{"id":272,"date":"2024-02-01T08:50:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-01T07:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"\/?post_type=news&p=272"},"modified":"2024-04-18T10:18:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-18T08:18:31","slug":"is-there-a-future-for-biodiesel-in-europe","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/bdi-bioenergy.com\/de\/news\/is-there-a-future-for-biodiesel-in-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"Is there a future for Biodiesel in Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"\t
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Fachartikel<\/h6>\r\n\r\n\t\t

Is there a future for Biodiesel in Europe?<\/h2>\r\n\t\t\t<\/div>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n\n\n\t
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A comprehensive look at the policy landscape and market opportunities for fatty acid methyl esters in the European Union.<\/h1>\r\n
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The two oil crises in 1973 and 1979\u2014triggered by wars in the Middle East\u2014shocked the Western world. For the first time, Europe in particular realized how dependent it was on energy imports. Drastic events such as queues at petrol stations, empty motorways and mandatory car-free days for car owners worried people greatly at the time.<\/p>\n

At the same time, however, this period could also be considered the birth of biofuels. Many research groups began to focus on the topic of \u201calternative fuels\u201d for internal-combustion engines that could be produced from regional raw-material sources.<\/p>\n

A pioneer in the development of a diesel substitute fuel was Prof. Martin Mittelbach from the Karl-Franzens University in Graz, Austria. In the early 1980s, he produced fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) from vegetable oils in his laboratory, a chemical substance that was very similar to diesel fuel in terms of its combustion properties. Thus began the age of biodiesel. Austria played a pioneering role worldwide in the development of the production and use of biodiesel. The world\u2019s first pilot plant for the production of rapeseed oil-based biodiesel was built in a viticulture school in Styria, Austria. The biodiesel produced there underwent numerous engine tests at the Graz University of Technology to assess its suitability as an alternative diesel fuel. Based on this research, Austria introduced the world\u2019s first state quality standard for biodiesel, and in 1994, buses in the city of Graz began using 100 percent biodiesel as a fuel.<\/p>\n

It was also around this time that the plant-construction company BDI was founded, which developed an industrial process for biodiesel production in close cooperation with Mittelbach and the Graz University of Technology. Since then, BDI has successfully built and commissioned over 40 industrial plants for biodiesel production worldwide and established itself as a technological benchmark for multifeedstock biodiesel production.<\/p>\n

Global biodiesel production increased enormously, especially between 2000 and 2020. In Europe, legal-framework conditions\u2014especially the Renewable Energy Directives (RED I to III)\u2014have led to an average of around 7 percent of diesel-fuel consumption in Europe currently being covered by biodiesel.<\/p>\n

But has this development had the desired effect of reducing greenhouse-gas (GHG) emissions in the transport sector in Europe? Unfortunately, the answer is \u201cno.\u201d The transport sector in the EU27 countries, which is responsible for a third of all GHG emissions, is the only sector in which no reduction in emissions has been achieved since 1991. On the contrary, emissions are still rising sharply.<\/p>\n

The EU Commission has recognized that more drastic measures must therefore be taken in the transport sector in order to achieve the goals of the 2015 climate conference in Paris\u2014namely limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius. In December 2019, the EU Commission presented the Green Deal\u2014its political declaration of intent to make the EU the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The European Climate Law of June 2021 transformed this declaration of intent into a legal obligation for the member states. In July 2021, the EU Commission presented the Fit for 55 action package, which sets out the measures required to drive the necessary change in the EU\u2019s economy, society and industry. Many of the regulations in Fit for 55 directly affect the transport sector.<\/p>\n

In particular, the promotion of the electrification of road transport is expected to bring about the hoped-for reductions in emissions. In addition, restrictions on the authorization of combustion engines are intended to phase out this technology starting in 2035.<\/p>\n

A group of experts from the Dutch Rabobank anticipates a sharp decline in new registrations of vehicles with internal-combustion engines from around the mid-2020s, with a simultaneous increase in electric vehicles (EVs) and a significant rise in plug-in hybrid vehicles. However, such a development would mean that the share of biofuels in road transport would fall drastically starting in the 2030s (see Figure 1).<\/p>\n

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The currently planned legal framework for biofuels within Fit for 55 also offers little potential, particularly for the expansion of biodiesel in road transport.<\/p>\n

The revised version of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED III) contains the following requirements, which will be binding for all member states (see Table 1):<\/p>\n

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The directive sets a common target for the share of renewable energies in EU energy consumption of 42.5 percent by 2030 and encourages the member states to further increase this share to 45 percent by 2030 on a voluntary basis.<\/p>\n

The share of first-generation biofuels based on biomass (e.g., biodiesel from rapeseed oil or ethanol from corn) is limited to a maximum of 7 percent.<\/p>\n

Biofuels produced from used cooking oil (UCO) and animal waste fats (Annex IX, Part B), such as biodiesel, hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) or hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids (HEFA) are limited to a share of 1.7 percent in 2030. This limit can be increased by individual member states with the approval of the EU. For the biodiesel industry, the currently discussed expansion of the range of raw materials in this annex would include the following five raw-material sources:<\/p>\n