China Looks to Crop-Based Energy Projects to Help Turn the ‘Dirty’ Environmental Tide

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). There are ongoing environmental concerns about the number of ‘dirty’ coal-fired power plants and coal energy dependant projects in China feeding sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon dioxide (CO2), mercury and other pollutants into that country’s atmosphere and adding to global atmospheric pollution, which does not observe the national boundaries of the producing country. New power plants are adopting ‘clean’ coal production technologies in international technology exchanges and in locally researched and produced technologies. But the massive coal-fired base load production remains an awesome challenge to power engineers and regulatory authorities.

Running parallel to these concerns, which are shared to a greater or lesser degree by the world’s developed and developing industrial regions, is a growth in renewable and sustainable energy projects in China driven by government agencies, industry associations and international bodies. The government has approved the construction of over 30 biomass plants, of which some are being built and the others are scheduled for construction to begin.

The China Energy Conservation Investment Corporation (CECIC) reports that the country’s first straw burning power generation project to be developed has begun pilot operation in Suqian, in eastern China’s Jangsu province. The $31.2 million project is scheduled to burn 170,000 to 200,000 tons of straw and generate 132 million kWh of electrical power per annum reported Yang Xincheng, general manager of CECIC in Beijing in the third week of December 2006.

Yang said that currently, each year, about 140,000 million tons of straw is burned beside fields or adjacent highways. This practice he said is another factor threatening the environment as well as the lives of drivers and pedestrians. By using this straw as an energy resource the country can save the equivalent of 100, million tons of coal per annum.

U.S. backed China Clean Energy (CCEP), an initiative of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC, New York), in close partnership with China’s South North Institute on Sustainable Development and local bodies expects to break ground by mid 2007 on a new biodiesel plant in the new Fuqing Jiangyin Industrial Park in Fujian Province. The new industrial park has a deep sea harbor capable of handling 300,000 ton vessels, a container port and a railroad to be connected to China’s national railroad network by 2008. CCEP has signed long term agreements with major processors from Indonesia and Malaysia to supply palm oil waste as feedstock for the new plant.

The company has already established markets for biodiesel in the region and access to a multi-modal transportation infrastructure will enable it to meet the rapidly increasing demand for environmentally energy sources in China said Tai-ming Ou, CCEP’s chairman and ceo.

The first phase of the project will increase CCEP’s annual biodiesel production by 50,000 tons per annum and a second phase development will add another 50,000 tons of annual capacity.

It has been estimated that China will use 6.7 million tons of ethanol and 11 million tons of biodiesel annually by 2010 in order to meet 10% of their forecast transport fuel demand. China is targeting reserved land holdings of 44 million hectares for the production of biodiesel feedstock crops/ Crops will include sweet potato, corn and cassava. Animal and vegetable source waste oil will also be used for biodiesel feeds.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a Marketing Information Service company that has been doing business for over 23 years. IIR is respected as the leader in providing comprehensive market intelligence pertaining to the industrial processing, heavy manufacturing, and energy-related industries throughout the world.