Socio-economic aspects of 2nd generation biofuels in Australia : a review

Currently, Australia is consuming 1st generation feedstock as a key source for the production of biofuel, but progressively moving towards 2nd generation biofuels. The 1st generation biofuels are extracted from sugars and vegetable oils found in arable crops, like soybean oil, sunflower oil, olive oil, canola oil, etc. using conventional technologies. However, extraction of diesel from these sources leads to social, economic and environmental challenges. It leads to food price increase and creates pressure on land use which makes it unlikely to be sustainable. Consequently, technologies are starting to develop for alternative feedstocks in an attempt to overcome major short comings of 1st generation biodiesels. The biodiesel obtained from such technologies have been denoted as 2nd generation biodiesel which are generally produced from non-edible feed stocks such as waste vegetable oils and fats, non-food crops, forestry residues, various types of biomass sources etc. However, the 2nd generation biofuels are not being produced commercially yet because it requires more sophisticated processing equipment, more investment per unit fuel production and large scale facilities than 1st generation biofuel. Economy is seen to be a key driver for use of biofuels. Efforts are being made worldwide to commercialize 2nd generation biofuel production. The socio-economic aspects of 2nd generation biofuel are reviewed and discussed in this paper. The time-series assessment of rapidly developed biofuel technologies is carried out. This literature suggests that the 2nd generation biofuels are only considered as large scale alternative when it comes to transport sector and for electricity generation. The authors concluded that 2nd generation biofuels have the potential for more favorable economic outcome than 1st generationbiofuels in Australia.