From first- to third-generation biofuels: Challenges of producing a commodity from a biomass of increasing complexity
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Biofuels, in conjunction to their positive carbon balance with regards to fossil fuels, also represent a significant potential for sustainability and economic growth of industrialized countries because they can be generated from locally available renewable material. Biofuels are usually classified as follows: 1. First-generation biofuels are directly related to a biomass that is generally edible. 2. Second-generation biofuels are defined as fuels produced from a wide array of different feedstock, ranging from lignocellulosic feedstocks to municipal solid wastes. 3. Third-generation biofuels are, at this point, related to algal biomass but could to a certain extent be linked to utilization of CO2 as feedstock. Scaling second and third-generation biofuel processes thus requires solid economics that are directly dependent on optimized carbon utilization that relies on the production of fuels (commodities), as well as high value co-products.
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Algae are of high interest due to having no food value, high yields with virtually no land requirement, and relatively low cost requirements.
“Algae are of high interest due to having no food value, high yields with virtually no land requirement, and relatively low cost requirements (e.g.grown in suspensions requiring only sunlight, simple nutrients, and CO2 that can be from industrial flue gases) (Cheng and Timilsina 2011, Lee and Lavoi 2013, Atashbar et al. 2018, Richter et al. 2018).”
From Bio-aviation Fuel: A Comprehensive Review and Analysis of the Supply Chain Components (2020) · cites this paper as Lee and Lavoi 2013
The Conclusion says algae produce biomass faster and on less land than lignocellulosic biomass, supporting the yield and reduced-land claims, but not 'virtually no' land requirement. The Third-generation Biofuels section describes substantial water, dewatering, and extraction challenges; neither it nor the Implications section establishes low costs, no food value, or the proposed simple cultivation using industrial flue gases. Page numbers are unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredThe best approach may be a combination of resources to manage the increasing global demand.
“Instead of solely relying on one generation of biofuel, the best approach may be a combination of resources to manage the increasing global demand [48].”
From Investigation of Biofuel as a Potential Renewable Energy Source (2021) · cites this paper as [48]
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- Authors
- Lee, R. A., & Lavoie, J.-M.
- Affiliations
- Université de Sherbrooke (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Lavoie, Jean-Michel
- Venue
- Animal Frontiers
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2013-04-01
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 6-11
- ISSN
- 2160-6056 (ISSN-L)
- 2160-6064
- OpenAlex
- W2079159097
- Cited by
- 571
- References
- 26
- Citations by year
- 2026: 29 · 2025: 45 · 2024: 65 · 2023: 65 · 2022: 76 · 2021: 68 · 2020: 56 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 23 · 2014: 19 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 14.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by-nc
- Locations
- Animal Frontiers (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Biofuel production and bioconversion
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Bioeconomy and Sustainability Development
- Keywords
- biofuels, first-generation biofuels, second-generation biofuels, third-generation biofuels, lignocellulosic biomass, algal biomass, CO2 utilization, coproducts, carbon balance, biofuel economics
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