NNFCC News Review: Biofuels Issue 143, February 2024

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Foreword

Since the end of March 2022, the British government has placed a fuel duty levy of 0.1018p per litre on biodiesel, used for domestic heating purposes. As this excise duty does not also apply to kerosene heating oil, two trading bodies, OFTEC and the UK and Ireland Fuel Distributors Association (UKIFDA, have urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to rethink such disparity in taxes in the next Spring Budget to incentivise the use of biodiesel for heating. Their views were echoed by South West oil supplier, Mitweb, who also called for a tax slash on renewable liquid heating fuels, such as hydrotreated vegetable oil, in the upcoming spring budget, due to be delivered on the 6th of March. The same trade bodies also called for action on introduction of a renewable liquid heating fuel obligation, introduced as an amendment to the recent Energy Bill.

In the face of potential SAF scarcity against rising demand, biofuel and aviation sectors in the UK have repeatedly criticised the government for its lack of clarity in adjusting policy to support HEFA-pathway production of SAF. However, last September the UK government released a roadmap detailing how it plans to implement a revenue certainty mechanism for SAF. Part of the Advanced Fuel Fund has also been directed towards the construction of 5 commercial SAF plants. The EU are attempting to establish bold blending mandates across several sectors, formally adopting the revised REDIII, the FuelEU Maritime initiative (to introduce renewable and low carbon fuels into shipping) and ReFuelEU Aviation to do the same in the aviation sector. However, this has not been without challenge from those who feel excluded from such initiatives. European renewable ethanol producers have launched a legal challenge, directed at the EU’s RefuelEU Aviation Regulation, on the basis that it improperly excludes crop-based biofuels from efforts to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from air transport. The legal application for annulment of RefuelEU Aviation was filed with the General Court of the EU at the end January. Despite such challenges, the EU remains the major producer of SAF globally, though growth rates have tempered recently...

Other news this month includes:

Policy

Chancellor urged to rethink duty on biofuels for home heating
European ethanol producers raise new legal challenge to EU aviation-fuel legislation
SAF to be used in Singapore departing flights from 2026

Markets

Eni awards Maire subsidiary $133 million hydrogen-plant contract for Livorno refinery conversion in Italy
Cepsa and Bio-Oils begin construction on the largest 2G biofuels plant in southern Europe with investment of 1.2 billion euros
More...

Research and Development

Protecting the protector boosts plant oil content
New research could make turning waste cooking oil into biofuel easier and quicker
India’s Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri launches first pilot project to make jet fuel from alcohol in Pune

Bioethanol

Wartsila and Raízen Sign Bioethanol Deal to Combat Emissions in Maritime Operations
Enerkem to Retire its Edmonton Biofuels Facility