Fueling the future
- Source: Global Times
- [07:23 June 29 2009]
- Comments
By Cong Mu
Trucks are loaded with sugar cane, which will be used in the production of the biofuel ethanol, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Photo: CFP
A dozen ampules of pre-treated viscous liquids immersed in a thermostatic bath were discharging a smell of straw. A young woman researcher nearly bumped into a visitor who was examining the different apparatus in the Novozymes Investment research lab, in a high-tech development zone about 20 kilometers from downtown Beijing.
“We have three labs like this in China, Europe and the US, working 24 hours a day,” Mars Zhu, communication manager of the Denmark-based Novozymes (China) Investment Co, said in the company's China research center.
More than 100 scientists are dedicated to finding ideal enzymes for producing second-generation (2G) bioethanol, Zhu said.
First-generation (1G) bioethanol technology uses starch, from grain or non-grain crops, to produce ethanol, while 2G technology uses cellulose materials, such as straw, to produce ethanol. The latter needs certain enzymes to help break down the cellulose to glucose (C6) and xylose (C5) before the sugars are fermented to ethanol.
“Second-generation bioethanol production in China holds vast potential for Novozymes and we expect to be the first company with enzymes ready for large-scale production by 2010,” said the company's CEO, Steen Riisgaard, in a press release earlier this year.
“China has the favorable conditions for developing cellulosic ethanol. As we look at it, the US, Europe, China and Brazil will be the pioneers in this industry,” said Maggie Feng, regional marketing manager of Novozymes (China).
Feng said her optimism came from the country's abundant feedstock supply from agriculture and forestry, government policy support and the stable political and economic environment. In addition, she said that the development of 1G biofuel in China has built a good foundation, particularly in infrastructure and distribution, for 2G.
Novozymes entered a deal with its Chinese partner, COFCO, and the major Chinese oil and energy company, Sinopec on February 2 to develop bioethanol from agricultural waste. The three partners will co-own the intellectual property rights they develop together, Feng said.
COFCO is a leading producer and supplier of processed agricultural products. Sinopec is the world's third-largest oil refinery.
Bumpy road
China has been partially promoting the use of bioethanol since 2001, in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and its dependence on petroleum. But only the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Henan and Anhui as well as 27 cities in the provinces of Hubei, Shandong, Hebei and Jiangsu are selling bioethanol gasoline.
The government gave mandates to four companies in the provinces of Jilin, Henan, Anhui and Heilongjiang to produce fuel alcohol based on corn and wheat for motor vehicle use in 2002.
“In 2006, China's ethanol production was about 3.5 million tons, of which fuel ethanol output was 1.3 million tons, the third largest in the world,” wrote Lou Schwartz, President of China Strategies, LLC on renewableenergyworld.com in May 2008.
An increasing amount of corn was used for producing fuel ethanol from 2001 to 2005, prompting corn prices to rise continuously, wrote Li Zhijun, vice-director of the Department of Techno-Economic Research of Development Research Center of the State Council in an article published in July, 2008.
The four companies lost 1,000 yuan ($143) on every ton of fuel ethanol they produced, Li wrote, and the government had provided subsidies of over 2 billion yuan ($286 million) each year to them.
Ethanol gasoline now accounts for 10 percent of the national gasoline consumption, Zhu said, but ethanol replaces only 1 percent of the gasoline consumed by China, because the government stipulates that its refineries should only blend 10 percent ethanol into the gasoline sold in the trial areas.
In December 2006, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) and the Ministry of Finance jointly issued a Notice Concerning Strengthening the Management of Biofuel Ethanol Projects and Promoting the Healthy Development of the Industry.
“In the year and a half since the notice was issued, while the examination and approval of new fuel ethanol projects was put on hold, Beijing did not specifically encourage the development of non-grain based ethanol plant development,” Schwartz wrote.
On June 14, a national research center for non-grain biofuel technology was established in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, focusing its research on cassava, sorghum and sugarcane
Outlook
“Not long ago, we just came out with a patent technology on the simultaneous fermentation of C5 and C6,” Feng said.
Novozymes already has two other upgraded enzymes in the pipeline for 2010.
“It is crucial that the key processes, namely pretreatment, hydrolysis, enzymes, and fermentation, become truly integrated. If not, yields and cost will not be optimized,” the Danish company said in its 2008 Annual Report.
The process technologies will be ready by 2011, Feng said.
Novozymes has been improving its enzymes by applying gene modifications on ad hoc bacteria, Zhu said, and once enzymes are ripe, there will be no technological obstacle left.
While the 2G bioethanol industry is fermenting, it still faces cost and material supply hurdles on its way of development and, perhaps, a greater barrier, doubt as to its commercial viability.
“I'm not optimistic on its prospect in three to five years,” said Luo Zhihong, vice director of China Renewable Energy Scale-up Program, suggesting it takes at least five years for a laboratory technology to go to scale production.
“The cellulosic ethanol's technological problems haven't been solved completely,” said Ma Zhanyun of the Institute of Environment and Sustainable Development in Agricultrue, “Its feedstock is fragmented and difficult to collect, and its cost is too high.”
The production cost of cellulosic ethanol is estimated at $2.6 per gallon in 2010, and it will lower to $1.5 per gallon in 2015, according to data provided by Novozymes.
Before the cost gets down to $1.5 per gallon, the 2G technology won't have a good potential for scale production, Luo said, citing the cost of 1G bioethanol at $1.9 per gallon.
Feng admitted that there is no timetable for the scale production, because developing the 2G bioethanol industry would mainly depend on government policies, such as subsidies and tax waivers.
“But at least, we can do our best to be prepared technology-wise,” Feng said. “We're looking forward to some new national policies to shed light on this industry.”
Liu Qi, deputy director of the National Energy Administration, said in a press conference on June 1, that a plan on new energy development was being studied, and it would define and set up frameworks for the new energies, including new fuel for motor vehicle use.
China is expected to use 2.2 million tons of biofuel a year by 2010 and the figure will increase to 12 million tons by 2020, according to the Medium- and Long-Term Renewable Energy Development Plan released by NDRC in 2007.
Biofuels include bioethanol and biodiesel.
Environmentally friendlier
China's transportation sector emitted 406 megatons of carbon dioxide in 2005, and cellulosic ethanol technology can provide an abatement potential of 86 megatons, according to a report jointly released by McKinsey & Co and Novozymes in April.
While cellulosic ethanol was expected to save up to 97 percent of the GHG versus gasoline, corn-based and wheat-based ethanol showed limited gas reductions, McKinsey said in its 2008 Danish Environmental Technology Adoption in China report.
“Cellulosic ethanol from agricultural residue and energy crops holds the greatest CO2 abatement potential,” the report claimed.
There will be around 200 million tons of agriculture waste available to produce 55 million tons of cellulosic ethanol in 2020, according to the data provided by the biotechnology company. Zhu said they expected ethanol to replace more than 30 percent of the oil consumption in the transportation sector by 2020.
Among 15 people randomly interviewed by the Global Times in Beijing, 12 support the use of the greener fuel. “I think conventional fuels are too polluting, especially for such a city like Beijing, where there are too many vehicles,” said a female literature editor named Song. Beijing hasn't introduced the use of biofuel yet.
“Of course (I support it). It is so hot nowadays,” said a man named Zhao, who works in the oil industry.