What can be used to produce biofuel

Biofuel can be produced from plant-based crops (such as sugarcane, corn, rapeseed, and soy), oil-rich wastes (used cooking oil, animal fats), lignocellulosic biomass (agricultural and forestry residues, energy grasses, wood), organic wastes (food waste, manure, wastewater sludge, the biogenic fraction of municipal solid waste), and algae (microalgae and seaweed). These feedstocks are converted into fuels like ethanol, biodiesel/renewable diesel, biogas/biomethane, and sustainable aviation fuel, with the choice of material depending on local availability, technology, and sustainability rules.

What counts as biofuel feedstock

At its core, biofuel is made from biomass—any organic material of recent biological origin. The following categories capture the main sources used commercially or at pilot scale to make transport fuels and renewable gas today.

• Sugar and starch crops: sugarcane, corn (maize), wheat, sorghum, and by-products like molasses.
• Oil-rich materials: vegetable oils (soy, canola/rapeseed, sunflower, palm), used cooking oil, animal fats (tallow, poultry fat), trap/brown grease, and tall oil from pulping.
• Lignocellulosic biomass: agricultural residues (corn stover, wheat straw, rice straw, sugarcane bagasse), forestry residues (slash, sawdust), wood waste, and dedicated energy crops (switchgrass, miscanthus, short-rotation willow/poplar).
• Organic wastes: source-separated food waste, the biogenic fraction of municipal solid waste, wastewater treatment sludge, and landfill organics.
• Manure and slurries: livestock manure (dairy, swine, poultry) suitable for anaerobic digestion to biogas.
• Aquatic biomass: microalgae cultivated for lipids or carbohydrates and macroalgae (seaweed) harvested or farmed in coastal systems.

Together, these sources span “first-generation” feedstocks (food-grade sugars and oils) and “advanced” or “second-generation” feedstocks (wastes, residues, and dedicated non-food biomass) that aim to reduce land-use pressure and improve greenhouse-gas performance.

Examples by fuel type

Ethanol and other alcohols

Ethanol is made by fermenting sugars; starches must first be converted to fermentable sugars, while woody biomass requires pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis. These are the common inputs.

• Sugar crops and by-products: sugarcane, sweet sorghum, sugar beets, and molasses streams.
• Starch crops: corn (maize), wheat, and cassava (tapioca), converted to glucose for fermentation.
• Lignocellulosic residues and energy crops: corn stover, wheat straw, rice straw, sugarcane bagasse, forestry residues, sawdust, energy grasses (switchgrass, miscanthus), and short-rotation woody crops.

These feedstocks yield ethanol for blending in gasoline or conversion to other alcohols and jet fuels via alcohol-to-jet pathways, with residues and wastes increasingly targeted to cut lifecycle emissions.

Biodiesel and renewable diesel

Fatty materials are turned into fatty acid methyl esters (biodiesel) via transesterification or into hydrotreated renewable diesel (HVO/HEFA) with properties similar to petroleum diesel and jet fuel.

• Waste oils and fats: used cooking oil, animal fats (tallow, lard, poultry fat), and trap/brown grease from grease interceptors.
• Vegetable oils: soy, canola/rapeseed, sunflower, camelina, carinata, and palm (often subject to sustainability safeguards).
• Industrial biogenic by-products: tall oil fatty acids from pulp mills and other lipids-rich residues.
• Algal oils: lipids extracted from microalgae cultivated in ponds or photobioreactors.

Waste-derived lipids are favored in many markets due to lower cost and stronger greenhouse-gas reductions, while dedicated oilseed crops supplement supply where agronomic conditions and land-use rules allow.

Biogas and biomethane (renewable natural gas)

Biogas is produced by anaerobic digestion and upgraded to biomethane for pipeline injection or vehicle fuel. The process valorizes wet organic streams that are costly to landfill or treat.

• Livestock manure and slurries from dairies, swine, and poultry operations.
• Food waste from households, supermarkets, restaurants, and food processors.
• Wastewater treatment plant sludge and organic-rich industrial effluents.
• Landfill gas captured from decomposing biogenic municipal waste.
• Energy crops and crop residues (e.g., maize silage, grass silage) where permitted.

These inputs support circular-economy goals by capturing methane that would otherwise escape and by producing digestate that, when managed properly, can be used as a soil amendment.

Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) feedstocks

Multiple certified pathways exist for SAF, each tied to specific biomass inputs and conversion technologies that meet aviation standards and sustainability requirements.

• Waste oils and fats for HEFA-SPK (hydroprocessed esters and fatty acids), currently the most deployed SAF pathway.
• Lignocellulosic biomass for gasification–Fischer-Tropsch (biomass-to-liquids) or fast pyrolysis followed by upgrading.
• Alcohols-to-jet using ethanol or isobutanol produced from biomass sugars or residues.
• Wet wastes and algae processed via hydrothermal liquefaction to biocrude, then upgraded to jet range.
• Biogenic fraction of municipal solid waste for gasification or fermentation-based routes.

As aviation decarbonization accelerates, policy is steering producers toward waste- and residue-based feedstocks and advanced routes with higher verified greenhouse-gas savings.

How feedstock choice shapes sustainability and cost

Feedstocks differ in land use, water demand, energy inputs, and transport logistics. Wastes and residues often deliver stronger lifecycle greenhouse-gas reductions and avoid land-use change, but they can be diffuse, seasonal, and quality-variable. Dedicated energy crops offer high yields and reliable supply but raise concerns about indirect land-use change if they displace food or natural ecosystems. Local policy frameworks, sustainability certifications, and incentives—such as those under the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive and national low-carbon fuel standards—strongly influence which materials are used in each market.

What is typically not considered biofuel feedstock

Some carbon sources can make low-carbon fuels but are not “bio” because they are not derived from recent biological material. Distinguishing these helps clarify terminology and compliance.

• Fossil-derived materials: petroleum, fossil natural gas, coal, and plastic waste are not biomass.
• Non-biogenic fractions of municipal solid waste (e.g., plastics, synthetic textiles) are excluded from biofuel accounting.
• E-fuels made from renewable electricity and captured CO2 (power-to-liquids/gas) are low-carbon synthetic fuels but not biofuels unless the CO2 is biogenic.

These pathways can still aid decarbonization, but they fall under different regulatory categories than biofuels in most jurisdictions.

Summary

Biofuels come from a wide range of biological materials: sugars and starches for ethanol, oils and fats for biodiesel and renewable diesel, lignocellulosic residues and energy crops for advanced liquid fuels, organic wastes and manures for biogas, and algae for multiple routes. The optimal choice balances local availability, conversion technology, sustainability performance, and policy incentives—trends that increasingly favor waste- and residue-based feedstocks with verifiable greenhouse-gas reductions.

What can be used to make biofuel?

What are biofuels? Biofuels are renewable substitutes for fossil fuels that are mainly produced from crop plants such as corn, soybeans, wheat, and sugarcane. But animal fats and other byproducts, along with household food waste, can also be used to make biofuels.

What is the most promising biofuel?

Renewable diesel was found the best fuel type, followed by biodiesel and ethanol. Waste biomass is preferred over lignocellulosic and 1st generation carbon sources. Benefits from demand-side measures are on pair with improving biofuel manufacturing.

What is the best plant for biofuel?

Corn is the source material for 90 percent of the ethanol produced in the U.S., but any plant material — collectively called biomass — can be used to make ethanol: leaves, woodchips, wild grasses, even trees. Brazil, the world’s second-largest ethanol producer, makes its biofuel from sugarcane.

What are biofuels produced by?

Biofuels are derived from renewable biological materials such as ethanol from corn starch, corn stover, perennial grasses, woody biomass, and algae, and diesel from soybeans.