Can biofuel’s dirty secret be transformed into socioecological success?
Can biofuel’s dirty secret be transformed into socioecological success?
In November, Jaco de Klerk wrote about “Biofuel’s dirty secret”, noting biofuel production’s high CO₂ emissions, its use of arable land and its contribution to deforestation and food security concerns. But is there a way to turn this worrying problem into an ecological and agricultural solution? ROWAN WATT-PRINGLE investigates whether converting invasive plant biomass into fuel could do just that.
As Jaco noted, global biofuels production emits 16% more CO₂ than fossil fuels , while land that could otherwise be used for food production or more efficient renewable energy generation is instead dedicated to growing biofuel crops. This “has encouraged the expansion of farming into previously unfarmed areas, leading to land clearance, habitat loss and significant greenhouse gas emissions from lost vegetation and soil disruption”.
He went on to cite the “CrOP30: Why burning food for land-hungry biofuels is fuelling the climate crisis” report from leading clean transport and energy advocacy group Transport and Environment (T&E). This shows that, globally, restoring land currently used for biofuels would deliver CO₂ savings of 400 million tonnes a year. He also quoted T&E biofuels campaigner Cian Delaney, who said: “Using just 3% of the land we currently use for biofuels for solar panels would produce the same amount of energy. That would leave a lot more land for food and nature restoration.”
These statistics are worrying, as is “the indirect effect it has on farming and deforestation”, with T&E branding biofuels a “false solution”.
Palm oil: an alarming example
Against this backdrop, the legislative and economic weight being thrown behind biofuels takes on a far darker hue. Indonesia, for example, is weighing up plans to introduce a B50 biodiesel mandate – requiring biodiesel to contain 50% palm-based fuel – in the second half of 2026. The world’s largest palm oil producer already enforces a B40 blending requirement and, according to biofuels-news.com, “The biodiesel programme is supported by subsidies funded through palm oil export levies.”
Meanwhile, earth.org points out that palm oil is “the most used edible oil source in the world, found in around 50% of everyday products”, so this biofuel production requires increased farming of the oil. However, growing oil palm trees necessitates cutting tropical forests to make way for plantations and processing mills. “This multi-level impactful practice destroys habitat, increases human-wildlife conflicts and contributes to human-driven climate change,” it notes.
Furthermore, a 2023 article from online platform Nusantara Atlas states that deforestation from the palm oil industry “has begun climbing again after a decade of decrease”. This is no coincidence; a study from the same year by the EU Joint Research Centre and Italy’s University of Padova shows that leading palm oil consumption sectors have shifted from food to the energy sector. “Consequently, the growing demand for palm oil as a feedstock for biofuel production has determined increased environmental impacts in South-East Asia,” it emphasises.
Alternative biofuel strategies needed
Considering the scale of investment and planning behind the global biofuels industry, simply abandoning biofuels is clearly unrealistic. This is especially true given how well biofuels dovetail with existing transport infrastructure and how easily they can be blended with, or replace, fossil fuels.
However, the way in which the industry is currently developing risks replacing one flawed solution with another. Better strategies are needed – approaches that address existing problems rather than perpetuating them.
Research across the world has recently begun to focus on some of these potential strategies.
A 2025 study in the scientific journal Sustainability, by researchers at China’s Anhui Science and Technology University (ASTU) and Kansas State University (KSU) in the US, looks at pyrolytic poly-generation of biomass as a novel thermal conversion technology for sustainable biofuel production.
The study reports that this technology can simultaneously produce three valuable products – biochar, bio-oil and combustible gas – without generating by-products. Conventional thermal conversion processes, by contrast, typically yield a single product, offer limited efficiency and produce waste. The authors caution, however, that the process and its outputs “are remarkably influenced by numerous factors, including the raw biomass properties, pretreatment methods, operating parameters and catalysts”, meaning it may only be effective in certain contexts.
Nevertheless, the researchers note that, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA), bioenergy already accounts for around one-tenth of global primary energy supply and has considerable potential for further development.
Wealth from waste
Part of this potential lies in waste reduction. “A large amount of biomass is discarded as waste, and its industrial application rate is relatively low,” the ASTU/KSU study notes, adding that the type of waste biomass significantly affects pyrolysis outputs. It points to other studies showing that rapeseed stalk and rice husk are favourable for producing high-quality gas fuel and carbon-based adsorbent biochar, while cotton stalk and tobacco stem are better suited to bio-oil production.
Similarly, a 2024 multinational review of sustainable approaches to biofuel production in the Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering reports that sustainable biofuel production from biomass and other organic wastes can support effective waste management. It adds that the use of diverse biofuel production technologies can help achieve sustainable development scenario (SDS) goals, while cautioning that “biofuels from biomass still have many challenges in large-scale production”.
Invasive plants: from problem to potential solution
A 2025 study by the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) and the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), published in the journal Energies, outlines both the benefits of bio-oil and the challenges of producing it sustainably in South Africa. “Bio-oil energy use in agricultural systems provides sustainable solutions for powering machinery operations and heating and cooling environments,” the study notes. “However, its potential in South Africa is constrained by the limited availability of energy substrate that does not compromise food production, land use and water resources.”
To address land use and food security challenges, the study suggests invasive alien plant species (IAPs) as an alternative, sustainable biomass feedstock. These plants, which negatively impact biodiversity, livelihoods and the economy, infest more than 10 million hectares in South Africa. Dense infestations also disrupt agricultural operations, requiring significant financial investment for control and management.
South Africa’s Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment reports that 198 IAP species occur in the country, estimating that they cover around 10% of national territory, with the problem growing exponentially.
“Research has shifted towards clearing IAPs for energy generation as a strategy to control their spread,” the UKZN/ARC study notes. “However, limited studies in South Africa have specifically explored their potential for biofuel production.” It concludes that invasive species demonstrate “dual-purpose potential” as both a renewable energy source and a tool for ecological management.
Other research supports this view. A 2025 paper in Bioresource Technology Reports (BRT) examines biofuel production potentials for Southern Africa’s encroacher and invasive bush biomass. “Several studies have indicated that sustainable harvesting of encroacher biomass and its conversion to biofuels presents an opportunity to fulfil components of more than 10 sustainable development goals (SDGs) simultaneously,” it states.
A chapter in the 2022 publication Waste-to-Energy Approaches Towards Zero Waste: Interdisciplinary Methods of Controlling Waste similarly examines invasive plants as future biofuel feedstock, concluding that their rapid growth, abundance and marginal habitat make them suitable candidates for sustainable bioenergy.
Varying energy potentials: the case for optimisation
A 2016 study by researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology assesses the feasibility of five invasive weeds as biofuel feedstock. While pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis were optimised for one species, others produced comparable yields of fermentable sugars. The authors argue that these results “clearly point towards the feasibility of biorefineries using these weeds as multiple feedstocks”.
Optimisation remains crucial, however. As highlighted by the 2025 Sustainability study, factors such as raw biomass properties, pretreatment methods, operating parameters and catalysts strongly influence biofuel processes and outputs. The BRT paper similarly reports that energy potential varies by species and conversion technology, with gasification-catalytic conversion delivering the highest yields and acid hydrolysis-fermentation the lowest.
The UKZN/ARC study finds that woody IAPs produce higher bio-oil yields than non-woody species, with the resulting bio-oil suitable for blending with diesel for agricultural use. Biochar by-products can also be applied as soil amendments. “Clearing IAPs reclaims agricultural land, restores soil health and ultimately improves agricultural production,” the study concludes.
A challenging road ahead
Despite growing optimism, significant hurdles remain. A 2014 University of Illinois paper published in Biological Invasionshighlights economic, logistic and legal barriers to widespread adoption. One challenge is long-term economic sustainability: once invasive plants are eradicated, where does the return on investment come from?
Logistical challenges include transport and storage costs – up to 30% of total ethanol supply chain costs – making projects unviable if biomass sources are located more than 100km from a biorefinery. There is also the risk that transporting invasive biomass could inadvertently spread viable plant material to reseed IAPs in other areas.
No silver bullet, but a helping hand
There is no single solution to biofuel’s dirty secret. However, invasive alien plants could play a supporting role. As the University of Illinois researchers note, IAPs are unlikely to become a primary feedstock, but could contribute meaningfully to lignocellulosic (i.e., woody-plant) biofuel supply, particularly where biomass is already generated through control programmes.
A 2024 Sustainability study echoes this view, suggesting that biomass from South Africa’s Working for Water projects (which clear alien vegetation) could be used for bioenergy, firewood, charcoal and other value-added products. Such use could reduce invasive species, fire risk and flood threats while supporting renewable energy goals.
A decade on from early research, converting invasive plants into biofuel appears increasingly feasible. At the very least, clearing IAPs, using the biomass for renewable energy and restoring the land – ecologically or agriculturally – could help ease pressure on food security, land use and water resources.
If biofuels are to become a genuinely sustainable energy source, however, their dirty secret must be acknowledged and addressed. Otherwise, we risk repeating yet another cycle of well-intentioned but ultimately destructive energy production.
Published by
focusmagsa
