What is biofuel?

Broadly speaking, biofuel refers to any solid, liquid or gas fuel that has been derived from biomass. It can be produced from any carbon source that is easy to replenish - such as plants.

One of the main challenges when producing biofuel is to develop energy that can be used specifically in liquid fuels for transportation. The most common strategies used to achieve this are:

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  Grow plants – Plants that naturally produce oils include oil palm, jatropha, soybean and algae. When heated resistance (viscosity) is reduced they can be burned within a diesel engine or they can be processed to form biodiesel.
• Grow sugar crops or starch – These include sugar cane, sugar beet, corn and maize which are then turned into ethanol through the process of yeast fermentation.