The Year Biofuel Enters a Significant Phase

Author: Ben Richardson, CEO, Sulnox Group PLC

As 2026 begins, Sulnox is entering one of its most significant phases of innovation and it’s something I’m personally really enjoying. One of the things we’re working on is developing new products that work specifically with biofuels, and it really is a fascinating area.

Around the world, biofuels are expected to perform reliably in some of the most demanding environments on the planet. From India’s national movement to E20 petrol (a fuel blend comprising of 20% ethanol and 80% gasoline) to the maritime sector’s growing interest in ethanol, the question is no longer whether lower carbon fuels will scale, but how well they will work in practice.

We've seen India has demonstrate a rapid nationwide move to E20 petrol which has fundamentally redesigned how the country fuels hundreds of millions of vehicles. Driven by energy security goals, import reduction, and emissions policy, E20 is now widely available across tens of thousands of filling stations.

This movement, made with the aim of dramatically reducing emissions, reduces the dependency on crude oil (hurrah!) and makes efforts towards the energy transition an everyday reality, but also faces some challenges (as well as some in-region backlash).

The big challenge is managing the transition across a mixed age fleet that spans decades of design, engine technology, maintenance culture, and operating conditions. Now of course, there is a difficult phase to every transition and this always throws out public debates around mileage drops, compatibility questions, and durability concerns.

India has reached the hardest part of any fuel transition, the point at which the controlled laboratory expectations collide with real-world variability. Not to be read as E20 is ‘failing’, of course. But challenges that need to be overcome, all the same.

Ethanol behaves very differently from petrol in the fact it has lower energy per litre, stronger water affinity, and certain material sensitivities. Petrol, by comparison, shows only modest fuel economy reductions but still carries condensation, corrosion, and phase separation risks.

India has also introduced brand-new E20-compliant cars and older two wheelers, taxis, trucks, generators, and agricultural engines, many operating in hot, humid conditions with variable maintenance standards that further contribute to world variability.

There’s a lot happening (and very quickly) but this is why Sulnox’s work on biofuel specific conditioning technologies is a passion of mine.

Lessons from other biofuel transitions

We’ve seen shipping, aviation and other heavy industries here before. Compliance comes in and companies initially look to biofuels as part of the solution, only to identify them as key components to long-term stability.

Add to this the need for compatibility across mixed fleets allowing for immediate, cost-effective and widespread adoption of cleaner energy (and all without requiring massive capital investment). It’s not an easy problem to fix overnight!

Ethanol presents another issue in that it absorbs water from the air as it’s hydrophilic by nature. Ethanol and water will collect at the bottom of the fuel tank where the fuel sits. In extreme cases, instead of drawing petrol into the engine, the engine is effectively trying to drink vodka (a mixture of ethanol and water). And with it being a solvent, it degrades plastics and seals.

Most modern vehicles are E10 or E15 compatible (meaning the engine and fuel systems are designed to handle percentages of ethanol without damage), whereas legacy fleets, common across much of the developed world, as well as off-road vehicles, marine engines, and small engines, often aren’t designed to cope with ethanol.

Temperature plays a role too. Biofuels exhibit different physical and chemical behaviours compared with petroleum diesel when subjected to fluctuating temperatures, and it can often result in engine malfunctions. Ensuring reliable, year-round operation is essential for widespread adoption, consumer trust and the commercial viability of renewable fuels. There are lots of factors to consider.

While India navigates the transition to E20, the shipping sector is experiencing its own ‘ethanol moment.’ My wonderful colleague, Stuart recently released a great quote on this. He said “unlike e-methanol or green ammonia, ethanol is already produced at 120 billion litres per year, has mature global logistics, and fits existing tankage and fuel systems. Ethanol is already regulated under the IMO’s IGF Code and aligns with Fuel EU Maritime and IMO Net Zero framework.” (Stuart Hall, Head of Technical Sales, Marine)

For a conservative industry, engine readiness and retrofit potential are of course critical, so ethanol’s ability to avoid infrastructure disruption feels like a huge advantage.

With methanol ready technologies already in development, ethanol capable engines are progressing rapidly. Brazilian trials show that 40% ethanol blends can deliver 15–20% CO2 reductions with minimal engine modification, a pragmatic compliance bridge for shipowners.

Now, conditioners also play an important role. When blending ethanol with diesel or methanol, it introduces water uptake, phase separation, corrosion risks, and storage instability. Conditioners such as Sulnox Eco™ (in petrol applications) demonstrate how stabilisation, improved miscibility, and corrosion control can support ethanol blends in marine systems. As ‘E-blends’ become more common, fuel quality management will become as important as fuel choice.

Why does Sulnox’s 2026 biofuel work matter?

Biofuel adoption on road or at sea has moved past the point of being theoretical. It is happening now, across regions, variable conditions, and facing the day-to-day operational constraints.

2026 is a really pivotal year because ethanol blends (E20, E30, E40) are scaling rapidly. As I’ve covered above, it’s clear to see that ethanol adoption is moving at speed and this is only gaining pace in the maritime industry, but there are some key challenges that need to be solved.

Sulnox’s development of biofuel specific conditioning products is aimed precisely at this moment, where fuels must meet specifications as well as behave predictably in practice. Not an easy ask. We’ll see success once stability is maintained, water is controlled, corrosion is prevented, combustion remains consistent, and engines are protected across ages and duty cycles.

This is exactly the space where Sulnox’s science sits.

Choosing the right fuels and managing them well is dependent for the energy transition, ensuring they perform cleanly, reliably, and predictably across millions of engines, vehicles, and vessels.

For Sulnox, 2026 is the year where that challenge becomes an opportunity, to support national transitions, marine decarbonisation, and global biofuel adoption with chemistry that makes new fuels behave better.