Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel
21 April 2021
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New research questions the environmental effect of rising imports of utilized cooking oil (UCO) into the UK and Europe.
Chip fat and other oils are considered waste, so when they are used to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.
But such is the demand throughout Europe that imports now account for more than half of the UCO that's made into fuel.
According to the study, external, there's no other way to show these are sustainable.
Without any screening of what's can be found in, experts think it is also ripe for fraud.
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Reducing emissions from transport is showing to be among the hardest difficulties for federal governments all over the world.
They've encouraged the usage of biofuels as an essential means of suppressing carbon from cars and trucks and trucks.
Biofuels are typically a blend of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or vegetables.
The truth that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 implies they cancel out the carbon emitted when used in engines.
Soy and palm oil were as soon as commonly utilized as elements of biodiesel but this practice has actually been extensively discredited since it motivates deforestation.
So for the last years or so, making use of used cooking oil has broadened massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.
Chip fat and other waste oils have actually ended up being a crucial element of biodiesel with an effective industry emerging throughout Europe to collect and process the product.
But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there merely isn't enough chip fat to walk 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 problematic 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 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 nations aren't available but 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 collected and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.
By contrast, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million people, handled to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.
"Because we are purchasing it, they have less used cooking oil to use on the things that they were previously utilizing it for," said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.
"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, since that's the most inexpensive oil available.
"So indirectly, we're just encouraging more logging in Southeast Asia."
Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.
Because of demand from Europe, the price of UCO is frequently greater than palm oil. The worry is that some deceitful traders are just watering down deliveries of UCO with palm.
As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is carried out, some professionals 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 say there are robust certification schemes in location.
"It is widely known that the European Commission has taken appropriate actions to entirely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.
He states a new database being established by the EU will guarantee that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be registered.
"The combination of modified certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability problems arise in the whole 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 work in stemming suspected fraud.
The report from Transport & Environment points out that with shipping and aviation looking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO might double over the next decade.
"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and dangers of using 'fake' UCO, possibly causing indirect effects such as logging."
Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.
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Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel
Jenny Slaton edited this page 2025-01-12 02:22:06 -05:00