China to fill cars with cassava ethanol

BEIJING (Reuters) – China, trying to cut dependence on imported oil, will use cassava-based ethanol fuel for cars in the southern region Guangxi in 2007, state media said on Friday.

The region will build ethanol plants with a combined annual capacity of 1.0 million tonnes to deal with a fuel shortage, Xinhua news agency quoted Pan Wenfeng, an official with the Guangxi development and reform commission, as saying.

Guangxi is China’s top cassava growing region. In April an official from its Starch Association told Reuters the regional government was studying the feasibility of such plants.

All Guangxi fuel stations would be able to supply ethanol fuel made from cassava, a root vegetable also known as tapioca, by the second half of next year, Xinhua quoted the official as saying.

Reuters