World Grain - March 2020 - 52

The E.U. has 188 biodiesel plants with a total
production capacity of 21.23 billion liters, of
which only 53% was utilized in 2019..
E.U. SEEKING HIGHER BLENDS
In the E.U., 2020 is a landmark year with several goals
reaching their "due-by" dates, ePURE, the European renewable ethanol group, noted. This is the year E.U. members will need to reach the target of 10% renewable energy in transport under the Renewable Energy Directive.
They will have to determine each country's cap on the use
of crop-based biofuel for the next 10 years.
"The more crop-based biofuels member states incorporate in their transport energy mix this year, the
more they will be able to continue using them over the
next decade as the need to reduce emissions becomes
more urgent," said Emmanuel Desplechin, ePURE
Secretary-General.
So far, only two countries - Finland and Sweden -
have reached the target and two others - Austria and
France - are close to reaching it.
This is also the year when countries are supposed to
meet targets for reducing the greenhouse gas intensity of
fuels under the Fuel Quality Directive, Desplechin said.
A March 2019 report from the European Environment
Agency (EEA), reporting on 2017, showed that many
countries are falling short of the 6% reduction target.
Average GHG intensity of fuels is 3.4% lower than it
was in 2010, but it needed to be at 4% in order to meet
the 2020 goal. Only four of the 22 reporting member
states had reductions equal to or greater than 4% and
Sweden was the only nation that has exceeded the 6%
reduction target for 2020.
"The projected reduction in 2020 is 4.7%, assuming
a constant reduction rate," Desplechin said.
Several nations were adopting E10 usage, including
Denmark, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia, in attempts
to boost the use of renewables. Increasing that to E20,
or a 20% blend, could be one solution in increasing
WRWDOHWKDQROXVDJH0XOWLSOHVWXGLHVRYHUWKHODVW¿YH
years have shown this could be a viable option, according to E4tech Ltd. that was completed for ePURE.
E4tech determined how much ethanol would be
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gasoline usage scenarios. In a low gasoline demand
situation, the market would require a 3.2-billion-liter
increase in the volume supplied as compared to 2017
volumes. In a high demand situation, an increase of
11.5 billion liters would be required.
"Even if all of the ethanol supplied to meet the demand in 2030 was produced from crops, in none of
these scenarios would the estimated crop cap set by
RED II be exceeded (low demand scenario 1.7%, high
demand scenario 3.1%), meaning that the crop cap
52

would not be a barrier to the introduction of E20 to the
E.U. market," E4tech said.
After a dip in 2016, E.U. ethanol production recovered, according to a USDA report, mainly due to
increased domestic consumption. Production is limited by rising prices for corn and wheat, which hurts
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to reach 5.5 billion liters in 2019, up from 5.4 billion
liters a year earlier.
Total E.U. ethanol production capacity, for fuel, industrial and food uses, was estimated at about 9.3 billion liters in 2018. To reach 5.5 billion liters, the required volume of cereals is estimated at 12.2 million
tonnes, or about 6% of total E.U. cereal production.
Feedstock varies by nation but corn dominates, accounting for about 43% of production, according
to ePURE, followed by wheat at 26%, sugar at 21%
and other cereals/cellulose making up the remaining
10%. Wheat is mainly used in Germany, France and
the U.K. while corn is common in central Europe, the
Netherlands and Spain.
Although the E.U. is the world's largest biodiesel
producer, the region has seen its production numbers
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about 75% of the total transport biofuels market in the
E.U., the USDA said. Consumption is driven almost
exclusively by mandates and tax incentives.
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and is expected to drop another 4% in 2019 to 11.1 billion liters. Even though consumption increased, proGXFHUVGLGQRWVHHDEHQH¿WEHFDXVHRILQFUHDVHGLPport and high stocks. In comparison, renewable diesel
production is expected to increase by 8% with two new
plants starting commercial production.
The E.U. has 188 biodiesel plants with a total production capacity of 21.23 billion liters, of which only
53% was utilized in 2019. The region also has 14 reQHZDEOHGLHVHOUH¿QHULHVZLWKDWRWDOFDSDFLW\RIELOlion liters, which is 60% utilized.
"Numerous plants throughout the E.U. are being run
well below full capacity or are shut down," the USDA
said.
Rapeseed oil is the dominant feedstock, accounting
for 39% of total production in 2018, but its share has
continuously decreased since its peak at 72% in 2008.
The USDA said this is partly due to higher use of recycled vegetable oil/used cooking oil and palm oil.
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