The current dependence on fossil fuels for power generation is clearly untenable since they are non-renewable sources. Their demand is continuously increasing and will continue to do so, based on the economic growth. Moreover, stocks are limited and the discoveries of new reserves fail to satisfy the increasing market needs. In addition, the combustion of fossil fuels leads to an increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, thus contributing to the process of global warming. Current market demands are for non-polluting sustainable and economic energy.

In this respect modern technology, and biotechnology in particular, are making great efforts to transform the biomass of different vegetables (rapeseed, sunflower, soybeans) in a compound used as a cost-efficient fuel that can compete with the current price of oil. The combustion of these compounds derived from biomass releases carbon dioxide that the plants fixed by photosynthesis and is neutral from the point of view of global warming. Biomass of plant origin can be a source of renewable and sustainable fuel.
Biodiesel fuel made from vegetable oils is made from plant biomass through a process of trans-esterification of triacylglycerols (vegetable fat) with alcohols.

Biodiesel has many advantages such as reduced emissions of sulfur, aromatic compounds, and particles resulting from combustion of diesel engines. Biomass is the most sophisticated form of accumulation of solar energy, which allows plants to convert atmospheric CO₂ into organic matter through the process of photosynthesis during their growth. This will total around 21,011 tons of carbon per year, with an energy content of about 70,103 Mtoe (million tons oil equivalent).

Biomass for energy includes all organic materials that can be used directly as fuel or converted into other substances (solid, liquid or gaseous) that are more easily used in conversion facilities. Other forms of biomass can also be formed by the residues of crops intended for human or animal (straw) or plants grown specifically for energy purposes.

The most important types of biomass are: forest residues, waste from the processing of wood (chips, sawdust, etc.), farms waste, mercantile waste, and municipal solid waste. They can also be used as additives in some traditional fuels (petrol and diesel fuel).
In this classification are:

• Biodiesel;
• Bioethanol;
• ETBE (ethyl-tertio-butyl-ether);
• MTBE (methyl-tertiary-butyl ether).