Biofuel is fuel derived from dead biological material. It can be in solid, liquid or gas state. It’s not the same as fossil fuel, because fossil fuel is derived from long dead biological material. The main sources of biofuels are plants and plant-derived materials. They are mainly used to power vehicles and heat homes.

The main advantage of biofuels is that they can produce energy without releasing CO2 into the atmosphere. Of course, biofuels greatly reduce our „addiction“ of petroleum.

There are several types of biofuels:

• 1st generation biofuels

These are biofuels made from sugar, vegetable oil or animal fat by using advanced technology. Used vegetable oil is mostly being processed into biodiesel. Biodiesel is produced from oils or fats by using the transesterification process. Alcohol fuels are produced from sugar or starch through the process of fermentation. The most famous is ethanol fuelLINK. BiogasLINK is produced by anaerobes through the proces of anaerobic digestion.

• 2nd generation biofuels

This generation is focused on the „biomass to liquid“ technology, including cellulosic biofuels and non food crops.

• 3rd generation biofuels

This generation is all about algae fuel. That’s biofuel derived from algae, low-input but high-yield organisms. They produce around thirty times more energy than, for example, soybeans.

• 4th generation biofuels

This generation is focused on converting biodiesel into gasoline.

There are many issues, both positive and negative, surrounding biofuels, such as „food versus fuel“, human rights, poverty reduction potential and much more.

The world’s largest producers of biofuel are Brazil, USA, France and Germany.

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