The volume of biomass utilised by the global and European chemical industries is almost unknown. There are no official statistics available, so everyone relies on rough estimates. Scientists at nova-Institute have collected and pieced together hundreds of puzzle pieces to develop the best global estimate available. Originally developed for the RCI\/BIC Biomass Potential Study, this document has now been updated as part of the RCI Carbon Flows Study Update 2026.<\/p>\n
The update provides an improved baseline of current global and European biomass demand, with a particular focus on feedstock demand in the chemical industry. The analysis draws on sources published mainly in 2024\u20132026, with underlying market and production data primarily referring to 2023 and 2024. Where necessary, earlier proxy data or more recent estimates are used. The analysis is based on extensive data research, expert interviews, and input from the relevant Project Advisory Board, as well as other stakeholders and industry experts. The sources and our calculation pathway are clearly shown. The allocation of biomass to the chemical industry depends strongly on system boundaries and definitions. In this study, biomass use is consistently allocated at the level of feedstock demand rather than downstream products. As intermediate products such as ethanol may be reported either as final products or as precursors to downstream chemicals (e.g. ethylene or polymers), inconsistencies across datasets can lead to double counting. To address this, biomass is accounted for only once at the feedstock level, and downstream products derived from these intermediates are not counted separately.<\/p>\n
Please use our data for your market analysis and future strategies. If you have access to better data on certain biomass types or application sectors, we would be grateful if you could share it with us. This is intended to be a living document and will be updated regularly. Please contact: michael.carus@nova-institut.de<\/p>\n
DOI: 10.52548\/GZTA6575<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The volume of biomass utilised by the global and European chemical industries is almost unknown. There are no official statistics available, so everyone relies on rough estimates. Scientists at nova-Institute have collected and pieced together hundreds of puzzle pieces to develop the best global estimate available. Originally developed for the RCI\/BIC Biomass Potential Study, this document has now been updated as part of the RCI Carbon Flows Study Update 2026.<\/p>\n
The update provides an improved baseline of current global and European biomass demand, with a particular focus on feedstock demand in the chemical industry. The analysis draws on sources published mainly in 2024\u20132026, with underlying market and production data primarily referring to 2023 and 2024. Where necessary, earlier proxy data or more recent estimates are used. The analysis is based on extensive data research, expert interviews, and input from the relevant Project Advisory Board, as well as other stakeholders and industry experts. The sources and our calculation pathway are clearly shown. The allocation of biomass to the chemical industry depends strongly on system boundaries and definitions. In this study, biomass use is consistently allocated at the level of feedstock demand rather than downstream products. As intermediate products such as ethanol may be reported either as final products or as precursors to downstream chemicals (e.g. ethylene or polymers), inconsistencies across datasets can lead to double counting. To address this, biomass is accounted for only once at the feedstock level, and downstream products derived from these intermediates are not counted separately.<\/p>\n
Please use our data for your market analysis and future strategies. If you have access to better data on certain biomass types or application sectors, we would be grateful if you could share it with us. This is intended to be a living document and will be updated regularly. Please contact: michael.carus@nova-institut.de<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":417157,"template":"","meta":{"qubely_global_settings":"","qubely_interactions":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_uag_custom_page_level_css":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[47],"product_tag":[487],"renewable-carbon":[64],"publication-type":[70,342],"class_list":{"0":"post-417159","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-markets","7":"product_tag-rcibiomassutilisation","8":"renewable-carbon-bio-based","9":"publication-type-reports","10":"publication-type-rci-papers","12":"first","13":"instock","14":"downloadable","15":"virtual","16":"sold-individually","17":"product-type-simple"},"bundle_layout":"","bundled_by":[],"bundled_items":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown.png",679,960,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown-106x150.png",106,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown-212x300.png",212,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown.png",679,960,false],"large":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown.png",679,960,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown.png",679,960,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown.png",679,960,false],"qubely_landscape":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown-679x750.png",679,750,true],"qubely_portrait":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown-540x320.png",540,320,true],"qubely_thumbnail":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown-140x100.png",140,100,true],"mega-menu":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown-191x270.png",191,270,true],"blog-teaser":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown-380x245.png",380,245,true],"woocommerce_thumbnail":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown.png",679,960,false],"woocommerce_single":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown.png",679,960,false],"woocommerce_gallery_thumbnail":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown-200x200.png",200,200,true],"sow-carousel-default":["https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Unknown-272x182.png",272,182,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"Linda Engel","author_link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/author\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The volume of biomass utilised by the global and European chemical industries is almost unknown. There are no official statistics available, so everyone relies on rough estimates. Scientists at nova-Institute have collected and pieced together hundreds of puzzle pieces to develop the best global estimate available. Originally developed for the RCI\/BIC Biomass Potential Study, this…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/417159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417157"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=417159"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=417159"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=417159"},{"taxonomy":"renewable-carbon","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/renewable-carbon?post=417159"},{"taxonomy":"publication-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/publications\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication-type?post=417159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}