Review of non-edible biofuel resources in Australia for second generation (2G) biofuel conversion

The second generation (2G) biofuels are produced from non-edible feedstocks such as waste vegetable oils and fats, non-food crops, forestry residues, various types of biomass sources. The 2G biofuels are not being produced commercially yet in Australia because it requires more sophisticated processing equipment, more investment per unit fuel production and large scale facilities than the first generation (1G) biofuel. However, 2G biofuel can overcome the social, economic and environmental challenges without hampering our food cost and creating pressure on land use because it is non-edible, biodegradable and can grow on marginal land. The literatures on non-edible energy resources and their biofuel production facilities and present status are reviewed in this paper. The 2G biofuels market status, future plans, government initiatives for 2G biofuel production and technological developments are presented and discussed. Twenty five species available in Australia are selected from the literatures and their oil yield, fuel characteristics; physical and chemical properties are described. Australia’s biofuel supply chain nexus from producers to customers is developed where the elements namely primary resources, secondary resources, development and production projects, processing, transport and storage, and finally end user or customer are considered as the main part for the supply chain construction. Although, some research are available on 2G biofuel production, further study using an appropriate supply chain with respect to given feed stocks is needed for producing 2G biofuel in a commercial scale in Australia.