Climate modification: over chip fat biofuel

21 April 2021

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New research questions the environmental impact of increasing imports of utilized 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 saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.

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

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

Without any screening of what's coming in, specialists believe it is also ripe for scams.

Used cooking oil imports might improve deforestation

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

They've encouraged using biofuels as a crucial ways of curbing carbon from cars and trucks and trucks.

Biofuels are usually a blend of fossil fuel and oil made from plants or vegetables.

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

Soy and palm oil were when extensively used as elements of biodiesel but this practice has been commonly challenged since it encourages logging.

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

Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being an essential element of biodiesel with an effective 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 considering that 2014, there just isn't adequate chip fat to go around.

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

Their study recommends this is extremely troublesome when it comes to impacts on the environment.

While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has actually long been utilized 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 countries aren't offered however 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 individuals, managed to gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.

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

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

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

Another major issue with UCO is the suspicion of scams.

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

As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transport, and no testing of the materials is brought out, some experts believe fraud is rife.

The suggestion of scams 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 widely understood that the European Commission has actually taken appropriate steps to entirely curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.

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

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

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

The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and air travel aiming to decarbonise by using biofuels, demand for UCO might double over the next decade.

"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and risks of using 'phony' UCO, possibly resulting in indirect effects such as deforestation."

Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.

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