Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel
21 April 2021
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New research the environmental impact 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 utilized to make biodiesel it saves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.
But such is the demand throughout Europe that imports now account for majority of the UCO that's made into fuel.
According to the research study, external, there's no other way to prove these imports are sustainable.
With no screening of what's coming in, specialists believe it is likewise ripe for fraud.
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Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be one of the toughest difficulties for governments all over the world.
They've motivated making use of biofuels as an important ways of curbing carbon from cars and lorries.
Biofuels are generally a blend of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or vegetables.
The truth that these crops can be re-grown and absorb more CO2 means they cancel out the carbon released when used in engines.
Soy and palm oil were once extensively used as elements of biodiesel but this practice has been widely challenged due to the fact that it encourages logging.
So for the last decade or two, using utilized cooking oil has actually expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.
Chip fat and other waste oils have ended up being a key element of biodiesel with a reliable 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 adequate chip fat to walk around.
According to a report from the project group Transport & Environment, external, majority of the UCO utilized in Europe is imported.
Their study recommends this is extremely problematic when it pertains to influence on the environment.
While UCO is thought about 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 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 readily available however the flow of UCO is 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 people, 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 things that they were formerly 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, because that's the most affordable oil offered.
"So indirectly, we're just encouraging more deforestation in Southeast Asia."
Another significant issue with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.
Because of demand from Europe, the rate 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 mixed in bulk for transport, and no screening of the products is brought out, some specialists believe scams is rife.
The recommendation 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 accreditation schemes in location.
"It is commonly understood that the European Commission has actually taken pertinent steps 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 guarantee that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be signed up.
"The combination of modified accreditation plans and the pan-EU track and trace database will make sure that no sustainability problems emerge in the whole biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.
Others in the field are concerned that the database concept, which was first mooted in 2018, might not be effective in stemming suspected scams.
The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and air travel seeking 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 leading to indirect effects such as logging."
Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.
Related subjects
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Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel
Margarita Wirth edited this page 3 months ago