Representatives from the biodiesel sector and the aviation industry met on Tuesday (07/07), in an online meeting to discuss the strategic vision of the biodiesel industry on the entry of HVO (green diesel) and new production processes advanced biofuels in the Brazilian fuel matrix.

The meeting was attended by representatives of Ubrabio, the Civil Aviation Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac), the Brazilian Association of Airlines (Abear), Embraer and Vale.

Aviation biokerosene is a demand from the airline industry that needs to be decarbonized to comply with international agreements. However, from a technical point of view, the production of biokerosene goes through a process in which green diesel is also generated, regardless of the chosen technological route - currently there are seven technological routes approved by ASTM (American body of internationally accepted technical standards).

“It is a product that needs to be placed on the market. But how? The diesel market in Brazil is eight times larger than that of aviation kerosene (pre-covid data). In other words, the consumer market for green diesel exists. The discussion is how to make this product enter the market ”, points out Ubrabio's Aviation Biofuels director, Pedro Scorza.

Ubrabio defends a system that holds everyone: biodiesel, green diesel and fossil diesel, in a vision of complementarity and not of competitiveness.

“Discussions on how biokerosene and HVO could take the first steps towards becoming a reality in Brazil in the coming years were advancing in 2019 and, before we were hit by the pandemic, the expectation was that in 2020 we would have a regulatory framework. This milestone must necessarily be made so that these new biofuels find their place and can have a long-term predictability to generate the investments that are required, both in raw materials, as in the logistics and production structures ”, explains the president of Ubrabio , Juan Diego Ferrés.

For the president of Ubrabio, the crisis scenario postponed the schedule, and what was expected in 2019 to happen in 2020 should occur in the first year of post-pandemic recovery. That is, “in 2021 or 2022, when we are entering the new normal”, he calculates.

“In the meantime, we are promoting the sector to be organized around the regulatory framework and to define its own economic viability and its own predictability. But it is necessary to understand that biodiesel and green diesel cannot be treated as equals. First, because they are different molecules, different cost realities, and require production structures with their own characteristics ”, he highlights.

Ferrés explains that, today, the biodiesel sector has a structure of more than 50 production units in Brazil - with a capacity to produce 9.8 billion liters per year. In contrast, in the case of HVO, what we have is Petrobras and some conceptually defined projects, but which depend on legislation to be able to materialize.

“So it doesn't seem like a good solution to define a regulatory framework for biokerosene, leaving aside HVO, and then hang HVO on the existing regulatory framework for biodiesel. In Ubrabio's view, the regulatory framework for green diesel must be linked to that of aviation biokerosene, since they have the process, raw materials in common and are produced together ”, he argues.

Just as biokerosene is a drop-in substitute, that is, it has the same molecule as aviation kerosene, green diesel is also a drop-in substitute for diesel. For this reason, Ubrabio argues that green diesel should come in a ternary mixture with diesel B (diesel A from petroleum + biodiesel), replacing part of the percentage of diesel, and not biodiesel.

Also according to Ferrés, biodiesel and green diesel are important for the energy transition towards more sustainable mobility. “They use heavy vehicles for the transport of cargo and passengers in their first use. In our view, the Brazilian trend for the evolution of the transport sector of this type should be towards hybrids, and not pure electric ones, taking advantage of the infrastructure we already have and also our productive potentials ”.

Biokerosene, in the view of Ubrabio, can place the country in a privileged position on the global stage. “We can be a player for supplying sustainable fuel to aircraft that depart and arrive in Brazil. At the same time, we understand that the country will be a major exporter for those who do not have the potential to produce it ”, estimates Ferrés.

Unlike Brazilian biodiesel and ethanol whose main consumer market is the domestic market, Ubrabio sees in biokerosene the potential to find its main market in major international agreements.

“The feasibility of new biofuels is of interest to the country of the utmost importance, which will allow Brazil to take advantage of its productive potential, just as it is today with ethanol and biodiesel. In addition to the issue of sustainability, which is fundamental, biofuels are part of a developmental movement, which generates wealth, employment, investment and technology ”, concludes Ferrés.