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Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research study concerns the ecological effect of increasing imports of used 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 saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the demand across Europe that imports now represent 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 testing of what's being available in, specialists believe it is likewise ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might enhance deforestation

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

They've encouraged making use of biofuels as an essential means of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks.

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

The fact 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 once extensively utilized as components of biodiesel however this practice has actually been commonly challenged due to the fact that it encourages deforestation.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have become a crucial component of biodiesel with an efficient industry emerging across Europe to collect and process the item.

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

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

Their research study suggests this is highly bothersome when it pertains to influence on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been used to feed animals. The report raises the concern 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 nations aren't 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 collected and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.

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

"Because we are buying it, they have less utilized cooking oil to use on the important things that they were previously utilizing it for," said 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 cheapest oil offered.

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

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

Because of need from Europe, the cost of UCO is often higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are simply diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is performed, some specialists think fraud is swarming.

The suggestion of scams anywhere along the chain of supply is declined 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 actually taken appropriate actions to entirely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

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

"The combination of revised accreditation schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability issues develop in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.

Others in the field are concerned that the database idea, which was first mooted in 2018, might not be effective in stemming thought scams.

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

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

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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