"With the technologies we have developed so far, China is capable of producing 50 million tons of ethanol a year, equal to a Daqing oilfield in northeastern Heilongjiang Province," Ren said.

Ren's calculation was based on the consumption of 350 million tons of biomass from the total 1 billion tons produced in China each year.

"We don't have sufficient stale grain, not to say the amount of maize," Ren said in his proposal for more national investment in biomass pilot projects.

Ren also said the Chinese Academy of Sciences had acquired some world-class advanced technologies, which could produce one ton of ethanol at a cost of 4,500 yuan ($562).

Ethanol is the main biofuel produced in China, with output hitting 1.02 million tons in 2005. Corn accounted for 76 per cent of the raw material. The others were mainly wheat and sorghum.

China plans to produce about 6 million tons of ethanol by 2010 and 15 million tons by 2020 in addition to 5 million tons of biodiesel, according to sources with the ministry.

(China Daily 03/08/2007 page6) 

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