Biofuels are an energy currency derived from renewable biological sources, such as plants, algae, and organic waste materials. They can replace fossil fuels like gasoline and diesel.
Biofuels are considered a part of the broader strategy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and dependence on finite fossil fuel resources. However, current feedstock use and production methods raise debates and concerns related to their environmental impact, land use, and competition with food production that are yet to be solved with more sustainable biofuel production.
First-generation biofuels are biofuels produced from feedstocks that are primarily food crops or crops specifically grown for fuel production. The main types of first-generation biofuels include:
First-generation biofuels have important drawbacks, including competition with food crops and land use change. Additionally, the energy balance and environmental benefits of first-generation biofuels can vary depending on factors such as crop type, land-use change, production methods, and transportation. In some cases, they can have a larger carbon footprint than their fossil fuel counterparts.
Because of these concerns, there has been an effort to shift toward second-generation and advanced biofuels that use non-food feedstocks, such as agricultural residues, algae, and other non-food plant materials. These newer biofuels are more energy intensive and technologically challenging to produce, limiting their growth. Second-generation biofuels include renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), drop-in fuels made mainly from processing animal fats and used cooking oil. Cellulosic ethanol can be produced from agricultural residues, energy crops, and forestry residues.
Biofuels are mainly used for transportation, but they are a very small contributor to transportation energy. Demand for biofuels is expected to grow in the next five years due to climate goals and policy mandates. Visit our Gasoline, Diesel, Jet Fuel, etc. page for more information about transportation fuels.
1% of world 🌎
2% of US 🇺🇸
4%
of global transportation energy comes from biofuels
Ethanol 66%
Biodiesel 28%
Renewable Diesel 6%
of global biofuel production
US 55% 🇺🇸
Brazil 27% 🇧🇷
of global ethanol production
US 47% 🇺🇸
Brazil 28% 🇧🇷
of global ethanol consumption
Brazil 25% 🇧🇷
of country’s transportation energy comes from ethanol
Brazil 27% 🇧🇷
Paraguay 25% 🇵🇾
Norway 20% 🇳🇴
of gasoline must be blended with ethanol
In the US, ethanol production is mostly from corn. In Brazil, it is mostly from sugarcane. Corn produces only 400 gallons of ethanol per acre per year, whereas sugarcane produces 1,400 gallons of ethanol per acre per year. The two crops have very different carbon footprints and land, water, and fertilizer usage.
Iowa 27%
of ethanol produced in the US
Texas 11%
California 10%
of ethanol consumed in the US
New Hampshire 1.4%
of transport energy is ethanol
Europe 29%
US 24% 🇺🇸
of global biodiesel production
US 20% 🇺🇸
Indonesia 18% 🇮🇩
of global biodiesel consumption
Sweden 16% 🇸🇪
of country’s transportation energy comes from biodiesel
Indonesia 35% 🇮🇩
Nigeria 20% 🇳🇬
Costa Rica 20% 🇨🇷
of diesel must be blended with biodiesel
Iowa 23%
of biodiesel produced in the US
California 17%
Texas 12%
of biodiesel consumed in the US
Minnesota 0.9%
of transport fuel is biodiesel
Europe 44%
US 32%
of global renewable diesel production
*Remaining production is primarily in Asia, but is shipped to Europe.
Europe 53%
US 43%
of global renewable diesel consumption
Louisiana 38%
of renewable diesel production capacity in the US
California 99%
of total renewable diesel consumed in the US
California 1.3%
of transport energy is renewable diesel
Aviation greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions represent 2% of global emissions (4% of emissions in the US). Airlines have committed to carbon-neutral growth in international commercial aviation beginning in 2021 and US airlines have set a goal to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by 50% by 2050. Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) are considered a solution for decoupling carbon growth from market growth of the aviation industry.
SAF is a drop-in fuel that can use the same supply infrastructure as jet fuel. It can be produced from a number of sources including forest residues, waste oil and fats, green and municipal waste, and non-food crops. Depending on the feedstock and technologies used to produce it, SAF can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions up to 80% compared with regular jet fuel. Currently, most SAF supply comes from processing animal fats and used cooking oil in a process called HEFA (hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids). This process is energy-intensive and requires hydrogen, which today is primarily made from natural gas. Some companies are producing SAF using carbon dioxide captured from places like pulp and paper mills and ethanol refineries (CO2-to-fuel), but still at a very small scale.
Challenges for providing SAF include: 1) Supply. Current SAF production is less than 1% of the global jet fuel demand. It is expected to increase from 106 billion gallons in 2019 to 230 billion gallons in 2050. This would entail several hundred million tons of biomass per year and significant increases in solar and wind energy to produce green hydrogen. 2) SAF prices. The price of SAF today is not cost competitive yet. Research and development (R&D) can help bring the cost down.
Similarly to SAF, Sustainable Marine Fuels (SMFs) are produced by converting feedstocks like wastes and non-food energy crops into energy-dense fuels that can be safely used in marine engines and can lower GHG emissions relative to the heavy fuel oil (HFO) used by many cargo ships.
Other options to reduce emissions in aviation and shipping are hydrogen, ammonia, and electrification. However, airplanes that can run on hydrogen or ammonia are at the design stage and will not be available commercially until 2035. Electrification can be useful for small distance flights.
