The Rising Tigers of the China Bioenergy Trade

by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) ... That the freighters out of China contain low-cost manufactured goods would surprise no one. The trick of the trade, from the ship owners’ point of view, has always been to develop a profitable cargo for the return voyage – something, that is, more additive in value than boatloads of promissory notes from the US Treasury.

...Will the trade take the form of exported finished fuels and materials to China, or raw materials for China-based biorefining? It’s more cost effective to ship finished product than raw material, but China’s advantages in manufacturing costs may well offset that. Likely, expect that a lot of refining capacity will be built in China.

...1. COFCO ... COFCO is currently developing a second-generation ethanol project, in partnership with Novozymes, which should be ready for commercial production in the next 3-5 years. ...

2. China National Petroleum Corporation The state oil giant said last month that it will invest a whopping 10 billion Yuan (1.5 billion USD) in new energy development by 2020. ...

3. CNOOC New Energy Investment A wholly owned subsidiary of the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC), one of the largest state-owned oil companies, and the largest offshore oil and gas producer in China, the firm recently partnered with TMO Renewables to embark on testing programs aimed at developing the country’s first fully commercial advanced ethanol plants using cassava residue and cassava stalk. ...

4. LanzaTech, LCY, Baosteel In March, LanzaTech, Baosteel Group Corporation, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) launched the construction of a plant that will use LanzaTech’s gas fermentation technology for the production of fuel ethanol from steel mill off-gases. ...

5. Celanese This month, Celenese said that it expects to begin industrial ethanol productionsix to 12 months earlier than expected. ...

6. Gushan Environmental Energy A major, in-place biodiesel producer for the China domestic market, Gushanannounced in January that it intends to resume biodiesel production at Fujian Gushan, and to commence production at Chongqing Gushan, and to commence production at Chongqing Gushan, in the second quarter of 2011. ,,,

7. Chempolis, Henan Yinge Industrial Investment The two partners announced in January that they were forming a joint venture in Luohe, Henan province, to construct a biorefinery producing 160 000 tons of non-wood papermaking fibres and biochemicals. ...

8. Green Biologics Last December, Green Biologics announced that it had signed $15 million in deals with Guangxi Jinyuan Biochemical and Lianyungang Union of Chemicals to use its fermentation technology in the production of biobutanol. ...

9. CBEL, Phyco In January, China Biological Engineering of Hong Kong completed the final installment of an 18% equity investment in Phyco BioSciences. CBEL is developing projects in the Peoples Republic of China beginning with a joint venture project that is utilizing Phyco’s super trough production and harvest platform and plans rapid expansion of algae biomass projects in the PRC. ...

10. American Jianye Greentech In February, American Jianye Greentech Holdings said it would self-finance the construction of a new biofuel plant located in the ShiLong Industrial Park in Xiangzhou, Guangxi Province. READ MORE