Economic and Sustainability of Biodiesel Production—A Systematic Literature Review
Open accessAbstract
As Earth’s fossil energy resources are limited, there is a growing need for renewable resources such as biodiesel. That is the reason why the social, economic and environmental impacts of biofuels became an important research topic in the last decade. Depleted stocks of crude oil and the significant level of environmental pollution encourage researchers and professionals to seek and find solutions. The study aims to analyze the economic and sustainability issues of biodiesel production by a systematic literature review. During this process, 53 relevant studies were analyzed out of 13,069 identified articles. Every study agrees that there are several concerns about the first-generation technology; however, further generations cannot be price-competitive at this moment due to the immature technology and high production costs. However, there are promising alternatives, such as wastewater-based microalgae with up to 70% oil content, fat, oils and grease (FOG), when production cost is below 799 USD/gallon, and municipal solid waste-volatile fatty acids technology, where the raw material is free. Proper management of the co-products (mainly glycerol) is essential, especially at the currently low petroleum prices (0.29 USD/L), which can only be handled by the biorefineries. Sustainability is sometimes translated as cost efficiency, but the complex interpretation is becoming more common. Common elements of sustainability are environmental and social, as well as economic, issues.
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Current infrastructure and distribution networks were developed largely for fossil fuels and may not be totally compatible with biofuels.
“The current infrastructure and distribution networks were developed largely for fossil fuels and may not be totally compatible with biofuels.”
From Biofuel production: exploring renewable energy solutions for a greener future (2024) · cites this paper as [108]
Biofuels must be cost competitive with fossil fuels to attract market demand and investment.
“Biofuels must be cost competitive with fossil fuels to attract market demand and investment [108, 148].”
From Biofuel production: exploring renewable energy solutions for a greener future (2024) · cites this paper as [108]
The first major challenge is the high cost of biofuel (bioethanol) production and its economic feasibility compared to the price of crude oil.
“The first major challenge is the production cost, i.e., high cost of the biofuel (bioethanol) production and its economic feasibility compared to the price of crude oil [29,38,42,59].”
From Recent Developments in Lignocellulosic Biofuels, a Renewable Source of Bioenergy (2022) · cites this paper as [38]
Biofuels have both positive and negative effects on the economy, environment and public health.
“Biofuels have both positive and negative effects on the economy, environment and public health [52]; many studies suggest it is crucial that governments across the globe rigorously consider these impacts prior to any future biofuel investments or implementation strategies [53,54].”
From Investigation of Biofuel as a Potential Renewable Energy Source (2021) · cites this paper as [52]
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- Authors
- Mizik, T., & Gyarmati, G.
- Affiliations
- Corvinus University of Budapest (HU)
- Obuda University (HU)
- Corresponding author
- Mizik, Tamás
- Venue
- Clean Technologies
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2021-01-08
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 19-36
- ISSN
- 2571-8797 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3120427823
- Cited by
- 231
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 25 · 2025: 46 · 2024: 53 · 2023: 35 · 2022: 45 · 2021: 27
- FWCI
- 3.39
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Clean Technologies (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Corvinus Research Archive (Corvinus University of Budapest) (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Biodiesel Production and Applications
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › General Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Bioeconomy and Sustainability Development
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › Biofuel production and bioconversion
- Keywords
- biodiesel production, biofuel economics, sustainability, first-generation biofuels, second-generation biofuels, fats, oils and grease, municipal solid waste, volatile fatty acids, biorefinery, production costs, oil prices
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