Event report: SGS INSPIRE @ Fuels of the Future 2024, Berlin
On January 23, 2024, our Market Analyst for Eurasia and Europe, Dr. Daria Kochetkova gave a presentation about hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO) as a complete substitute for fossil diesel and a competitor to biodiesel at the 21st International Congress on Renewable Mobility (Fuels of the Future 2024) in Berlin, Germany.
The event was attended by over 700 delegates. The scope of the event was very broad, here below are a few highlights from the conference discussions.
HVO100 in Germany
German stakeholders expressed disappointment about HVO100 still not being available in Germany for public use, although many EU countries offer it and OEMs have approved its use. On November 21, 2023, the German federal government approved the inclusion of the HVO standard DIN EN 15940 in the fuel quality regulation. It was supposed to go through Parliament right after that, however, due to lack of support from the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture, the Parliament session on the use of HVO100 was postponed to mid-March. There are a lot of uncertainties on whether HVO100 will actually happen. German farmers are not happy about the use of biomass (or agricultural waste/ cover crops) going into advanced biofuels (or advanced renewable diesel) as they need it to regenerate their lands.
Moreover, farmers are seeing subsidies being cut from the budget, hence the Ministry of Environment is trying to support this by blocking use of HVO 100.
Budget cut on climate issues in Germany
In the wake of the Revised Renewable Energy Directive to be transposed nationally, budget cuts are causing a lot of uncertainty among transport fuels stakeholders, so there is less funding available to support renewable fuels and alternative fuel infrastructure, which goes against the objectives of the recently adopted directive.
E10+ Technical Specification
A European Committee of Standardization (CEN) Taskforce composed of relevant experts representing national standardization bodies has been formed to produce a draft technical specification for an E10+ (gasoline blended with more than 10% v/v ethanol) gasoline which is expected to be published in 2026.
Specification limits for E10+ are being discussed in order to be provisionally agreed against the EN228 E10 standard. The provisional agreement includes ethanol content by % v/v with minimum 10% to maximum 20%. The draft Technical Specification must be endorsed by the relevant CEN bodies before being presented to national standardization bodies for approval.