Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel
21 April 2021
comments
354 Comments
New research study 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 majority 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.
With no screening of what's can be found in, specialists think it is likewise ripe for fraud.
Used cooking oil imports may improve deforestation
Consumers present 'growing threat' to tropical forests
Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be one of the hardest challenges for governments all over the world.
They've encouraged making use of biofuels as an important methods of curbing carbon from automobiles and trucks.
Biofuels are generally a blend of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or veggies.
The truth that these crops can be re-grown and take in more CO2 indicates they cancel out the carbon given off when utilized in engines.
Soy and palm oil were when extensively utilized as elements of biodiesel however this practice has actually been commonly challenged due to the fact that it encourages deforestation.
So for the last decade or so, making use of used cooking oil has actually expanded massively as an alternative feedstock for fuel.
Chip fat and other waste oils have become an essential part of biodiesel with a reliable market springing up across Europe to gather and process the item.
But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there just isn't sufficient chip fat to go around.
According to a report from the project group Transport & Environment, external, majority of the UCO utilized in Europe is imported.
Their research study suggests this is highly problematic when it concerns effect on the environment.
While UCO is considered a waste product 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 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 countries aren't readily available but the flow of UCO is most likely to be comparable.
With a population of around 33 million, that's close to three litres per head of used oil that's collected and exported to the UK and Ireland alone.
By comparison, Thailand, which has a population of 70 million individuals, handled to gather around five million litres of UCO in 2019.
"Because we are purchasing it, they have less used cooking oil to utilize on the important things that they were formerly utilizing it for," said Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.
"And they're just purchasing more virgin oil which virgin oil is mainly palm oil, because that's the cheapest oil offered.
"So indirectly, we're just encouraging 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 greater than palm oil. The worry is that some unethical traders are merely diluting shipments of UCO with palm.
As oils of different types are blended in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the products is carried out, some experts think fraud is swarming.
The suggestion 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 certification schemes in place.
"It is extensively known that the European Commission has actually taken actions to totally suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," stated Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.
He states a new database being developed by the EU will guarantee that trading, certification and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will have to be registered.
"The combination of revised certification schemes and the pan-EU track and trace database will guarantee that no sustainability issues occur in the entire 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 be effective in stemming suspected fraud.
The report from Transport & Environment mentions that with shipping and aviation wanting to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, demand for UCO could double over the next years.
"Rising the need beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and risks of utilizing 'phony' UCO, potentially leading to indirect effects such as deforestation."
Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.
Related topics
COP26
Paris environment contract
Climate
1
Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel
joellendunning edited this page 2025-01-12 03:54:40 +00:00