Biodiesel (FAME)

Biodiesel (FAME) is vegetable oil or waste fat reacted with methanol and blended into diesel; about 45-50 Mt a year, mostly Indonesia, EU, Brazil.

Capture · Bioenergy · No. 40

• Single chemical
• Feedstock: Crops and biomass
• about 45-50 Mt a year of FAME (2024-25, indicative, basis: UFOP biodiesel plus HVO of about 65 Mt in 2024 less about 15-18 Mt HVO)
• 1.6 t CO₂e per t
• HS 382600

Indonesia now burns about a sixth of the world's palm oil in diesel engines.

Chart: Illustration: Biodiesel (FAME)

Where it comes from

Chart: Map of where it comes from

Vegetable oil or waste fat is reacted with about 10% methanol, giving almost the same mass of biodiesel plus about 10% glycerine as a by-product.

Three things to know

1. Indonesia used 12.7 Mt of palm biodiesel in 2025, and its delayed B50 blend could lift that to 16.3-17 Mt.
2. EU defaults rate used cooking oil biodiesel 84% cleaner than diesel, but palm biodiesel from open-pond mills only 20%.
3. India made about 556 million litres of biodiesel in 2025 from roughly 2 billion litres of capacity, under 1% of its diesel.

The journey

1. 1 Oils and fatsPalm, soy, rapeseed, used cooking oil, tallow
2. 2 Pre-treatmentWaste oils degummed, dried and acid-treated
3. 3 Transesterification1 t oil plus 0.1 t methanol
4. 4 WashingMethanol recovered, glycerine separated, ester cleaned
5. 5 BlendingMixed into diesel at fuel terminals

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