Page 8 - Biofuels for a More Sustainable Future

CHAPTER 1

Biofuels technologies: An

overview of feedstocks, processes,

and technologies

Jadwiga R. Ziolkowska
Department of Geography and Environmental Sustainability, The University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK,
United States

Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Biofuels technologies and feedstocks 3
2.1 Conventional (first generation) biofuels 5
2.2 Advanced biofuels 6
3 Biofuels processes 13
4 Summary and conclusions 14
References 15
Further reading 19

1 Introduction
Biofuels are defined as fuels produced from living plant matter or
by-products of agricultural production; they are primarily grouped into bio-
diesel and ethanol. Biofuels can be divided and separated into several groups
based on their technologies, processes, and feedstocks.
Biofuels technology can be defined as application of feedstocks in a
sequence of processes leading to the production of different biofuels types.
Biofuels processes are either natural or chemical stages of an industrial or pilot
project development leading to the final production of biofuels. Biofuels feed-
stocks are any living, dead, or decomposed plant materials suitable for pro-
cessing and conversion to biofuels by means of different processes.
From the perspective of the industrial development and market presence,
biofuels feedstocks, processes, and technologies can be classified as
“developed” (with well-established markets), “developing” (with newly
created or progressing market shares), or in the “demonstration” stage

Biofuels for a More Sustainable Future © 2020 Elsevier Inc.
https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-815581-3.00001-4 All rights reserved. 1