Climate change: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel
21 April 2021
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New research concerns the ecological effect of increasing imports of used 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 need throughout Europe that imports now for over half of the UCO that's made into fuel.
According to the study, external, there's no way to prove these imports are sustainable.
With no testing of what's coming in, professionals think it is also ripe for fraud.
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Reducing emissions from transportation is proving to be among the toughest obstacles for federal governments all over the world.
They've motivated making use of biofuels as an important ways of curbing carbon from cars and trucks.
Biofuels are typically a blend of nonrenewable fuel source and oil made from plants or veggies.
The reality that these crops can be re-grown and soak up more CO2 suggests they cancel out the carbon emitted when used in engines.
Soy and palm oil were as soon as widely utilized as parts of biodiesel but this practice has actually been commonly challenged because it motivates deforestation.
So for the last decade or two, using utilized cooking oil has broadened enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.
Chip fat and other waste oils have actually become a crucial component of biodiesel with an efficient market emerging across Europe to collect and process the item.
But with the quantity of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there merely isn't sufficient chip fat to go around.
According to a report from the project group Transport & Environment, external, over half of the UCO used in Europe is imported.
Their study suggests this is highly problematic when it comes to impacts 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 people 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 nations 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 3 litres per head of utilized oil that's collected 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 used cooking oil to use on the things that they were previously utilizing it for," stated 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 readily available.
"So indirectly, we're simply motivating more deforestation in Southeast Asia."
Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of scams.
Because of need from Europe, the price of UCO is often greater than palm oil. The worry is that some deceitful 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 materials is performed, some specialists 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 place.
"It is widely understood that the European Commission has actually taken relevant steps to completely curb unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.
He states a new database being developed by the EU will guarantee that trading, accreditation and sustainability information 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 ensure that no sustainability concerns develop in the entire biofuels and bio-liquids supply chain," he informed BBC News.
Others in the field are concerned that the database concept, which was very first mooted in 2018, might not work in stemming presumed scams.
The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and aviation seeking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO could double over the next years.
"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these concerns, and dangers of utilizing 'phony' UCO, possibly leading to indirect effects such as logging."
Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.
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Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel
Vern Behan edited this page 2025-01-11 08:14:50 -06:00