Biofuel consumption in the EU showed a slight increase of 1.3% in 2016 compared to 2015 when demand was flat, according to the Biofuel Barometer 2017 of EurObserv’ER, released at the end of July.

Based on preliminary figures, a total of 14.4 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) of biofuel were used in the union last year. Biodiesel accounted for the larger part of that, 80.6%, while bioethanol, directly blended with petrol or converted before that into ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE), accounted for 18.4%. The remaining 1% was biogas.

An increase of 2.4% in biodiesel consumption to 11.6 million toe was behind the slight rise in overall biofuel usage. Bioethanol consumption declined 3.1% to 2.6 million toe. The leading biofuel consumers in the EU are France and Germany.

Provided by Renewables Now exclusively for Essentica.