Bioenergy industries development in China: Dilemma and solution

Having 2.8 × 108–3.0 × 108 t/a of wood energy, 4.0 × 106 t/a of oil seeds, 7.7 × 108 t/a of crops straw, 3.97 × 109 t/a of poultry and livestock manure, 1.48 × 108 t/a of municipal waste, and 4.37 × 1010 t/a of organic wastewater, China is in possession of good resource condition for the development of bioenergy industries. Until the end of 2007, China has popularized 2.65 × 107 rural household biogas, established 8318 large and middle-scale biogas projects, and produced 1.08 × 1010 m3/a of biogas; the production of bioethanol, biodiesel, biomass briquettes fuel and biomass power generation reached to 1.5 × 106 t/a, 3.0 × 105 t/a, 6.0 × 104 t/a and 6.42 × 109 kWh, respectively. In recent years, bioenergy industries developed increasingly fast in China. However, the industrial base was weak with some dilemma existing in raw material supply, technological capability, industry standards, policy and regulation, and follow-up services, etc. From the viewpoint of long-term effective development system for bioenergy industries in China, a series of policy suggestions have been offered, such as strengthening strategy research, improving bioenergy industries development policies and plan, enhancing scientific research input, persisting in technology innovation, establishing product quality standard, improving industrial standard system, opening market and accelerating commercialization, etc. It is expected that the advices mentioned above could be helpful for the improvement of bioenergy industries development.