Rather than burning biomass as mentioned above, these organic materials can be transformed into fuel such as ethanol and biodiesel. Having supplied just 2.7% of the world’s fuel for transport in 2010, the biofuels are estimated to have the capacity to meet over 25% of global transportation fuel demand by 2050.
Traditional biomass – the burning of charcoal, organic wastes, and crop residues – was an important energy source for a long period of human history. It remains an important source in lower-income settings today. However, high-quality estimates of energy consumption from these sources is difficult to find. BP’s Statistical Review of World Energy – our main data source on energy – only publishes data on commercially-traded energy, so traditional biomass is not included.
However, modern biofuels are included in this energy data. Bioethanol and biodiesel – fuel made from crops such as corn, sugarcane, hemp, and cassava – are now a key transport fuel in many countries.
Below chart shows modern biofuel production across the world.
The terminology for different types of biofuels used in government legislation and incentive programs and in industry branding and marketing efforts varies. For example, the names of biofuels may include preceding the type or use of the fuel with bio (such as biodiesel or biojet) or with the words advanced, alternative, clean, green, low-carbon, renewable, or sustainable (such as sustainable aviation fuel). The definitions for these biofuels may also differ depending on the language in government legislation and programs that require or promote their use and among industry and other organizations.
Most of biofuel consumption occurs as a blend with refined petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel fuel, heating oil, and kerosene-type jet fuel. However, some biofuels do not require blending with their petroleum counterparts and are referred to as drop-in biofuels.
This renewable resource also needs to be carefully managed in order to be truly labelled as a ‘green energy’ source. Biomass power plants use wood waste, sawdust and combustible organic agricultural waste to create energy. While the burning of these materials releases greenhouse gas these emissions are still far lower than those from petroleum-based fuels.
The term biofuels usually applies to liquid fuels and blending components produced from biomass materials called feedstocks. Most biofuels are used as transportation fuels, but they may also be used for heating and electricity generation. Gaseous fuels produced from biomass that are used directly as a gas or converted to liquid fuels may qualify for use in government programs that promote or require use of biofuels.
Biomass waste is mostly municipal solid waste, i.e., garbage, which is burned as a fuel to run power plants. On average, a ton of garbage generates 550 to 750 kWh of electricity. Landfill gas contains methane that can be captured, processed and used to fuel power plants, manufacturing facilities, vehicles and homes. In the United States, there is currently more than 2 GW of installed landfill gas-fired generation capacity at more than 600 projects.
Closed-loop biomass, where power is generated using feedstocks grown specifically for the purpose of energy production, is generally considered to be carbon dioxide neutral because the carbon dioxide emitted during combustion of the fuel was previously captured during the growth of the feedstock. While biomass can avoid the use of fossil fuels, the net effect of biopower and biofuels on greenhouse gas emissions will depend on full lifecycle emissions for the biomass source, how it is used, and indirect land-use effects. Overall, however, biomass energy can have varying impacts on the environment. Wood biomass, for example, contains sulfur and nitrogen, which yield air pollutants sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, though in much lower quantities than coal combustion.
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