Biofuel Development Current Status: A Review

Abstract

Sustainable biofuel development and utilization have been established as a strong way to mitigate the perilous climate change we experience today. It has been long now; there have been progressive efforts in developing biofuels in different parts of the world which have resulted in varieties of biofuels in existence today. Some of them include bioethanol fuel, mixed ethanol, bio ethers, biodiesel, green diesel, Fisher-Tropsch gasoline, biomass briquettes, biogas, etc. Based on their feedstock used in their production, they are classified as first generation, second generation, third generation and fourth generation biofuels. First generation biofuel is derived from edible food crops, the second generation is made from lignocellulosic materials, while the third generation biofuel is derived from algae which have been reported to be a perfect biofuel feedstock because of their high oil content and their phenomenal growth rate. Fourth generation biofuel was based on genetically modified carbon negative crops. This paper reviewed the current development in biofuel.