What is a biofuel or agrofuel?

Biofuels, or agrofuel, refer to all fuels derived from the processing of biomass—plant materials produced by agriculture (sugar beet, wheat, corn, rapeseed, sunflower, potato, etc.)—and intended for use in transport or heating.

As a source of renewable energy, they can be blended with fossil fuels—for example, diesel or B7 at up to 7%—or even fully replace them, as is the case with B100.

Valuable for energy sovereignty, biofuels also play a role in food sovereignty: a co-product of this renewable energy production, called “meal,” is rich in protein and is used for animal feed.

There are two main biofuel production pathways:

• The ethanol pathway, which produces alcohol-based biofuel

• The ester pathway, which produces oil-based biodiesel

Biodiesel production is one of Avril’s core businesses. Thanks to its active contribution to energy, protein, and food sovereignty, the production of 1 tonne of rapeseed biodiesel simultaneously enables the production of 1.3 tonnes of meal for French livestock, while replacing 760,000 tonnes of imported soybean meal.