Typical crops for conventional biodiesel production include soy, sunflower, rapeseed, palm, and other oilseed bearing crops such as jatropha.

Soybeans are grown as a commercial crop in more than 35 countries. The major producers are the United States, China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, Argentina, and Brazil. Soybean is grown primarily for the production of seed. It has a multitude of uses in the food and industrial sectors (including biodiesel production) and represents one of the major sources of edible vegetable oil and proteins for livestock feed use. Soybeans are often rotated with such crops as maize, winter wheat, spring cereals, and dry beans.

The many diverse species of sunflowers produce two types of seeds: oil-bearing and edible. Oil seeds have an oil content greater than 40 percent and are best suited for biodiesel production. The main producers of sunflower seeds are Russia, Ukraine, and Argentina, but sunflowers are also widely cultivated in China, India, the United States, and Europe. Yields vary widely according to the growing environment. Water availability is the main cause of the variations.

Rapeseed (colza) is a member of the mustard family. Two types of rape are commonly cultivated to produce either tuber-bearing or oil-bearing rapeseed. Rapeseed is used for the production of edible oil in Asia and elsewhere for the production of animal feed, vegetable oil, and biodiesel. China, India, Europe, and Canada are now the top producers, although rapeseed can be successfully grown in the United States, South America, and Australia. The spring-type oleiferous rapeseed performs well under a wide range of soil conditions but is not very drought tolerant. Oilseed rape cannot be grown on the same field more than once every three years to prevent the buildup of diseases, insects, and weeds.

Crops for biodiesel demand more than three times as much land as sugar cane used for ethanol to deliver the same amount of biofuel energy. Sunflower and rapeseed lead to much lower biofuel yields per hectare than those for ethanol. The typical yield of soybeans cultivated in Brazil is 600 to 700 liters of diesel equivalent per hectare, while European rapeseed yields are around 1,100 liters of diesel equivalent per hectare.

Palm oil offers an opportunity for expanding the energy supply in developing countries by using it as a biomass resource. Care should be paid to analyze which areas of land are used to supply the palm fruits, as palm oil plantations grown in tropical areas are a major cause of deforestation in countries like Malaysia and Indonesia. Malaysia is the world's largest producer and exporter of palm oil. As with other oily crops, current estimates of fuel yield from palm oil are low: about 900 liters of diesel equivalent per hectare.

Oil-importing countries are considering the production of biodiesel from physic nut or jatropha grown on degraded land. The idea is not to compete with land where profitable food production would be possible. The jatropha tree is indigenous to South America, but it is widely planted in Central America, Africa, and Asia. It is adapted to high temperatures, and it can tolerate drought. The tree is well adapted to marginal soils with low nutrient content. Its cultivation is technologically simple and requires comparatively low capital investment. The oil of the physic nut can be used after detoxification to make edible oil, or it can be converted into biodiesel. Nicaragua is a leading producer of biological diesel substitute based on the oil of the physic nut.

Source: Energy Technology Perspectives: Scenarios and Strategies to 2050. Paris: International Energy Agency, June 2006. (Copyright OECD/IEA, 2006)