Climate modification: Growing doubts over chip fat biofuel
21 April 2021
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New research study concerns the ecological impact of rising 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 conserves carbon emissions by displacing fossil oil.
But such is the need across Europe that imports now more than half 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 also ripe for fraud.
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Reducing emissions from transport is showing to be among the most difficult difficulties for governments all over the world.
They've encouraged using biofuels as an important ways of curbing carbon from vehicles and lorries.
Biofuels are generally a mix 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 means they counteract the carbon produced when used in engines.
Soy and palm oil were when widely utilized as parts of biodiesel but this practice has been widely rejected because it encourages deforestation.
So for the last years approximately, using used cooking oil has expanded enormously as an alternative feedstock for fuel.
Chip fat and other waste oils have become an essential part of biodiesel with an effective industry springing up across Europe to collect and process the item.
But with the amount of biodiesel made from UCO increasing by around 40% every year since 2014, there just isn't enough chip fat to go around.
According to a report from the campaign group Transport & Environment, external, more than half of the UCO utilized in Europe is imported.
Their research study recommends this is highly troublesome when it comes to influence on the environment.
While UCO is considered a waste material in the UK, in China, Indonesia and Malaysia it has long been utilized to feed animals. The report raises the question of what people 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 however the circulation of UCO is likely to be similar.
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, managed to collect around 5 million litres of UCO in 2019.
"Because we are buying it, they have less utilized cooking oil to utilize on the important things that they were previously using it for," stated Greg Archer with Transport & Environment.
"And they're just buying more virgin oil which virgin oil is largely palm oil, because that's the most inexpensive oil readily available.
"So indirectly, we're simply encouraging more logging in Southeast Asia."
Another major problem with UCO is the suspicion of fraud.
Because of demand from Europe, the cost of UCO is typically higher than palm oil. The concern is that some dishonest traders are just diluting deliveries of UCO with palm.
As oils of various types are mixed in bulk for transportation, and no screening of the materials is carried out, some specialists believe scams is swarming.
The suggestion of scams anywhere along the chain of supply is rejected by the European Waste-to-Advanced Biofuels Association (EWABA), who state there are robust accreditation schemes in location.
"It is commonly known that the European Commission has actually taken pertinent steps to completely suppress unsound market practices in biofuel markets," said Angel Alberdi, EWABA's secretary general.
He says a brand-new database being developed by the EU will make sure that trading, accreditation and sustainability data on all bio-liquids will need to be signed up.
"The mix of revised certification 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 concerned that the database idea, which was first mooted in 2018, may not work in stemming believed fraud.
The report from Transport & Environment explains that with shipping and air travel seeking to decarbonise by utilizing biofuels, need for UCO could double over the next decade.
"Rising the demand beyond sustainable supply levels would increase these issues, and dangers of utilizing 'phony' UCO, possibly leading to indirect impacts such as logging."
Follow Matt on Twitter @mattmcgrathbbc, external.
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Climate Change: Growing Doubts Over Chip Fat Biofuel
Octavio Boyd edited this page 3 weeks ago