Hole

United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

Biofuel production technologies:
status, prospects and implications
for trade and development

New York and Geneva, 2008

Notes
The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publication
do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the
Secretariat of the United Nations concerning thelegal status of any country,
territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its
frontiers or boundaries.

Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined
with figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations
document.

Material in this publication may be freely quoted or reprinted, but
acknowledgementis requested. A copy of the publication containing the quotation
or reprint should be sent to the UNCTAD secretariat at: Palais des Nations,
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland.

The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations Secretariat.

UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2007/10

Copyright © United Nations 2008
All rightsreserved

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Acknowledgements
This paper was prepared by Dr. Eric D. Larson of the Princeton Environmental
Institute of Princeton University in the United States, within the framework of the
activities of the UNCTAD Biofuels Initiative. The author expresses his thanks to
Lucas Assunção, Simonetta Zarrilli, Lalen Lleander, Erwin Rose, Jennifer Burnett,
and other UNCTAD staff involved in theBiofuels Initiative for their helpful
comments on early drafts of this publication.

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Contents
Page

Executive summary..................................................................................................................
1 Introduction.......................................................................................................................
2First-generation biofuels ...................................................................................................
3 Second-generation biofuels...............................................................................................
3.1 Second-generation biochemical biofuels .................................................................
3.2 Second-generation thermochemical biofuels...........................................................
4 Perspectives on first- and second-generation biofuels......................................................
4.1 Land-use efficiency for providing transportation services ......................................
4.2 Net energy balances .................................................................................................
4.3Greenhouse gas emissions .......................................................................................
4.4 Economics................................................................................................................
5 Implications for trade and development ...........................................................................
6Summary...........................................................................................................................
References................................................................................................................................

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Substitutabilityof biofuels with common petroleum-derived fuels.............................
Substitutability of biofuels for clean fossil fuels used for cooking..............................
Global fuel ethanol production by country in 2006 .....................................................
United States corn-ethanol production and fraction of corn crop devoted to ethanol .
Sugar cane growing regions...