A critical insight into the development, regulation and future prospects of biofuels in Canada

Figures & data

Figure 1. Displays the generation of biofuels as well as associated challenges with each generation

Figure 2. Illustration of different types of biofuels producing techniques

Table 1. List of biofuels producing industries in Canada

Company	Location	Feedstock	Capacity (Million Liters per Year)	Website
Biodiesel
ADM	Lloydminster, Alberta	Canola oil	320	https://www.adm.com/
Verbio	Welland, Quebec	Canola and soybean oil	170	https://www.verbio.us/
Darling Ingredients	Montreal, Quebec	Animal fats and cooking oil	56	https://www.darlingii.com/
Consolidated biofuels Ltd.	Delta, British Colombia	Beef tallow and restaurant grease	11	https://consolidatedbiofuels.net/
Bioethanol
Suncor Energy	St. Clair, Ontario	Corn	400	https://www.suncor.com/en-ca
IGPC	Chatham, Ontario	Corn	380	https://www.igpc.ca/
Greenfield	Johnstown, Ontario	Corn	260	https://greenfield.com/
Greenfield	Varennes. Quebec	Corn	190	https://greenfield.com/
Husky	Lloydminster, Saskatchewan	Cereals	150	https://huskyenergy.com/
Kawartha Ethanol Inc.	Havelock, Ontario	Corn	110	https://kawarthaethanol.ca/
Permolex	Red deer, Alberta	Cereals	45	https://permolex.com/

Table 2. A snapshot of various biofuel policies in different parts of the continent [17,23,38–41]

Continent	Biofuel policies	Economics	Deliberation
Asia
China	11 Provinces has implemented the 10% blending of bioethanol Biodiesel blending is varying from 2% to 5% Government provides the excise tax exemption for biodiesel produced from non-food crops or waste oil while no excise tax exemption for food crop-based bioethanol Tax rebates also apply on exported ethanol and biodiesel	The government provides a subsidy of 0.07 USD* per liter of ethanol produced from sweet sorghum or cassava No subsidies have been provided for biodiesel consumers and producers	China is the world’s fourth-largest bioethanol consumer and producer. Lowest official ethanol mandate. Biodiesel market cover 0.2% of total penetration and is still not expected to increase
Russia	Law of ‘Regulating the trade and production of bioethanol’ has been signed to open the Russian biofuels market High fuel excise tax on bioethanol	Investment of 134 USD for renewable energy production till 2030 ‘Russian Sustainable Energy Finance Program’ is a subsidy initiative to improve the capital flow for infrastructure, foreign investment and to cover financial losses because of low-priced fossil fuel	Biofuel projects in Russia are either supported by regional government or international investors Only two plants are producing ethanol from non-edible material Regulatory framework in Russia lacks to stimulate the biofuel production
India	Government proposed blending of 5–20% No excise tax reductions for biodiesel and bioethanol Import of biofuel are banned however import on feedstock required for biofuel production is permitted No mandate implementation of biodiesel and bioethanol in transportation sector	More than 30 USD million investment in cellulosic-based ethanol production Permission to foreign investment in biofuel technologies	Biofuels market in India nascent and have high GST tax The biofuel sector share 1.2% of total in transport sector The current advanced biofuel production is 1.75 million liters per year
Japan	Mandatory implementation of 500 million liter biofuels Zero delivery tax on 100% biodiesel Zero tariffs on bio-ethyl tert-butyl ether Tax incentives on bioethanol consumption	Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has provided financial assistant and tax breaks to produce biofuel under ‘Basic Law for Promoting Biomass Utilization’	Limited bioethanol production and imported largely from Brazil Only 0.04% covers the transportation sector by biodiesel
Africa
South Africa	Biofuel blending mandate of 10% and 5% for bioethanol and biodiesel Biodiesel producers are entitled of 50% rebate on fuel levy Excise exemption for bioethanol	Rebate of 50% on fuel levy for biodiesel producers	Plan to put quota for small-scale farmers to provide 25% feedstocks to biodiesel producers No subsidies and policies are in effect for biofuel commercialization
Nigeria	Bioethanol and biodiesel mandate blend of 10% and 20%, respectively Under national policy, foreign investors are allowed to contribute money for biofuel development	More than 414.7 million USD are spent to import bioethanol for industrial use UK-based group invested $340 million to develop bioethanol plant in 2016	Current production of bioethanol only accounts for 3% of total ethanol consumed Allowing the private sector will increase the number of investors in biofuel projects
Oceania
Australia	Biodiesel and bioethanol blending varies from 5% to 0.5% and 6% to 4% in New South Wales and Queensland, respectively Grant schemes for biofuel production No nation-wide target for biofuel usage	Government grants and rebates on expenses and commercialization 1 billion dollars bioeconomy development in Queensland 10 billion dollars has been sanctioned to facilitate the clean energy sector 200 million dollars bioenergy funds	Few pilot plant has been developed for advanced biofuel production The current blending mandate in New South Wales is ineffective due to the lack of feedstock supply The benefits of bioethanol have been shown through advertisements in Queensland
New Zealand	Excise exemption on bioethanol while no exemption on biodiesel usage No biofuel blending mandate in transportation sector	Grant of 42.5 cents per liters for biodiesel production	No government policies for production of advanced biofuels Intermittent production of bioethanol or biodiesel due to lack of implementation mandates
Europe
Germany	No tax exemption for bioethanol, hydrotreated vegetable oil and biodiesel The fuel tax of €0.0139 on biomethane and compressed natural gas 6.25% biofuel’s blending mandate	‘Energy transition in the transport sector’ is the initiative for advanced biofuel and conventional biofuel development.	‘German Mobility and Fuel Strategy’ program has implemented the use of renewable kerosene and its blends at Leipzig Airport. It resulted in less emission (30–60%) of particulates and carbon dioxide The use of bioethanol has increased to ~17% Several advanced biofuels projects are running in pilot scale
France	Incentives are introduced as well as subsidy for ethanol blend of more than 85% Biodiesel blending mandate is upto 8% Biofuel generated from first-generation should not be more than 7% of transport fuels Target to reduce the 30% fossil fuel-based energy consumption in the transport sector by 2050 has been set-up	Investment of 235.91 million USD to produce biodiesel from used cooking oil	Multiple advanced biofuel producing plants are under process such as FUTUROL, BioTfueL, and La Mede.
Sweden	Mandatory blending of bioethanol and biodiesel till 5% All the biofuels are fully tax exempted Pump law: Retailers with more than 1500 m^3 per month fuel turnover should offer a biofuel blend of 50% or more Vehicles emitting more than 95 g CO2 per Km will be penalized up to 60,000 Swedish Krona	Government subsidies on commercial plants, pilot plants and for the programmes aims to reduce carbon emission are available	The consumption and production of biodiesel has increased to 37% and 32%, respectively More than 85% biofuels need to be imported to meet consumption demand 20% of transport markets covered by biofuels
Netherland	1.0% advanced biofuels, 17% biodiesel and bioethanol mandatory usage	Funds for the development of biofuel-based pumps	Most subsidies are for higher biofuel bend such as 85% for bioethanol and 30% for biodiesel Consumption of biodiesel and bioethanol has increased to 90% and 42%, respectively. Production has increased with a rat of 37% and 8% for bioethanol and biodiesel, respectively
Denmark	Carbon dioxide excise exemptions for biofuels Mandatory biofuel blending of 5.57%	Funds of 16 million USD for new biorefinery development 3.1 USD million has been approved for advanced biofuel production	No bioethanol production The funding programs are available for research and development but no specific programs for biofuel development
North America
Canada	Blending of biodiesel and bioethanol varies from 2% to 4% and 5% to 8.5%, respectively, in different provinces Established the clean fuel standards to reduce the greenhouse emission till 2030 Provincial low carbon fuel standard and federal carbon pricing	Federal government programs and initiatives to increase biofuel production and commercialization are available 1.58 billion USD low carbon economy fund to reduce the greenhouse emission and increase clean fuel production	Canada requires to import the biofuel from US to meet the increasing demand Three commercial advanced biofuel producing plants are available Biodiesel exported to US is entitled to blender tax credits
The United States of America	Blender tax credits renewable diesel California’s low carbon fuel standard Aims to increase the biofuel production to 36 billion gallons per year by the end of 2022	Loan programs provide the risk management related to the scale of commercial projects The government provides wide range of programs to scale-up the biofuels and development of logistics and supply chain	Biofuel mandate in US has increased the consumption of biodiesel and bioethanol World largest bioethanol production with 58% of worlds ethanol production Numerous pilot plant, commercially advanced biofuel production plants runs in US
South America
Brazil	Blending mandate up to 10% and 27% of biodiesel and bioethanol, respectively 14% import tariff on biodiesel Tax incentives and exemptions are available for biofuel producers, consumers and blenders Development of RenovaBio: a low carbon fuel standard policy	Incentives for feedstock developers such as sugarcane Credits for bioenergy industries and funds for the development of logistics, enhanced ethanol production and feedstock transportation	Two commercial cellulosic-based bioethanol production plant Biodiesel and bioethanol consumption has been increased by 18% and 3% per year, respectively

Figure 3. Summary of Canadian government policies on biofuel production, commercialization and GHG emission reduction: where, B$: billion dollars; BLY: billion liters per year; LCA: life cycle assessment; CFS: clean fuel standards; GHG: greenhouse gas

A.B.Canada, Advanced biofuels and synthetic liquid fuels-Roadmap to 2030. 2019. https://advancedbiofuels.ca/wp-content/uploads/Clean-Fuels-Investment-in-Canada-Roadmap-to-2030-ABFC-Nov14-2019.pdf

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