by Dominique Patton (Reuters) China is aiming to produce 4 million tonnes of ethanol by 2020, doubling output from the current level, even as it keeps tight control over the use of food grains to make the biofuel, a government plan showed on Monday.
The world’s largest energy consumer plans to raise the non-fossil fuel portion of primary energy consumption to 15 percent from 12 percent by the end of its current five-year plan in 2020.
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China currently produces 2.1 million tonnes of ethanol a year, despite targetting production capacity of 4 million tonnes in its previous five-year plan that ended in 2015.
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The plan called for the “promotion and application of fuel ethanol” as well as “vigorous development of fibre ethanol”, such as ethanol made from cellulosic fibre, which uses the non-edible parts of plants.
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Ethanol made from cassava and other non-grain sources should see “appropriate development”, while that from food sources should be controlled, except in cases where crops are unfit for human consumption. READ MORE
