Study: Bioethanol lowers CO2 emissions form German traffic, creates added value

Bioethanol and petrol blends lowered CO₂ emissions from road traffic in Germany by around 1.2 million tonnes in the first three quarters of 2015, a new study says.

According to the findings of a study in German on the economic importance of the largest site of German bioethanol production in Saxony-Anhalt, every litre of bioethanol reduced greenhouse gas emission by 1.1kg.

‘This represents 62% lower CO₂ emissions compared to fossil fuels,’ says Norbert Schindler, member of the German Bundestag and chairman of the German Bioethanol Industry Association (BDBe).

Every litre of bioethanol further generates added value of €0.5, with €0.65 paid in energy tax and €0.33 in other taxes and social security contributions to the public purse.

Another reason for the high added value of around €0.5/l are sales of high-quality by-products, such as protein-rich animal feed and biogenic carbon dioxide.

Gluten, organic fertiliser, and bio-methane, for example, are also extracted in other plants.

‘The state-of-the-art bioethanol plants in Germany are evidence for climate mitigation in road transport being possible without subsidies. While enormous financial support is currently discussed for different measures in the energy sector at the COP21 UN Climate Conference in Paris, bioethanol is competitive without subsidies,’ Schindler says.

The study shows that the production and use of bioethanol not only contributes to improved climate protection in the transport sector, but it is also a ‘job engine’ in structurally weaker rural areas.

‘Productivity in German plants that do not just produce bioethanol for fuel, but a range of by-products for the food and animal feed industries, reached a record level of more than €632,000 of gross added value per employee and year.

‘Particularly in rural areas, competitive jobs have been created by building these biorefineries with cutting-edge process technology, not only in the plants themselves, but also in the upstream and downstream sectors such as trade and commerce,’ concludes Schindler.