Review of Biofuel Production-Feedstock, Processes and Markets

Transportation fuels derived from biomass are an alternative to fossil-based fuels. Due to the fact that globally the available biomass resources are limited and considering the fact that they are also used as food materials there is an increasingly stronger need to use such organic matter as efficiently as possible (for example, biorefinery approach). Against this background the overall goal of this article is to discuss the overall available biomass on a global scale. The article will also touch on the technologies to efficiently convert this biomass into transportation biofuels useable within the existing markets for such fuels and are presented in detail according to the current state of technology. Based on this, the global market for biofuels is discussed against the background of the available biomass resources. Finally the most important findings are summarised and presented. (author)