what is feedstock

Feedstock, also known as raw material, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, refers to the basic material used to produce goods, finished products, energy, or intermediate materials that are feedstock for future finished products. It can be organic materials in an active state of decomposition, such as biomass, or inorganic materials like crude oil. Feedstock is the input fed into a process for conversion into something different, such as crude oil being used as feedstock in a refining process to produce gasoline. Examples of feedstock include crude oil for gasoline production, corn for ethanol production, and soybean oil for biodiesel production. In the context of renewable fuel production, biomass feedstock, which includes material from algae, plants, and animals, is used to produce biofuels. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 established that biofuels must come from feedstocks that qualify as renewable biomass, which include materials that can be replenished within a short period of time.