According to the data handed out by the Federal Office for Economic Affairs and Expert Control (BAFA) the consumption of bioethanol slightly increased by 0.2% throughout 2016. A total of 1.2 million tonnes of bioethanol were added to the petrol categories “Super”, “Super Plus”, and “Super E10”. As stated by the Federal Association of the German Bioethanol Industry (BDB^e) this procedure reduced petrol-related CO₂ emissions by 1.9 million tonnes. They furthermore reported that “Super” held a market share of 82.8%, which equals 15 million tonnes. “Super Plus” held a share of 4.6% with 0.8 million tonnes. Sales of “Super E10” decreased to 2.3 million tonnes in 2016 – a decrease in the market share by 0.1% to now 12.6%.

More ETBE equals more bioethanol – but needs higher price margin

The reduction of the „Super E10“ market share in 2016 is most likely related to an increased usage of ETBE in petrol. In 2016 128,761 tonnes of ETBE (ethyl tertiary-butyl ether) were added to bioethanol, which equals an increase of 8% compared to 119,225 tonnes in 2015. ETBE is synthesized from bioethanol and natural gas-based isobutene. Due to its high octane rating it is added to petrol in order to improve the knock resistance.

Dietrich Klein, CEO of the BDB^e, holds the minimal price margin of 2 cents per litre between “Super E10” and “Super” responsible for the decline in E10 sales. “Recent developments in France have already demonstrated the potential of E10: A price margin of 5 cents per litre has increased the market share of their E10 analogue SP95 to 35% for 2016.”

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