Biofuels—Looking to New Generations to Come On-Stream

Fuels derived from oil (petrol and diesel) remain essential for transport, but agricultural countries like France have begun the production of biofuels (ethanol and esters) from renewable biomass, in order to limit greenhouse gas emissions. Almost all of world production today (70 megatonnes oil equivalent, Mtoe) is provided by the first generation of biofuels: bioethanol (75 % of global production), produced from cereal starch derived from plants such as maize, sugar beet and sugar cane; biodiesel (25%) from vegetable oils, such ...