France: Morning in the Bioeconomy

May 16, 2023

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by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... It has been getting better in Brussels in recent months, but it has all been focused on mobility. Everyone wants renewable plastics but when it comes to transformative carbon schemes, it is still in the province of fuels.

The EU policy toward renewable chemicals is outlined up in reams of elegant Bruxellese, but in a spirit of Digest brevity, let me sum it up this way.

Dear Renewable Chemicals,
I sure like the lifecycles,
but there ain’t enough soy hulls.

Now, a low-carbon fuels policy is a good thing, but it would be nice some time if the natural small volume, high value markets — where innovation usually focuses — received the support in the early days, that is, chemicals first, fuels later. But we are in a rush, or rather we are in a rush to make a rush that is a rush.

As a result, there are billions of gallons of advanced, low-carbon, renewable fuels facilities under construction or advanced planning all over the world, yet fewer in the heart of France than we would expect, given the incredible technology chops in this region. Man, do Europeans know how to make technology, or what? There’s so much, you could get motion sickness just trying to follow it.

Just to name a few, Topsoe and Axens seem to launch, acquire or deploy tech on an hourly basis. Ten o’clock? Time for a new announce. Back at eleven. Leaf by LeSaffre and Novozymes have set a towering global standard for yeast and enzymes, Clariant’s cellulosic ethanol technology holds sway above the western Romanian landscape, UPM’s wood to renewable diesel technology is candy for those who look longingly at trees for the bioeconomy’s answer to the problems of scale. There’s BTG’s pyrolysis. Global Bioenergies. ARD. Avantium’s bioplastic. Corbion’s algae-based foods. And more consortia than there are creatures in the sea.

The European Union the great workshop of the bioeconomy world. Yes, the EU has deployment at scale, not enough, not near enough.

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Today, let’s think about just France, just this year. Just to give you an idea.

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Futerro

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TotalEnergies

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Arkema

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ENGIE

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There’s been more than project action, there’s been demand increase. We reported earlier this year that French ethanol sales rose 13% to 1.47 million cubic meters compared to 1.30 million cubic meters the year prior. Thanks to the availability of conversion kits and high energy prices that are supported by the ongoing war in Ukraine, with sales likely to increase another 25%, potentially reaching a market share of 8%, double that of 2021.

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PILI

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Moving ahead to April, we reported that Axens acquired a stake in the BioTJet project, the aim of which is to build and operate the largest European Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) production unit using the Fischer-Tropsch process, relying on the BioTfueL technology. This unit will be built in France and will be commissioned by 2027.

Moving into this month, we reported that TotalEnergies Marine Fuels completed its first biofuel bunkering trials in France following the success of similar tests in Singapore last year which led to the commencement of commercial operations.

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TotalEnergies Corbion and Coexpan

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Coexpan

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Finally, let’s say a word about hydrogen. Earlier, we reported that TotalEnergies and Air Liquide announce their decision to create an equally owned joint venture to develop a network of hydrogen stations, geared towards heavy duty vehicles on major European road corridors. This initiative will help facilitate access to hydrogen, enabling the development of its use for goods transportation and further strengthening the hydrogen sector.

The partners aim to deploy more than 100 hydrogen stations on major European roads – in France, Benelux and Germany – in the coming years. These stations, under the TotalEnergies brand, will be located on major strategic corridors.

The Bottom Line

It’s moving faster in France. Not as fast as it needs to, but the work of many years by all these consortia has not been in vain. What does the EU need now? SAF, SAF, SAF, they’ll tell you, and SAF they need. Renewable diesel, too. Hydrogen for green chemistry and eFuels. And might we add methanol.

The feedstocks are there in plenty. What’s been missing is not exactly the will, or the means, but rather an interest in addressing the broader financing picture for the bioeconomy. Insurance, risk-mitigation, hedging, futures contracts. The modern world is said to be built on the pillar of technology but in fact it is built on the pillar of finance. READ MORE

New biobased cups made from recycled PLA (TotalEnergies Corbion)