Advancing Cellulosic Ethanol Technology in China

China now faces very serious energy shortages and environmental pollution problems. Thus , the Chinese government is encouraging ethanol use as an alternative transportation fuel by introducing fuel ethanol production and distribution within several provinces. Although the current emphasis is on ethanol production from corn and other grains , China has huge quantities of low cost cellulosic biomass that could significantly expand ethanol production volume and reduce feedstock costs. Over the last 20 years , a number of technical advances have dropped the cost of making cellulosic ethanol from more than S | 4100P gallon to only about S | 1120—1150P gallon for biomass costing about S 44 per ton. At this cost , ethanol is competitive for blending with gasoline , and several companies are working to build the first commercial cellulosic ethanol plants. Although these initial facilities will be relatively small to capitalize on niche opportunities and manage risk , economies of scale appear to favor larger plants even though delivered biomass costs increase with demand , and co2production of ethanol , chemicals , and electric power can provide important synergies. Advances in overcoming the recalcitrance of cellulosics are still needed to achieve competitive costs without subsidies , and strategic opportunities have been defined to reduce the cost of cellulosic ethanol sufficiently to become a low2cost pure liquid transportation fuel .