Biofuels are usually produced from plant materials that cannot be eaten by humans, such as corn stalks, grasses, and wood chips. Biomass is another name for the plant materials that are used to make biofuels. When biomass is harvested and processed, scientists can break down and convert the plant cells into renewable fuels or chemicals. So, instead of waiting a million years for nature to change plants into fossil fuels, scientists are trying to speed up this process by using clever chemistry to make biofuel from plants that are alive today.
Now, wait a second. If burning fossil fuels, which are made from ancient organic matter, pumps CO2 into the atmosphere … does not burning biofuels create the same problem? Fortunately, the answer is no. Burning biofuel does indeed release CO2, but remember that the plants used in biofuel are not ancient – they were living on the earth at the same time as you and me. And while we, as humans, breathe oxygen to stay alive, plants instead breathe CO2.

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