An in-depth look at China’s ambitious biofuels program

According to an USDA attache report released yesterday, China is setting itself more and more ambitious biofuels targets in order to reduce its dependence on imported oil. Currently the awakening giant produces around 920,000 tonnes of ethanol per year, making it the world’s third largest producer. China plans to boost this amount to nearly 4 million tonnes by 2010, the report says.

But that is just ethanol, a fuel on which the Chinese government has been focusing for three decades and for which it created standards, laws and economic strategies. Diesel demand in China is twice that of gasoline however, but the industry and policy framework for biodiesel is marginally developed. This will now change with China’s new biofuels policy that will be incorporated in the 2006-2010 five-year economic plan. The country’s long-term target is to produce 12 million tonnes of liquid biofuels per year, by 2020.
Biopact.com.