Bioethanol has long established itself as the world’s No. 1 biofuel and the bioethanol market has continued to grow rapidly in recent years. The increasing use of bioethanol as a replacement for fossil fuels has already been pushed for years in Brazil and the USA. In the EU, it was only in 2003, with the adoption of the Biofuel Directive, that the framework conditions were created for European bioethanol production. They were adapted in 2009 with the adoption of the Renewable Energies Directive. Against the background of the present regulations on biofuels in the EU, market researchers predict a dynamic growth of the European bioethanol market.

Thanks to its excellent positioning CropEnergies is well prepared for the strong growth of the bioethanol market in Europe and will be one of the companies to take a major share in it. Together with its subsidiaries in Germany, France and Belgium, CropEnergies AG has expanded its annual production capacities to over 700,000 m³ of bioethanol at the end of 2008.

Of the approximately 90 million m³ of ethanol produced worldwide in 2009, over eighty percent (73 million m³) was used in fuel applications. World leader in the production of bioethanol is the USA with 40.6 million m³, followed by Brazil with 23.9 million m³.

In the USA, bioethanol is mainly used as a 10% petrol additive. In Brazil, it is offered both as a pure fuel (E100) and is blended with conventional petrol with a content of 20 to 25 vol.-%. Roughly 90% of the new vehicle registrations in Brazil are Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) which can run on regular petrol, bioethanol or a mixture of both.

As a result of the Biofuels Directive of 2003, both the use and the production of bioethanol have been rising steadily in the EU.

In 2004, approximately 528,000 m³ of bioethanol was produced in Europe. By 2009, the production of bioethanol for fuel applications had already reached 3.6 million m³. Roughly 20% of that was produced in Germany. With the further implementation of the Renewable Energies Directive, which provides for a mandatory biofuel quota of 10% for the year 2020, the demand for bioethanol is expected to rise strongly in the countries in the EU. It is estimated that it will total around 20 million m³ in the year 2020.

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Renewable Energies Directive (PDF, 1.28 MB)

In Germany, there has been a mandatory blending obligation for biofuel to fossil fuels since January 1, 2007, with different rates for petrol and diesel fuels. The blending rate for bioethanol in petrol was increased initially until 2009 by 0.8% each year, starting from 1.2% in 2007. On the basis of the Mineral Oil Industry Association's forecasts for petrol consumption in Germany, the demand for bioethanol in Germany will rise to about 1.2 million m³ just to meet the minimum blending quotas for 2009. Additional potential is presented by the total biofuel quota introduced in 2009 which, at 6.25%, is considerably higher than the minimum blending rates.