Readout from Sino-U.S. Advanced Biofuels Forum

Business News/Analysis, China, Federal Agency/Executive Branch, International, Policy, Sustainability

August 20, 2010

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By Chanda Beckman & Kirsten Rasmussen (USDA Foreign Agriculture Information Service) On May 27, 2010, China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture hosted the fist Sino-U.S. Advanced Biofuels Forum in Beijing. The forum followed the Strategic and Economic Dialogue and provided an opportunity for the two countries to exchange views regarding challenges and breakthroughs in biofuels policy, research, and industry development through presentations by private industry, government, and university representatives. Moreover, it served as a platform for future collaboration and research exchanges. This report provides a synopsis of presentations at the forum.Leaders in both the United States and China recognize the urgency for developing renewable energy. The U.S. biofuels mandate presents an opportunity for U.S.-China collaboration in achieving sustainable development of a biofuels program. In 2007, the United States signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China to establish a partnership for developing their respective biofuel programs. In May 2009, China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) developed a series of seminars to help shape mutual biofuels research and development (R&D) projects. In May 2010, the first annual Sino-U.S. Advanced Biofuels Forum was held, bringing together the energy departments of both countries. In addition, there has been ongoing R&D collaboration between the U.S. and China, including an applied R&D demonstration between the U.S. Department of Energy National Laboratories and Chinese universities, institutes, and companies.

China’s biofuels development outlook faces challenges and growth in the sector is slow, lagging behind both Brazil and the United States. China has a large population, yet faces the constraint of limited (and decreasing) arable land to feed its population. While ethanol production in China continues to use food crops as a feedstock, the government of China is looking to non-food feedstocks for the future. Industry development in the short run will require focusing on “one-and-a-half” generation feedstocks such as sweet sorghum, while shifting from first generation (grain starch) eventually to second generation (cellulosic) feedstocks including some forest residue. The NEA estimates the current supply of non-food feedstock in China is sufficient to produce 10 million tons of biofuel annually.

China has already developed a system of biofuel industry standards, and implemented pilot projects. Small and medium-sized enterprises are currently the principal processors of biofuels, and most are state-owned. Appropriate processing technology will take time to develop, and current plants must be transformed into one-and-a-half generation plants. READ MORE

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