The government is to develop a number of new crop bases by 2010
to provide sufficient biomass resources to meet the country's
growing demand for ethanol, the Ministry of Agriculture has
said.
According to its Agricultural Biofuel Industry Plan, released
yesterday, the bases will mostly grow sugarcane, sweet sorghum,
cassava and rape for use in the production of both ethanol and
biodiesel.
The plan rules out the expansion of grain-based ethanol
production, specifically corn and potato-based, to avoid any
detrimental impact on the food sector.
According to the plan: "The total production of biomass energy
from non-grain crops will grow to 500 million tons of coal
equivalent, worth some 3 trillion yuan, which will account for 24
percent of the nation's total energy consumption."
Of all the non-grain ethanol resources, sweet sorghum is a
favorite among agricultural experts due to its low cost and the
fact it can be grown on non-arable land. Under the plan, a total of
3.8 million tons of ethanol will be produced annually from the
stalks of the sweet sorghum.
The plan proposes to integrate sweet-sorghum-based ethanol
products into the current oil sales system, a privilege so far
reserved for grain-based ethanol products.
Nine provinces - Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Jiangsu,
Shandong, Henan, Anhui, Hubei and Hebei - currently have gas
stations that offer fuel mixed with 10 percent ethanol. The number
of provinces is expected to grow this year as ethanol output is
increased.
The country's four existing State-approved ethanol plants, which
produce some 1.2 million tons per year, are located in the corn and
maize production centers of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Anhui and
Henan.
Like the many unlicensed producers, the plants mostly use
corn.
However, the rapid expansion of corn-based production has had a
huge impact on corn prices and last year spurred fears of possible
food shortages.
"The new investment is likely to be in plants that produce
ethanol without competing with grain supplies or taking up arable
land," Zhou Dadi, former director of the energy research institute
of the National Development and Reform Commission, said.
Four non-grain-based ethanol plants are currently under
construction in the autonomous regions of Inner Mogolia and Guangxi
Zhuang and the provinces of Hebei and Shandong, which boast ample
supplies of cassava and other biomaterials.
It is hoped they can help strike a better balance between
ethanol demand and food supply.
With the growth in the production of non-grain based ethanol,
the proportion of corn used in the process will fall from the
present 90 percent to 70 percent after 2009, Cao Zhi, a market
analysis on ethanol production, said.
However, some experts say the country lacks sufficient support
policies to ensure the development of non-grain ethanol
production.
Non-grain-based biofuels are currently not allowed to enter the
market and their producers do not enjoy the same government
subsidies as grain-based product manufacturers, Cao said.
China plans to produce about 6 million tons of ethanol by 2010
and 15 million tons by 2020, as well as 5 million tons of
biodiesel.
(China Daily July 4, 2007)