Data on consumption, production, transformation and supply of biodiesels for energy purposes. Data expressed in thousand of metric tons.

Consumption data are broken down by sector (e.g. agriculture, forestry and fishing, food and tobacco, households, etc.). Transformation data are broken down by type of plant (electricity, CHP, heat, etc.).

Biodiesels (BD), SIEC code 5220: Liquid biofuels derived from biomass and used in diesel engines. Remark: Biodiesels obtained by chemical modification are a linear alkyl ester made by transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fats with methanol. The transesterification distinguishes biodiesel from straight vegetable and waste oils. Biodiesel has a flash point of around 150°C and a density of about 0.88 kg/litre. Biological sources of biodiesel include, but are not limited to, vegetable oils made from canola (rapeseed), soybeans, corn, oil palm, peanut or sunflower. Some liquid biofuels (straight vegetable oils) may be used without chemical modification and their use usually requires modification of the engine.

A further category of diesel fuels can be produced by a range of thermal processes (including for example gasification followed by Fischer Tropsch synthesis, pyrolysis followed by hydrogenation, or conversion of sugar to hydrocarbons using microorganisms (e.g. yeast)). A wide range of biomass feedstocks, including cellulosic materials and algal biomass could be used in such processes.

Biodiesels may be blended with petroleum diesel or used directly in diesel engines.

The consumption of the portion of biodiesel which is blended should also be reported under ‘Of which biodiesel (ZD)’.

More details in http://unstats.un.org/unsd/energy/Energy-Questionnaire-Guidelines.pdf

The UNSD Annual Questionnaire on Energy Statistics (the “Questionnaire”) is the primary source of information for the UNSD Energy Statistics Database and contributes to the Energy Statistics Yearbook, the Energy Balances and the Electricity Profiles publications. The Energy Balances present energy data in a format showing an overall picture of energy production, trade, conversion and consumption for energy products utilized in the country, while Electricity Profiles contains detailed information on production, trade and consumption of electricity, net installed capacity and thermal power plant inputs and efficiencies.