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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 rising imports of used cooking 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 conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

But such is the need throughout Europe that imports now account for over half of the UCO that's made into fuel.

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

Without any testing of what's being available in, specialists believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.

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

They've encouraged the use of biofuels as a crucial methods of curbing carbon from cars and trucks.

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

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

Soy and palm oil were when widely used as components of biodiesel but this practice has been extensively rejected due to the fact that it encourages logging.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being a crucial part of biodiesel with a reliable market emerging across Europe to gather and process the product.

But with the amount 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 utilized in Europe is imported.

Their research study suggests this is extremely problematic 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 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 offered but the circulation of UCO is likely to be comparable.

With a 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 comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, handled 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 using it for," stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.

"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil and that virgin oil is largely palm oil, since that's the cheapest oil readily available.

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

Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.

Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is often higher than palm oil. The concern is that some unscrupulous traders are merely diluting shipments of UCO with palm.

As oils of various types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is carried out, some professionals think fraud is rife.

The tip 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 location.

"It is commonly understood that the European Commission has actually taken appropriate actions to totally curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

He says a new database being established by the EU will make sure that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.

"The combination of revised certification plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will ensure that no sustainability problems 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 very first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming believed scams.

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and air travel wanting to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO could double over the next years.

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and threats of using 'phony' UCO, possibly leading to indirect effects such as logging."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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