## 2 The Market of Biocomponents and Liquid Biofuels
### Biofuels in the European Union, the USA and Brazil  
According to estimates of EurObserv'ER published in the report \"Biofuels Barometer\", the total consumption of liquid biofuels in the European Union in 2017 amounted to 15514.6 kilotons of equivalent oil (ktoe). The highest share in this group was assigned to fatty acid esters, so-called biodiesel (including synthetic biodiesel, the so-called HVO biodiesel, resulting from the process of hydrogenation, developed and patented by the Finnish oil company, Neste Oil. This technology has been implemented on an industrial scale in 6 European countries). Biodiesel accounted for 80.7% of total consumption and bioethanol for 18.4% [26]. According to estimates, 99.7% of biofuels used in transport in the EU in 2017 met the SC defined in Directive 2009/28/EC. The highest consumption of biofuels was estimated to take place in France--3335.0 ktoe (21.5%), Germany--2608.2 ktoe (16.8%) and Sweden--1646.4 ktoe (10.6%). Consumption in Poland was estimated to amount to 581.1 ktoe (3.7%), which placed the country in the 8 th position in relation to the remaining member states [27].  
On a global scale, most biofuels are manufactured and consumed in the United States and Brazil. In 2017, consumption of biofuels in the USA was more than double that of the EU, amounting to 38803.3 ktoe. Consumption of biofuels in Brazilian transport was also higher than in the entire EU and amounted to 16320.4 ktoe [28]. Unlike on the European market, on the global scale, the biofuels produced in the biggest quantities are bioethanol [29]. In 2017, bioethanol consumption in the United States, where it was produced locally mainly from corn, amounting to 28933.1 ktoe, and in Brazil, where sugar cane is the main raw material--to 12912.1 ktoe [30].  
The Renewable Fuel Standard was approved in 2005 and extended two years later, the RFS initiated a period of dynamic development in the sector of biofuels in the USA. It is considered to be one of the most effective biofuel policies in the United States, which has contributed substantially to the reduction of petroleum imports and air pollution. At present, there are 211 ethanol biorefineries in the USA, located in 28 states [31]. They produce ethanol, which is used mostly in two variants of mixtures with petrol--as E10 (10% of ethanol volume) and E15 (15% of ethanol volume) [32]. Moreover, the market offers so-called flex fuels, which are mixtures of petrol and ethanol in the amount of 51% to 83% of ethanol. In 2017, the number of retail gasoline stations selling such fuels crossed the threshold of 4 thousand. Flex type fuels are to be used exclusively in vehicles equipped with a flex-fuel propulsion system. In 2017, the number of vehicles supplied in this manner in the American car fleet amounted to 24 million cars, meaning that one out of ten cars traveling along American roads was equipped with this technology [33].  
Brazil is one of the biggest global bioethanol producers and one of the pioneers of its use as a motor fuel. Moreover, this country is a very good example of legislative support for bioethanol production. In 1975, when the petrol crisis led to a substantial increase in the costs of the import of petroleum, the Brazilian government launched a domestic program to support the development of the bioethanol market, the so-called ProAlcool [34]. The program encouraged the production of ethanol from sugar cane and established a law that required blending petrol with ethanol at the ratio of 80:20. At present, according to Brazilian law, petrol should contain 25% of bioethanol [35]. The development of the bioethanol market in Brazil has also been substantially influenced by the introduction, in 2003, of cars equipped with engines with flex-fuel technology. This solution allowed the consumers to select between ethanol and petrol, depending on the fluctuations in market prices. In reality, nine out of ten vehicles sold in Brazil nowadays are equipped with this technology [36].