Review of existing and emerging technologies for the production of biofuels in developing countries

The present energy crisis has reactivated worldwide the interest in biofuels, particularly in developing countries that are dependent on import of petroleum products and may have, in terms of land availability and climatic conditions, the potential for large-scale biomass production. Various routes are possible for converting biomass into transport fuel. Technologies and processes are described and fuel properties compared to those of the fuels they are supposed to substitute. Emphasis is given to the first generation biofuels, biodiesel and bioethanol, as the second-generation biofuels using whole biomass are still at an early stage of development and would require long and strong public support to be available on an industrial scale. A big consideration is biomass supply, as these resources may affect land availability and competition with food and feed production. These aspects are addressed in a separate paper. Small-scale stand-alone power generation is briefly discussed, as is the possible use of straight vegetable oil (SVO). The main barrier to the development ofbiofuel is economic. That is why cost considerations are developed. However, assessing the cost of biofuel is not easy because the feedstock biomass accounts for the largest part of the total costs and therefore the total cost depends greatly on national policy and subsidy frameworks. The paper concludes with some socio-economic considerations and discusses opportunities for implementing transport biofuel programmes in developing countries.