Skyrocketing energy prices, especially the oil shock in the first half of 2005, are pushing China to seek more substitutes for gasoline.
　　A number of cities are turning to ethanol-blended gas made from corn. Starting this month, the sale of regular gasoline will be brought to an end in nine of China’s provinces, including Heilongjiang and Shandong provinces, two of the country’s major oil bases, where gas stations will use ethanol-blended gasoline instead.
　　
　　China issued a national standard on ethanol-blended gasoline as early as April 2001. Since June 30, 2002, three cities in central China’s Henan Province and two cities in northeast China’s Heilongjiang have offered ethanol-blended gas, which is as efficient as common gasoline and works well in existing engines.
　　The public is also being encouraged to use biochemical diesel oil. In March, a breakthrough was made in research on key technologies of biochemical diesel oil production, with all the indicators living up to the U.S. standard. This good performance makes the oil qualified as fuel for diesel engines. A pilot project, which is capable of producing 20,000-50,000 tons of biochemical diesel oil every year, will be launched in the next five years.
　　All these factors seem to indicate that bioenergy will become an increasingly important way of dealing with China’s energy shortage.
　　
　　Bioenergy advantage
　　
　　Bioenergy refers to ethanol (grain alcohol-based fuel), biochemical diesel oil and bio-hydrogen, which are made from amylaceous organisms, such as grain, root crops and straw. They can be directly used as the driving power of engines.
　　According to Wang Hongguang, Director of the Biotech Development Center under China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, the great significance of bioenergy is that it will help promote employment in rural areas, increase farmers’ incomes and also help to improve the environment by reducing emissions of carbon dioxide.
　　The Central Government has set goals for the future development of bioenergy exploration. The annual production capacity of ethanol is expected to reach 10 million tons in the coming years. With an annual output of 2 million tons, China’s ethanol fuel production currently ranks third in the world.
　　Since bioenergy demands a large amount of crops as its raw materials, the basis for further development of this energy source is a relatively developed agricultural industry.
　　Traditionally, agriculture in China is confined to the production of rice, wheat, cotton and other forms of farming. Now, a chain of production and processing of agricultural products is gradually coming into being. As a result, China’s agricultural industry is evolving into a supplier not only of food but also of energy and other kinds of products.
　　
　　Government program
　　
　　ENERGY CROPS: A technician shows corn produced in Jilin Province and ethanol-blended fuel made from the corn
　　Recently, the government launched a program to plant crops to be used in energy production.
　　The crops are divided into four categories: annuals or perennial crops used for ethanol manufacturing, such as corn, sugar cane, sweet sorghum and sweet potato; plants used to manufacture fuel oil (like biochemical diesel oil), such as rape, stout camphor tree; plants used as firewood; algae or plants that may help anaerobic fermentation.
　　Those who plant energy-oriented crops will receive economic support. In winter and summer, a total of 9 million hectares of fields can be spared for energy crops.
　　
　　Hainan bioenergy Co. Ltd. recently cultivated 7,300 hectares of land for stout camphor trees. The annual output of 20,000 to 30,000 tons of fruits may contribute to 8,000-12,000 tons of raw materials for the production of biochemical diesel oil. Moreover, the company is planning to set up a refinery plant with an annual output of 50,000 to 200,000 tons.
　　Another national bioenergy project, in the charge of Shi Yuanchun, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, started in September. This project is aiming at reaching an annual production capacity of 2 million tons of biochemical diesel oil by 2010 and 12 million tons by 2020. Strategy studies of alternative fuels started this year.
　　The government has stated that it encourages the use of such bioenergy as ethanol gas and helps bioenergy producers to deal with technical problems, reduce costs, and compete for more market share by offering them favorable policies.
　　The current subsidy to every ton of fuel ethanol is 1,800 yuan ($225) and producers are exempt from 5 percent excise duties. In order to make ethanol-blended gasoline a popular vehicle fuel, provincial communications departments and commodity price bureaus in some areas have already formulated supportive policies.
　　
　　GREENER FUEL: Some cities, such as Wuhan in Hubei Province, have already turned to ethanol-blended gasoline
　　In October, Yuanhua Energy Science and Technology Co. Ltd. in Fujian Province began to produce biochemical diesel oil, with a predicted annual output of 30,000 tons, while BBCA Biochemical Co. Ltd. in Anhui Province, one of four ethanol producers approved by the National Development and Reform Commission, has already hit a production capacity of 600,000 tons every year.
　　According to BBCA Biochemical, two tons of grain are equivalent to one ton of oil, and thus as long as oil prices do not fall below $35 a barrel and grain prices do not exceed 1,400 yuan ($175) a ton, the business to transform farming products into petrochemicals will be a profitable industry. Moreover, equipped with mature processing skills of wheat and corn, the production of ethanol will not lead to environmental pollution.
　　As one of the world’s major corn producers, China has 20 million hectares of cornfields. Apart from those used for food, feed and wine, approximately 4 million to 6 million tons of corn are left unused every year.
　　Production of rapeseed in China ranks first in the world, with the country boasting a variety of hybrid rape plants and large sowing areas, which can ensure sufficient raw materials for biochemical diesel oil. China is also the largest cotton producer in the world, turning out more than 13 million tons of cottonseed every year, another source of chemical diesel oil.
　　Thanks to well-developed bioenergy technologies and abundant raw materials, the cost of bioenergy is much less than that of oil exploration and nuclear development.
　　In addition, bioenergy can help to reduce China’s dependence on imported energy. Since 1993, China has stopped exporting oil and started to import crude oil. By 2004, the import volume reached 120 million tons, with 40 percent of the country’s crude oil imported. If this tendency continues, by the year 2020, the rate will jump to 60 percent, a dangerous signal of an energy crisis.
　　Genetically modified crops
　　“Transgenic technology is a good choice to boost grain production,” said Jiang Zhenghua, Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress, at a November 11 conference in Beijing on the development of agriculture. “Of course, genetically modified crops are not used for food, but for raw materials.”
　　As genetically modified food is still under debate in China, transgenic technology (a technology to introduce a gene or genes from one individual into the cellular DNA of another individual) is not applied in agriculture yet, but the launch of the bioenergy project has brought new tasks to China’s grain production. In the future, grain will be used for two purposes--food supply and raw materials of bioenergy. China’s transgenic technology is able to increase grain output. For example, after seven years of research by experts at China Agricultural University, achievements have been made in enhancing lysine and protein contents in potatoes. By transferring a particular kind of pollen gene from potatoes to corn, the contents of lysine and protein in the tested corn have grown by 30 and 90 percent, respectively.
　　Food security impact
　　It has not been long since the people in China began having enough food, and food security will remain a major issue for a long time. Some say that the grain shortage in 2004, as well as the fact that inedible grain is mixed up with the good at some grain markets, is hinting at a looming food crisis.
　　As for the three staple foods, wheat, rice and corn, the first two sometimes run into shortages, and there is only enough of the third. However, even the present corn surplus in northeast China’s Jilin Province, the biggest corn base in the country, will turn into a shortage within two or three years.
　　Some observers fear the development of bioenergy will mean fewer crops to feed people, but the government says this program won’t take land or food from people, as its raw materials mainly come from discarded crops and the land to be used includes wasteland, badlands and sandy areas.
　　In China, most rape plants are planted in winter, which means they seldom compete with grain crops for land. What’s more, the full use of surplus crops can help to improve the environment and increase farmers’ incomes, according to the government.
　　According to Professor Li Shizhong from China Agricultural University, there is great potential for the development of energy agriculture. Currently, the output of sweet corn per hectare reaches as high as 70 tons, which can be transferred into more than 6 tons of ethanol.
　　Such common plants in China’s south as cassava, sugar cane, white potato and taro are rarely used as staple food, but when it comes to bioenergy, they are the best resources.
　　In the southeast region, plants such as Jatropha curcas (physic nut) are ideal oil sources, as every 100 tons of seeds will contribute 50 tons of oil. The current 100,000 mu (6,600 hectares) forest will grow to 10 million mu (66,000 hectares) by 2010. Furthermore, discarded crops and plants may reach as much as 1 billion tons every year, equal to more than 100 million tons of fuel gasoline.

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