Brazil Expects Big Investments in Biofuels by 2035

Written by Amir Richani for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The Brazilian Energy Ministry and the Energy Research Company (EPE) forecast investments of 110 billion reais (about US$20.3 billion) between 2025 and 2035 to meet the demand and supply of biofuels, including the construction of biorefineries and the modernization of units.

Brazil's bet on biofuels is not new; ethanol has played a key part in gasoline blending for years. Production and investments in these types of fuel are expected to grow as fossil fuel requirements include higher mandatory volumes of biofuels.

One of the key drivers for this expansion will be the production of ethanol. By 2035, Brazil is expected to have an ethanol demand of 48.2 billion liters per year, 33% higher than the volumes anticipated for 2025. Most of the ethanol production will be destined for flex-fuel vehicles, accounting for 52% of the demand in 2035, compared with 39% this year. Ethanol is used in gasoline blending or pure as an alternative fuel.

By 2035, Brazil expects to produce 50.5 billion liters of ethanol, up from 37.9 billion liters projected for this year. This increase is mainly due to a 7 billion-liter expansion and modernization of existing plants, along with 300,000 liters expected from building new units.

Due to the oversupply of ethanol, Brazil expects to export 1.84 billion liters of ethanol by 2035 and 1.2 billion liters this year, with the U.S., the European Union, China, Japan and South Korea as key destinations.

Most of Brazil's ethanol production comes from sugar cane, with corn accounting for 20% of last year's production.

Meanwhile, biodiesel demand is expected to reach 13.9 billion liters by 2035, a 37.6% increase from current levels.

Brazil's current biodiesel production capacity is 14.7 billion liters, with expansions projected to reach 16.2 billion liters by 2035. Based on these projections, the nation will be able to meet the mandatory requirement of 15% biodiesel content in diesel.

Aviation fuel production is also expected to grow to 1.7 billion liters by 2030 and to 2.8 billion liters in 2035, thanks to new commercial announcements made by companies.

Petrobras (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), for example, announced several projects from 2025 to 2033 across its refineries, including REGAP's new renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel unit addition, REPLAN coprocessing unit and RPBC renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel unit. Subscribers to Industrial Info's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) Petroleum Refining Project and Plant databases can click here for the project reports and click here for the plant profiles.

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