 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 other way 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 enhance logging

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Reducing emissions from transport is proving to be among the hardest difficulties for governments all over the world.

They have actually encouraged making use of biofuels as an important methods of curbing carbon from cars and trucks and .

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

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

Soy and palm oil were once extensively used as components of biodiesel but this practice has actually been widely discredited since it encourages logging.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have become a key part of biodiesel with an efficient industry emerging throughout Europe to gather and process the product.

But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there just isn't enough 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 recommends this is extremely bothersome when it pertains to effects 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 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 countries aren't offered however 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 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 gather around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

"And they're just buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is largely palm oil, because that's the least expensive oil offered.

"So indirectly, we're just motivating more logging in Southeast Asia."

Another significant problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the cost of UCO is typically greater than palm oil. The worry is that some unscrupulous traders are simply diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the materials is performed, some specialists believe scams is rife.

The suggestion 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 schemes in place.

"It is extensively known that the European Commission has taken relevant steps to totally curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

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

"The combination of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability issues develop in the entire 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 work in stemming presumed fraud.

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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