Cheng Yuan: Biogas cannot become a new energy source in the future

A few days ago, the China National Business Council’s Petroleum Circulation Committee petitioned the National Development and Reform Commission to call for an immediate halt to the domestic corn-to-ethanol-to-ethanol project on the grounds that “automobiles and people are battling for corn” and that it has pushed up the price of corn. In fact, this is not a new issue long ago. Private oil companies are calling for the halt of corn-based ethanol gasoline. In fact, they are considering their own interests. Because under the pressure of the state-owned oil companies, the privately-owned oil companies that have been difficult to survive have been threatened by corn-based ethanol gasoline. However, in essence, this is the issue of China's new energy development.

With fewer and fewer traditional petroleum energy sources, the transition to new energy sources is a general trend. Although bio-gasoline is renewable, China has a large population, limited arable land, and there are many restrictions on crop planting, production scale, etc. Therefore, crop-based gasoline is directly related to the issue of China's food production safety.

According to statistics, from January to May this year, China imported 23,500 tons of corn, compared with 2,150 tons in the same period of 2009. For the first time in a decade, China imported a large amount of corn from the United States, with more purchases than the total in the past 15 years. In the recent period, under the lure of the state's high subsidies, some alcohol plants in Heilongjiang and other places have begun to use corn to produce ethanol gas for cars, and have rushed to buy corn, which has led to a continuous increase in the price of corn since the end of last year.

As early as 2007, the world corn price had reached the highest level in 10 years at that time, because the US government encouraged the production of alternative fuel ethanol for vehicles. At that time, corn used for ethanol production accounted for 20% of corn production. The United States has been very nervous about the supply of corn, leading to a shortage of supply in the world market and rising prices.

In fact, as early as 2006, China’s National Development and Reform Commission had already stopped corn-based ethanol gas projects. In that year, international crude oil prices continued to climb, and the enthusiasm for the construction of fuel ethanol projects in all regions was unprecedentedly high. In some places, corn and other foodstuffs are used as raw materials to make the biofuel ethanol industry tend to compete with the people and lay hidden dangers in the country’s food security. Therefore, the Development and Reform Commission issued a notice at the end of 2006, clearly requiring that “bio-ethanol fuels” should be developed in accordance with the principles of “according to local conditions and non-grain-based”. Localities must not blindly develop corn processing ethanol, but must also clean up corn processing projects.

In order to solve the energy problem in the future, plant-based gasoline is not a way out. It can only be regarded as a supplement at the most, and it is impossible to become a mainstream substitute. This has already reached consensus in the industry. At present, the most popular hybrid power has not fundamentally escaped its dependence on oil, but has only reduced the proportion of its use. Only the change in quantity, no qualitative change, can only be a transitional means in a special period. In the future, the main direction of new energy may be electricity and hydrogen energy.