THE AMOUNT OF biofuel blended into petrol and diesel sold at Irish garages surged last year by 26% – driven by government policies aimed at cutting Ireland’s intractably high greenhouse gas emissions from transport.
The increased demand was largely fed with fuels made from “palm oil mill effluent” (POME), a waste product of palm oil production in Malaysia and Indonesia that hasn’t previously been used here in large quantitites.
It’s being blended into diesel for sale at the pumps or sold as “renewable diesel”, also known as hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) – an increasingly popular product for commercial fleets, as companies attempt to reduce their carbon footprint.
Risk of fraud
Concerns have been raised by European governments and within the biofuel industry at home and abroad that cheaper and less environmentally friendly virgin oils (such as virgin palm oil) could be passed off as “advanced” biofuels made from waste oils (in particular POME …