Regulations:

Feedstocks of the future

25th September, 2007

The European Bioethanol Fuel Association (eBIO) compares which feedstocks will be most prominent in the biofuels market in years to come.

Renewable energy sources are currently on the very top of the European agenda with a commission's proposal for a comprehensive directive on renewables waiting in the pipeline. As agreed at the European Council Spring summit earlier this year, Europe is heading for a 20% share of energy derived from renewable sources.

For the biofuels sector the European Union (EU) has already politically agreed on a binding target of a minimum of 10% by energy content for 2020 for every single member state. The bioethanol production would have to increase more than tenfold to between 18 and 20 billion litres in 2020 to meet the 10% target. But before the 10% target can be achieved there is still the 5.75% target to be achieved by 2010, with an estimated potential bioethanol need of 11.6 billion litres. Both the 5.75% and 10% target require a boost in production capacity, which is closely linked to the feedstocks used for the bioethanol production in Europe.

Present situation - cereals are leading

In 2006 the EU produced close to 1.6 billion litres of ethanol for fuel. The major share of this was distilled out of cereals, which count for 976 million litres or roughly 61% of total ethanol feedstock. Among the different grains used for the ethanol production, wheat is the most important cereal with a market share of 36%, which equals 580 million litres, followed by rye (243 million litres or 15%). Barley also serves as a feedstock and accounts for 7% (119 million litres) of the total EU production. Maize accounts for only 2% or 34 million litres. Finally, for triticale (a manmade hybrid of rye and wheat) which serves as a marginal feedstock primarily in Germany, the precise volume is difficult to estimate.

Besides the grain-based ethanol production, the upgrading of raw alcohol (mainly wine alcohol) also plays an important role in the European ethanol market. In 2006 it had a share of approximately 353 million litres or roughly 22% of the total production. Sugar beet serves as another ethanol feedstock with 253 million litres (16%) produced from it. Sweden is currently the only country which produces 10 million litres of fuel ethanol out of pulp. In addition to the domestic production the EU-25 (EU member states minus Bulgaria and Romania) imported 233 million litres mainly from Brazil, where sugarcane is traditionally used as a feedstock.

Raw material use by member state

The biggest bioethanol fuel producer in 2006 was Germany with an overall output of 430 million litres. The main feedstock used for the German ethanol production is rye, which accounts for 213 million litres (49.5%) followed by wheat, which accounts for 178 million litres (41.3%). Barley contributes 8% (35 million litres) to the German production followed by triticale (no precise numbers). Wine alcohol is also used as a marginal feedstock with only a 0.9% share of total production. Spain, as the second biggest producer (396 million litres in 2006), mainly processed wheat, which accounted for 227 million litres of the total production (57%), followed by wine alcohol, whose upgrading leads to 85 million litres output of bioethanol. The rest of the Spanish production came from barley with a share of 21% (or 84 million litres).

In 2006, France produced 293 million litres of ethanol and was the only large scale producer of bioethanol coming from sugar beet with an output of 238 million litres (around 81%); sugar beet is traditionally the main feedstock for French production. Although French farmers grow a considerable amount of wheat, only around 50 million litres (17%) of the total output is derived from wheat. The upgrading from wine alcohol accounts for some 5 million litres, which equals less than 2% of the domestic production in France.

Sweden, one of the most advanced consumers of ethanol in the EU, produced roughly 65 million litres domestically with grain as a major feedstock and pulp from trees. Another important feedstock is wine alcohol from Spain, France and Italy. A total of 105 million litres was purchased, of which at least 75 million litres was upgraded in Sweden itself. The remaining demand (for E85 use) is satisfied by imports from Brazil.

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