What Are Biofuels?
Biofuels are transportation fuels produced from biomass. Biofuels fall into two broad categories based on their feedstock and the process used to produce the finished product.
First-generation biofuels are produced in two ways. One way is through the fermentation of either starch-based food products — such as corn kernels — or sugar-based food products — such as sugar cane — into ethanol. Another way is by processing vegetable oils, such as soy, rapeseed and palm, into biodiesel.
Second-generation biofuels are made from a wider variety of nonfood sources, such as cellulose, algae and recovered waste products. Still in the early development stages, second-generation biofuels could play an integral role in diversifying the world's energy sources by greatly expanding the pool of potential feedstocks while not using food-based products for fuel. These fuels have the potential to be created from renewable resources such as switchgrass, forest and agricultural residues, municipal solid waste, and new energy crops. These next-generation fuels may play an important role in diversifying the world's energy sources and curbing greenhouse gas emissions.
What Are the Benefits?
Biofuels are renewable, meaning their sources can be regrown. And depending on the feedstock, the processing technology and the type of fuel produced, they can offer environmental benefits such as lower carbon emissions and lower sulfur compared with conventional petroleum-based fuels.
In the United States, some states now require gasoline to be blended with up to 10 percent ethanol. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 set a mandatory Renewable Fuel Standard requiring fuel producers to use at least 36 billion gallons of biofuels by 2022. This increase in renewable fuels is projected to represent roughly 5 percent of the total U.S. gasoline consumption. Most of this increase is expected to be ethanol.
What Chevron Is Doing
Chevron has invested approximately $2 billion in developing alternative and renewable energy technologies and in energy efficiency systems since 2002, and the company expects to spend more than $2.5 billion in these areas between 2007 and 2009.
As part of our strategy to invest in renewable energy technologies, we have formed a business unit to advance technology and pursue commercial opportunities related to the production and distribution of advanced biofuels. Chevron's biofuels business unit is actively investing in the acceleration of the scientific, technical and commercial breakthroughs necessary to bring nonfood biofuels to large-scale commercial production.
Chevron is collaborating with leading laboratories and universities to develop new technologies and feedstocks in nonfood biofuels production. We have formed strategic research alliances with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Texas A&M University, the University of California at Davis, the Georgia Institute of Technology, and the Colorado Center for Biorefining and Biofuels.
Chevron and Weyerhaeuser Co., one of the world's largest forest products companies, have formed a 50-50 joint venture — Catchlight Energy LLC — to develop the next generation of renewable transportation fuels from nonfood sources. Catchlight's initial focus is developing and demonstrating novel technologies for converting cellulose and lignin — the structural building blocks of all plants and trees — into economical, low-carbon biofuels.
Updated: March 2008