COFCO's first phase of the cellulosic ethanol production line will lay a foundation in Zhaodong, in December 2011.

1. COFCO Accelerating Construction of Cellulosic Ethanol Producion Line
Summary: COFCO's first phase of the cellulosic ethanol production line will lay a
foundation in Zhaodong, in December 2011.
Tags: cellulosic ethanol, production, capacity, COFCO, Biochemical Energy, cellulosic enzyme,
Celic CTec2, Jilin Alcohol, DuPont
The first phase of the cellulosic ethanol production line with capacity of 50,000t/a in COFCO
Corporation (COFCO) will lay a foundation in Zhaodong, in December 2011, according to Ms. Li,
the manager in charge of this production line in COFCO Biochemical Energy (Zhaodong) Co.,
Ltd. (COFCO Zhaodong), revealing in CCM’s September Issue of Industrial Biotechnology
China News.
COFCO, China's largest supplier of diversified products and services in the agribusiness and food
industry, invested USD156.7 million in the production line of cellulosic ethanol with capacity of
100,000t/a on July 12, 2011.
Ms. Li claimed that the production line would be launched in the first half of 2013, which means
that it would be the first one to achieve the cellulosic ethanol industrialization in China. At present,
COFCO Zhaodong, the subsidiary company of COFCO, is in charge of this new production line.
The production line of cellulosic ethanol in COFCO Zhaodong had been in the pilot phase with
capacity of 500t/a from 2007 to 2011, so as to reduce the cost effectively. So far, the cost of
cellulosic ethanol is USD956/t, lower than that of the cost of USD3,134/t in 2006.This huge
difference in the cost of cellulosic ethanol mainly depends on the cost of the cellulosic enzyme. In
the past few years, how to reduce the cost of cellulosic ethanol production is the bottleneck of the
cellulosic ethanol development.
COFCO cooperates with Novozymes on the research of cellulosic enzyme. Thanks to
Novozymes, COFCO has a great success in the cost reduction of cellulosic ethanol production at
present. Cellulosic enzyme, Novozymes' proprietary, plays an important role in the cost reduction.
Celic CTec2, a new product of Novozymes, can not only shorten the fermentation time, but also
reduce the outcome of byproducts. Hailong Lin, general manager assistant in COFCO
Biochemical Research Institute of R&D Center, disclosed that the cost of cellulosic ethanol was
nearly the same as the cost of gas. Furthermore, the thermal value of cellulosic ethanol is 3%
lower than that of gasoline, but the combustion efficiency is 1.2% more, according to Mr. Li. It
means that the energy generated by 1.018 liter of cellulosic ethanol is equal with the energy of 1
liter of gasoline.

2. In addition to COFCO, some other companies also seek to get the market share of the cellulosic
ethanol industry because of its bright future.
Jilin Alcohol Co., Ltd. (Jilin Alcohol), after a long pilot phase of cellulosic ethanol, will plan to
construct a new cellulosic ethanol production line with capacity of 30,000t/a. Although COFCO
owns 20% share of Jilin Alcohol, Jilin Alcohol's production line brings pressure to COFCO
Zhaodong, according to Ms. Li. This production line will be constructed after the internal
discussion at the end of 2011, according to a staff from Jilin Alcohol. Also, Henan Tianguan
Alcohol Co., Ltd., one of the COFCO's competitors, has enlarged its capacity from 5,000t/a to
10,000t/a in 2008-2011. In addition to the domestic enterprises, DuPont, one of the biggest
transnational companies, seeks the opportunities for cooperation with some domestic companies
which have the capability to construct a cellulosic ethanol production line in China.
Therefore, both the domestic companies and internationally renowned enterprises have to face
the intense competition in the market of China's cellulosic ethanol industry.
Thanks to cellulosic ethanol's great potential, which can replace the petroleum gradually, the
Chinese Central Government and the U.S. Government will launch the relevant policy to support
the development of cellulosic ethanol industry.
The Chinese government has repeatedly stressed the importance of cellulosic ethanol industry.
Now the Chinese government will increase the investment of R & D in cellulosic ethanol's
production technology, in order to speed up the cellulosic ethanol industrialization during
2011-2015, revealed by a expert who participates in the edition of "biomass development in the
Twelfth Five -Year Plan".
Moreover, On August 18, the US President Obama declared that the US government planed to
invest USD510 million in promoting the development of cellulosic ethanol industry. Under the
solid back-up support, there will be great prospects for its development in future.
Not just in terms of environmental protection and energy resources, the development of cellulosic
ethanol industry will bring a huge social and economic benefit to China, according to a research
report, written by Novozymes and McKinsey.
The cellulosic ethanol industry will not only create 6 million job opportunities in China, but it will
also bring USD5 billion revenue from the cellulosic ethanol market. It is reported that cellulosic
ethanol will replace 31 million tonnes of gasoline per year, which can reduce 10% of the gasoline
import in China. The report believes that China's enterprises will be the main beneficiaries in the

3. cellulosic ethanol value chain, including the construction of the cellulosic ethanol production line
in domestic market and the potential international market with value of USD15 billion.
The production technology of fuel ethanol has developed fast during the past 10 years, from grain
ethanol in 2001 to cellulosic ethanol in 2011. Cellulosic ethanol, representing a high-end clean
energy, can replace the traditional grain ethanol. In fact, Japanese nuclear accident makes
people concern more about the development of clean power. People are attracted by cellulosic
ethanol because of its advantage of the widespread raw materials without pollution. The
development of cellulosic ethanol is urgently needed in China in the future, especially the
resources of gasoline that become rare and the serious environmental deterioration.
Source: Industrial Biotechnology China News 1109
http://www.cnchemicals.com/Newsletter/NewsletterDetail_21.html
Main content of Industrial Biotechnology China News 1109:
Wuhan Kaidi invests in biomass power
COFCO accelerating the construction of cellulosic ethanol producion line
QIBEBT will finish the pilot phase of algae diesel production in 2012
Miscanthus to be an ideal bioenergy crop in China
A breakthrough on lipase-based biodiesel
Jiangsu Sopo to launch a syngas ethanol production line
China to publish Twelfth Five-Year Plan of Biotechnology Industry
Kingdomway seeking DHA development when facing with predicaments
Overview of Nisin development in China
Trade analysis of butanol in China
Rapid expansion of starch-based biomaterials in Long Success
Kingfa PBS's additional fundraising passed by SFC
Trade analysis of PLA in China
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