Some biomass materials may be used directly as fuel, as is the case with traditional firewood still widely used worldwide. However, since the oil crisis of the 1970s, modern installations have developed to use more and more processed biomasses: agricultural crops are turned into biofuels, manure into biogas, or wood into pellets.

Bioenergy is the only renewable energy source able to provide the three main sources of energy needed both by individuals and businesses: bio heat / cooling, bio-power and bio-fuel.

The European biofuel industry is mainly spread between two distinct sectors, bioethanol and biodiesel which do not rely on the same feedstocks to produce fuel.

According to ePURE, the European renewable ethanol association, 5,55 million tonnes of co-products were produced in 2018, of which 4,20 million tonnes was animal feed. The feedstock used to produce European renewable ethanol by ePURE members, for example, were cereals (75%); sugars (21%); Ligno-cellulosic (4%).

In the EU, bioethanol is mainly produced from grains and sugar beet derivatives. Wheat is mainly used in northwestern Europe, while corn is predominantly favored in Central Europe and Spain. Sugar beet users mostly include France, Germany and Belgium. Regarding the volume consumed for ethanol production, the required feedstock for the 2018 production (5,81 million liters of bioethanol) is estimated at 11,11 million metric tons of cereals and 2,07 million metric tons of sugar equivalent (mainly from sugar beets). In other words, this means that only about 3,8% of total EU cereal production and about 1,7% of total sugar beet production goes to energy purposes in 2018. 

Bioethanol is not only a sustainable source of energy because of its low impact on land use but its production also provides EU farmers with €6.6 billion income per year. Contrary to common perception, it does not compete with other grain uses like food production and does not lead to negative impacts on food prices. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and the International Food Policy Research Institute even confirm that biofuels and food production can be mutually supportive.

Biodiesel’s most common feedstock remains rapeseed oil, accounting for 38% of total production in 2018, but its position is decreasing considerably, mostly due to the higher use of palm oil and recycled vegetable oil/used cooking oil (UCO). Palm oil comes in second place in terms of feedstock (27%) followed by used cooking oil and animal fats (17% and 8% of the total biodiesel feedstock, respectively). UCO is the third most-important feedstock, lead by the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Germany. More specific sources of biofuel such as wood, fatty acids or cottonseed oil are used depending on local/national production.

In fact, UCO has become the second-most important feedstock, lead by the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Germany.

The European biogas sector is very diverse. Depending on national priorities, whether biogas production is primarily seen as a means of waste management, as a means of generating renewable energy, or a combination of the two, countries have structured their financial incentives to favor certain feedstocks over others. In this regard, two countries represent the two ends of the scale: Germany and Sweden.  Germany generates 93% of its biogas from the fermentation of agricultural crops and crop residues while in Sweden sewage sludge gas accounts for nearly 92% of the biogas production. All other countries use a variety of feedstock combinations. Taking the Europe-wide picture, field crops, manure, agri-food industry waste represent around three-fourths of the biomass used for biogas production, a share that tripled since 2010. Sewage sludge and landfills represent the last fourth.

Waste-to-Energy is the fourth most important category of bioenergy feedstock used in Europe. About 410 installations in the Europe rely on the yearly waste production of both industries and municipalities. In 2018, Europeans treated a total amount of 216 million tonnes of municipal waste out of which 28% went to waste-to-Energy plants (60 million tonnes) still remaining behind recycling (47%) and landfill (23%) practices.

Traditionally, the electricity market has been more closely addressed by European regulations, allowing renewable energies to make up 33% of the market share. Wind and hydro are leading the transition in the sector. With regards to power generation, bioenergy represents 5,3% of the overall EU-27 generation. Most renewable power is generated by wind, hydropower and photovoltaic sources. Bioenergy represents 16,1% of the EU-27 renewable electricity production. As intermittency remains an issue in the near future, biomass will play a growing role as a back-up, dispatchable energy source.

Contrary to what can be sometime said or written about bioenergy, statistics show that in the overall EU-27 energy mix in power, a great majority of biomass electricity generated (71%) comes from combined heat and power plants also called cogeneration or CHP rather than from plants producing only power. The situation is the opposite in the traditional power generation industry from conventional thermal source. CHP plants represent only 28% whereas power only plants amount to 72% (Bioelectricity Report, 2020).

This shows that bioenergy is actually an effective means to promote and further develop the use of modern and efficient CHP in Europe.

The transport sector has always been the most challenging for renewables in terms of market penetration. Renewables represent 8,0% of EU-27 total energy consumption (22.473 kilotonnes of oil equivalent) in transport, 68% of which is provided by biofuels in 2018. It is rather challenging to foresee how biofuels (in particular first generation biofuels) will continue to develop, as recent EU legislation established a quota for these biofuels. EU statistics on renewables in transport can also be misleading regarding the actual level of production as multiple counting rules are applied according to the EU renewable energy directive. Looking more in details, biofuel market is driven by biodiesel and bioethanol.  Biodiesel was the first biofuel developed and used in the EU in the transport sector in the 1990s. EU-27 remains the world’s largest biodiesel producer and consumed 13.303 Ktoe in 2018. In comparison, bioethanol consumption in 2018 reached 2.620 Ktoe for an actual production of 2.365 Ktoe (Biofuels Report, 2020). 

 In 2018, 82% of bioethanol was for fuel consumption. Other markets, such as beverages and industrial applications each represented 9% and 9% respectively of the 5.81 billion litres production (Source: ePure)

When used for biofuels, renewable ethanol is a relatively low-cost alternative fuel and is proven to reduce CO2 emissions significantly. In 2018, fuel ethanol use in Europe saved an average 71% GHG emissions compared to fossil fuels (Source: ePure) – and that GHG-saving performance is getting better every year. The more ethanol is blended with petrol, the greater the benefits. Its use reduces the European transport sector’s total greenhouse gas emissions by at least 6 million tonnes each year, the equivalent of at least 4 million cars taken off the road.

Besides first generation biofuels, one of the hottest topics in Europe over the past years has been the penetration of new transport market segments heavily relying on oil (like the aviation industry), and the development of second and even third generation biofuels.

Densification is another popular way to transform woody material into an advanced fuel with high calorific value. This process involves compressing biomass and lowering moisture levels in a range of 8-10%, allowing for a more homogenous fuel–either in the form of pellets or briquettes. The heat during compression fuses the lignin in the biomass, naturally binding the biomass together in its new, enhanced shape. Thanks to densification, the homogenous biomass fuel is easier to transport and can be used in automated biomass installations, such as pellet stoves and boilers.

Thermo-chemical conversions are now used to produce fuel with even higher calorific value such as torrefaction or steam explosion technologies. During the torrefaction process, wood is subjected to 230 to 300ºC at atmospheric pressure in the absence of oxygen. Comparable to some extent to coffee torrefaction, this method allows the creation of a fuel with very interesting characteristics. Compared with conventional wood, torrefied wood has a very low (>5%) moisture content, is easily grindable  and is relatively hydrophobic.

Thanks to advanced technologies, woody biomass can also produce liquid or gaseous fuels. Pyrolysis for instance is a thermal-chemical conversion that requires a high temperature (>400 °C) and little oxygen to convert the biomass into other forms including gas, liquid fuels (pyrolysis oil), and biochar. Gasification is another thermo-chemical conversion that takes place at high temperatures (>800 °C), with limited oxygen and/or steam, converting solid biomass into synthesis gas, or syngas, which contains carbon and hydrogen and can be used to produce liquid fuels such as biodiesel.

Fermentation is a biochemical conversion whereby microorganisms including yeast and bacteria convert bioenergy into products such as ethanol and liquid transport fuels (biodiesel). This process is done through several stages. First, sugary and starchy feedstocks such as corn must be crushed and combined with water, allowing the enzymes to convert these starches into sugar. This then ferments along with the addition of yeast, and is distilled into bioethanol. Bioethanol can also be produced from cellulosic biomass such as grass, wood, and stalks, via fermentation, however this process is more complex and involves a mechanical pre-treatment and the addition of enzymes or breakdown of the lignocellulose into sugar through hydrolysis, before following the same procedure.

Bioenergy providers in Europe do not use any type of wood indiscriminately; both for economic and environmental reasons, they mainly mobilise woody biomass sourced from byproducts of forest management operations and the wood industry such as sawmills. Historically, the European bioenergy sector has been developed to work in synergy with other wood-based industries to give value to non-mobilised and/or low value biomass such as sawdust, mill residues, thinnings, low-quality wood, tops and limbs. Bioenergy generators do not use high quality timber, as using lumber would make the price of energy wholly uncompetitive for end consumers.

As an example, in Belgium for the winter season 2016-2017, the price of 1 m3 of lumber (100-120€/m3) was almost 10 times higher than the price of 1 m3 of wood for energy (6-13 €/m3). Bioenergy players are not able to match the prices offered by the timber industry. Based on the following price index, using Belgian lumber to produce 1 MWh of electricity would range between 833-1000 €. This would actually be 10 times more than the average price of electricity in Belgium (108-235 €/MWh).

With the enforcement of the EU-28 objective on renewable energy, the bioenergy sector has grown steadily, becoming an established player of the wood industry alongside traditional industries such as sawmills, paper producers or panelers. However, when looking at the EU-28 wood removals according to end use, the great majority goes to the wood industry (77,30%). Only a fraction of woody materials are used for energy (22,70%) mostly tops, limbs and low quality wood. This indicates that bioenergy doesn’t necessarily compete with other uses of wood.

EU-28 woody fuel consumption reached almost 107 million m3 in 2017. According to UNECE/FAO, only 3,6% of this total consumption came from woody material imports. This means that more than 95% of EU-28 bioenergy consumption comes largely from local sourcing, providing added value to regional economies and helping the EU-28 to reduce its energy dependency.

Contrary to common belief, EU-28 forests have been steadily growing over the past decades. In 1990, European forests represented a total amount of 19,7 billion m3. In 2015, EU-28 forest reached 26 billion m3, meaning that forest stock increased by 32% over the last quarter of a century.

This growth is due to two main reasons: forest areas increasing (1) and a growth of standing volumes (2) :

(1) According to Eurostat, EU-28 forest coverage gained 322.800 hectares every year, meaning that European forests are increasing by the size of a football field every minute.

(2) On average, about 62% of the annual forest increment in Europe is actually felled, meaning that 38% of this annual increment remains in forests, as shown in the below graphic. The situation can vary from one country to another. Forest spreading is more common in the Mediterranean region, in countries such as Italy, France, Spain, and Slovenia, where at least 40% of the annual increment remains untouched.

The fact that forest stock keeps increasing as well as its carbon sequestration capacity can be considered as positive news for Europe. On the flip side, this creates upcoming challenges for an urbanised Europe to maintain and mobilise the full potential of its forests.

According to the latest State of Europe’s Forests Report, 3% of the total forest area in Europe is damaged, most commonly caused by biotic agents such as insects and diseases. On the other hand, the amount of deadwood, particularly standing deadwood, has increased slightly in most of Europe’s regions over the past 20 years. The average volume of deadwood, both standing and lying, ranges between 8 m3/ha in Northern Europe and 20 m3/ha in central Western Europe.

A lack of control or management can generate additional concerns such as forest fires, especially in the Mediterranean region. In 2015 alone, there were more than 58.000 forest fires registered in Europe with a total surface burnt of more than 256.000 ha, releasing 1.9 billion tonnes of CO2 equivalent into the atmosphere according to JRC initial estimation.

Bioenergy can play a major role in combatting forest degradation, thanks to extra sources of income to forest owners, municipalities and governments to manage their forests sustainably in the long-run.

Discover, through the example of Juan José Mayans, municipal Engineer in Serre (Spain) and Jean-Claude Tucoulat, forest owner in Pays d’Othe (France), how this can take place.

Carbon stock in EU-28 forests has constantly increased over the past 15 years. European forests store large amounts of carbon both above ground (in the leaves, stems, and other parts of plants) and below ground (trees produce large quantities of roots , rotting leaves, debris, and soil organisms that contain carbon).

Compared to 2000, 2015 saw an increase in both the carbon stored in the aerial parts of forests and below-ground by 19% and 21%%, respectively.

Between 2005 and 2015, the average annual sequestration of carbon in forest biomass, soil and forest products reached 719 million tonnes of CO2. To put this into context, this is equal to the average annual emissions of 97 million Europeans.

Discussing the potential for sustainable woody bioenergy development is subject to debate as it depends on many variables and assumptions.

Simple estimates of forest biomass potential that could be mobilised for energy use can be derived from the current size of forests, forest removals and forest bioenergy sector of a given country. Recently, the International Energy Agency (IEA Bioenergy) has estimated the potential for forest biomass mobilisation for energy use.

According to the IEA’s estimation, 180.000 ktoe of forest biomass can be mobilised for energy use if current mobilisation logistics are optimised, the proportion of sustainably managed forests are increased and the quality management of mobilised biomass is improved.

The primary energy production of forest biomass in the EU-28 was 95.207 ktoe in 2017, this indicates there is still room for an increase in forest biomass mobilisation.

If forest biomass mobilisation could reach 180.000 ktoe, it could replace 67% of the gross inland consumption of solid fossil fuel used in 2015!

For more information, download the following factsheet.