China's Guanxi province getting serious about cassava ethanol
As we wrote recently, the Guanxi province in the south of China is using its main agricultural product, cassava, to produce ethanol. This tuberous root can be grown in dry land which, according to Xinhua's official news agency, allows biofuel production without competing with food resources. Local drivers will be able to use the biofuel soon: pumps in Guanxi's 14 cities will distribute ethanol exclusively in two weeks time.
Besides cassava, China is working on producing ethanol from other sources such as sweet potatoes, sorghum and straw and the country is quite desperate to reduce its foreign oil dependence. Oil imports in China were up 12 percent in 2007 so the country is aiming to make 10 percent of its energy sources renewable.
[Source: Econoticias]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
KarenRei 3:27PM (4/03/2008)
Between Bohai Bay (7.5bboe known in Jidong Nanpu, and 146bboe estimated for all of the bay) and Tahe (29bboe est), I don't think they're going to be all that desperate for oil for long. China is not without significant oil resources.
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Kevin Nugent 9:14PM (4/03/2008)
But is that even efficent ?? If the ethanol price i just as high as the gas price what is the sense. I have never heard of ethanol form cassava ,but leave it up to the japanese to come up with something like this .
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