Ethanol in Asian countries, Mosaic of developments and doubts
Ethanol in Asian countries, Mosaic of developments and doubts
Reuters, Bangkok/Taipei
Asian countries may see ethanol as a potential money-spinner
or environmental savior, but doubts still hang over the economics
of producing the trendy fuel in a region where old-fashioned
petrol rules supreme.
Agricultural powerhouses, like Thailand or Australia, blessed
with crops that could be used in ethanol production, are making
tentative steps towards building up capacity to capture a slice
of the growing world market for ethanol.
Brazil, the world's largest ethanol producer, is expanding
output to meet anticipated higher global demand. It sees China
and Japan as part of a potentially big Asian ethanol market,
especially if ethanol/gasoline blending policies are implemented.
But Asian industrial countries, such as Taiwan and South
Korea, appear hesitant about embracing the leading biofuel amid
unresolved questions over costs of the blend.
Taiwan's energy commission, facing growing environmental
concern over additive MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether), told
Reuters in Taipei it would conduct a feasibility study early next
year into ethanol as a blend in gasoline.
However, South Korean industry sources told Reuters in Seoul
there were no plans to use ethanol as a fuel because of its
relatively high cost compared to regular gasoline.
"Ethanol is too expensive to be used as a fuel," an industry
source said, adding ethanol cost four to five times more than
gasoline as a raw material.
Thailand, a producer of ethanol raw materials like sugarcane,
tapioca, corn and rice, is well-placed to supply regional
markets, notably China with which it is establishing business
links to feed the energy-hungry giant.
The authorities have tried to boost ethanol production by
encouraging private firms to set up plants to supply the domestic
market and to fill growing demand in other countries.
Thai media reported earlier this week that one of China's big
chemical and pulp manufacturers, Shandong Jinyimen Chemical
Group, had proposed spending 500 million baht (US$11.4 million)
to build an ethanol plant in Thailand for export to China.
In another initiative in Thailand, major sugar mills group
Wang Kanai plans to invest 800 million baht to build a molasses-
based ethanol plant, Boonyarit Na Wangkanai, Managing Director at
Wang N.T. Paper Co Ltd., told Reuters.
Thailand's Wang Kanai would soon apply to the National Ethanol
Development Committee for a license to produce the ethanol,
Boonyarit said.
Construction would start soon after approval is granted, with
the plant scheduled to be completed within 18 months, he said.
The plant, to be located next to one of its sugar mills, would
have production capacity of 150,000 liters a day, turning out an
alternative fuel for automobiles, Boonyarit said.
The plant is a breakthrough for Thailand, where no private
firms produce at significant levels for industry, traders said.
In Taipei, an energy commission official said the Taiwanese
feasibility study had been partly triggered by California's
decision to ban MTBE and use ethanol as its oxygen-enhancing
chemical additive to make cleaner-burning gasoline.
California plans to ban MTBE on Dec. 31, 2002.
"We commissioned professional agencies to study using ethanol
as a gasoline additive, and also on how badly MTBE could
contaminate groundwater," the official said.
Taiwan's feasibility study would assess the economic impact
and availability of ethanol, covering a wide range of issues
including the cost of a shift to ethanol fuel.
It was doubtful the government would introduce immediate
gasoline regulations to force the use of ethanol, the energy
commission official said.
State-owned Taiwan Sugar Corp., the island's sugar monopoly,
produces around 20,000-30,000 kiloliters of sugarcane-based
ethanol every year, but only for food use.