In 2018, the national production of natural energy inputs from biomass was 91.3 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe). Between 2015 and 2018, the average growth of the production of natural energy inputs from biomass was 1.4%. 

The output of biodiesel registered the highest average growth in the period (10.7%), followed by lye (6.5%) and alcohol (3.0%). Firewood also increased (0.9%).

Electricity is one of the products resulting from the transformation of energy products from biomass. In 2018, the production of electricity from energy products from biomass was of 54.4 thousand gigawatt-hour (GWh) and represented nearly 9% of the total electricity produced in Brazil. In 2018, the two most used inputs for the generation of electricity were biomass from sugarcane and lye. Of all the energy products used for that purpose, 62.2% were biomass from sugarcane (primarily bagasse) and 27.0%, lye.

Of the total use of energy products from biomass by families in 2018, 61.1% were alcohol, 33.5%, firewood, 3.0%, electricity derived from energy products from biomass, 1.7%, charcoal and 0.7%, biodiesel.

The per capita use of firewood by families recorded an average growth of 3.7% between 2015 and 2018. On the other hand, alcohol dropped 0.8% in the period.

Alcohol is mostly used by families (80.9%) than by economic activities (19.1%). With biodiesel, the reverse occurred: 96.3% of the use was by economic activities.

This information is from the Environmental-Economic Accounts for Energy: Products from Biomass, resulted from a cooperation between the IBGE and the Energy Research Office (EPE), supported in its initial steps by the German Agency for International Cooperation for Sustainable Development (GIZ GmbH), through the Ministry of the Environment. The survey brings information about the resources and uses of energy products from biomass in Brazil.

Production of energy inputs from biomass hit 91.3 million toe

In Brazil, the national production of natural energy inputs from biomass was of 91.3 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) in 2018, which represented nearly 30% of the total primary production of energy products in Brazil. Between 2015 and 2018, the average growth of the production of natural energy inputs from biomass was 1.4%.

Sugarcane biomass (sugarcane bagasse) registered the biggest production among those inputs, of 33.6 million toe, though it recorded an average reduction of 1.0% between 2015 and 2018. The second biggest output was that of firewood: 25.6 million toe, which grew 0.9% in the period between 2015 and 2018. It was followed by alcohol, whose production hit 17.2 million toe in 2018, with an average growth of 3.0% in 4 years. An biodiesel posted an output of 4.2 million toe, an increase of 10.7% in four years, the highest one in the time series. Lye was another production that grew, with an average increase of 6.5% in the period and an output of 9.6 million tonnes in 2018.

Production of electricity from biomass products grew 2.9%

Energy products from biomass can be used to produce electricity. In 2018, the production of electricity from energy products from biomass was of 54.4 thousand gigawatt-hour (GWh) and represented nearly 9% of the total electricity produced in Brazil. The average share along the four years of the time series (2015-2018) was 8.9%. The average growth of the production of energy by biomass products was 2.9% between 2015 and 2018.

Of the total gigawatt-hour of electricity produced in 2018 from energy products of biomass, 51.3% (27.9 thousand gigawatt-hour) were consumed by the activities that produced such electricity, and the remaining injected into the power grid.

The economic activity that mostly produced electricity using biomass products was Manufacture of biofuels, which produced 50.6% of the electricity produced by energy products of biomass between 2015 and 2018, followed by Manufacture of pulp, paper and paper products (25.0%) and Food and beverages (14.4%).

In aggregate terms, 95.7% of the production of electricity occurred in Mining and quarrying industries and Manufacturing industries between 2015 and 2018, and that production registered an average growth of 3.0% in the period The production of electricity by the Mining and Manufacturing industries was 52.0 thousand gigawatt-hour in 2018.

Sugarcane biomass accounts for 62% of the use to produce electricity

In 2018, the mostly used energy product of biomass to produce electricity was biomass from sugarcane (62.2%), lye (27.0%) and firewood (4.7%). On average, the energy use of biomass products to produce electricity was of 9.4 million toe between 2015 and 2018, with an average growth of 2.6% in the period.

The use of lye occurred completely inside the activity of Manufacture of pulp, paper and paper products, since lye is a by-product of that industry. Of the total use of lye in the economic activities in 2018, 27.6% were transformed into electricity and 72.4% were for terminal use.

The transformation into firewood, in turn, occurred predominantly in the activity of Agriculture, livestock, forestry, fishing and aquaculture, with 95.1% of the total use for transformation in 2018, especially for the production of charcoal. Of the total use for transformation into firewood in 2018, 94.2% were destined to the production of charcoal and 5.8%, to the production of electricity.

Terminal use fell 1.3% in the four-year period

In 2018, terminal use - use of energy by economic activities and households that is not destined to the transformation into another energy product - of the energy product of sugarcane biomass was of 27.5 million toe in the economic activities. Between 2015 and 2018, it recorded an average reduction of 1.3% in that use of the product. In 2018, the major products consumed in that case were biomass of sugarcane (45.4%), firewood (17.4%) and lye (11.4%).

 The terminal use of sugarcane biomass was bigger in the activity of Manufacture of biofuels, in which the bagasse is used to produce heat. In 2018, that economic activity used 62.6% of the sugarcane biomass and that of Food and beverages, 37.3%.

Molasses and sugarcane juice are used in the production of alcohol, whereas the bagasse is used to produce heat or electricity. Concerning the use of natural input from sugarcane biomass (bagasse, molasses and sugarcane juice) between 2015 and 2018, 30.8%, on average, were used to produce alcohol, 12.1%, to produce electricity and 57.2%, to terminal consumption by industries to produce heat.

In 2018, firewood was mainly consumed to produce heat. Between 2015 and 2018, the use of firewood in economic activities was of 29.5%, on average, to produce charcoal, 1.7% to produce electricity and 68.8% to terminal consumption. The consumption of firewood by households corresponded to 28.3% of the total terminal use, being mainly destined to cooking and heating.

Charcoal was mainly used by Basic metals and manufacture of metal product (except machinery and equipment), whose activity accounted for 82.1% of the total use of that input in 2018. On the other hand, 9.1% of the charcoal produced was used by households.

And alcohol was mostly used by households, especially as a fuel for cars, with a share of 59.0% of the total in 2018.

Consumption of firewood by households increased 3.7% between 2015 and 2018

Households use alcohol and biodiesel for transportation and firewood and coal for cooking and heating. Among those products, alcohol was the mostly used by households as car fuel, followed by firewood, charcoal and, lastly, by biodiesel.

Of the total use of energy products of biomass by households in 2018, 61.1% was alcohol (25.5 billion liters), 33.5% was firewood (23.4 million tonnes), 3.0% was electricity derived from energy products of biomass (7.6 thousand gigawatt-hour), 1.7% was charcoal (552 thousand tonnes) and 0.7% was biodiesel (198.4 million liters).

The per capita use of firewood by households recorded an average growth of 3.7% between 2015 and 2018, when it hit 112.1 kilos per inhabitant. Having registered 122.4 liters per inhabitant in 2018, the per capita consumption of alcohol by households fell 0.8% in the period.

Households spent R$86.2 billion with alcohol in 2018

Concerning the share in the use of products, the study showed that alcohol had been more used by households than by economic activities. In 2018, the share of the former group was 82.0% against 18.0% of the latter, hitting R$86.2 billion and R$18.9 billion, respectively.

However, the share of expenditure with biodiesel by the economic activities was of 95.6%, hitting R$16.9 billion in 2018. On the other hand, households spent only R$786 million with biodiesel (4.4%).

For charcoal and firewood, the survey showed a steep difference between the share in physical terms or in expenditure terms. In 2018, the share of the economic activities for charcoal was 81.0% (R$4.8 billion) in relation to the expenditures and, in terms of physical use, 90.9% (3.6 million toe). For households, it was 19.0% in expenditures against 9.1% in physical use.

In the case of firewood, the share of the economic activities in expenditures was 63.8% (R$4.2 billion) and 71.7% in physical use (18.4 million toe). Households stayed at 36.2% (R$2.4 billion) and 28.3% (7.3 million toe), respectively.

The expenditures with per capita final consumption of households increased for all the energy products from biomass compared with 2015, except for charcoal. The per capita expenditures with biodiesel and firewood increased in all the years of the time series, with an average growth of 14.4% and 7.9%, respectively.

The expenses with energy products from biomass by households added up to R$90.4 billion in 2018, representing 34.5% of the expenses associated with energy products, except for electricity. Considering the total expenditure of final consumption of households, the share of energy products of biomass was, on average, 1.5% between 2015 and 2018.

Use intensity was 11.7 toe per each thousand Reais of GDP in 2018

Considering the terminal use of the economy in relation to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at current prices, the indicator of energy intensity showed a downward trend in the entire time series. In 2018, the result was 11.7 toe per each thousand Reais of GDP.

For the total set of economic activities, taking into account the total use and the gross value added at current prices, it is noticed that the use intensity for alcohol was 1.0 thousand liters/R$ in 2018, with an average reduction of 0.7% between 2015 and 2018. Biodiesel grew 5.4% in the same period, hitting 862 liters per each Real of value added in 2018.

In 2018, the indicators of energy intensity for charcoal and firewood were 0.9 tonnes/million Reais and 9.9 tonnes/million Reais, respectively. Both indicators decreased compared with 2015, when they had been 1.1 tonnes/million Reais and 11.6 tonnes/million Reais, respectively.

Considering the analysis by economic activity, it is noticed that the activity of Transportation registered the highest energy intensity of alcohol and biodiesel. In 2018, alcohol hit 4.4 thousand liters per each Real of value added by the activity, and biodiesel hit the highest value in the time series, with 15.0 thousand liters/Real.

In 2018, the activities of the mining and quarrying and manufacturing industries recorded the highest energy intensity for charcoal (4.5 tonnes/million Reais), whereas, for firewood, Agriculture, livestock, forestry, fishing and aquaculture posted the highest indicator, with the use of 108.6 tonnes per each Real of value added by the activity.

Lastly, the energy intensity of alcohol of the activity of Electricity, gas, water and sewage registered the lowest indicator, with 141 liters of alcohol/Real. For biodiesel, coal and firewood, Other Activities stood out with the lowest indicator.