Assessment of the potential for a biofuels industry in Ukraine

  • Received March 23, 2018;
    Accepted October 3, 2018;
    Published October 25, 2018
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  • DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.21511/ppm.16(4).2018.08
  • Article Info
    Volume 16 2018, Issue #4, pp. 83-90
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Ukraine is the only major agricultural country whose production of biofuels has declined since 2010. Nevertheless, it has set a target of 11.5 percent of primary energy supply from biomass, biofuels and waste by 2035. Agricultural land needed to produce biofuels feedstock is calculated for two scenarios based on its current 11.5 percent target and previous 5.0 percent target specified as a share of transport energy consumption. The export orientation of Ukraine’s crop sector and resulting foreign currency earnings pose trade-offs if crops are diverted from exports to biofuel feedstocks. Given these trade-offs, policy options for developing a biofuels industry while satisfying Ukraine’s export and domestic markets are to (1) bring land not currently cultivated into production and (2) increase yield. Both options are found to have substantial potential.

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    • Figure 1. Structure of world (a) and Ukraine (b) energy consumption by type, 2016
    • Table 1. Biofuels production in the period 2010–2016 (thousand tons of oil equivalent)
    • Table 2. Scenarios for biofuels share of Ukraine’s transport fuel consumption by 2035
    • Table 3. Estimated hectares to meet Ukraine’s biofuel targets for transport fuels
    • Table 4. Comparison of corn and wheat production and export, major producers, 1,000 metric tons, 2016–2017 market years
    • Table 5. Yield of major crops for biofuels production, major agricultural producing or exporting countries, tons per hectare, 2012–2016 average
    • Table 6. SWOT analysis of biofuels industry development in Ukraine