Cellulosic ethanol has huge room for cost reduction and the level of commercialization needs to be improved

Cellulosic ethanol, also known as the second generation bioliquid fuel, is fuel ethanol made from agricultural and forestry waste such as straw, bran, vines, shrub branches, etc., with cellulose as the main component. Cellulosic ethanol is a green, low-carbon, clean renewable fuel with a wide range of raw material sources. Against the background of accelerating energy conversion, the development prospects of the cellulosic ethanol industry are good.

my country is a large agricultural country with abundant agricultural straw resources, with an annual output of more than 900 million tons. In the early days, straw treatment in my country was mainly based on burning, with an incineration volume of about 200 million tons/year. Straw burning not only causes a waste of resources, but also easily causes air pollution. Developing the cellulosic ethanol industry can not only reduce the amount of straw burned and avoid environmental pollution, but also increase the added value of straw and improve economic benefits.

In terms of policy, in 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration and other fifteen departments jointly issued the “Implementation Plan on Expanding the Production of Biofuel Ethanol and Promoting the Use of Vehicle Ethanol Gasoline”, proposing to strive to achieve large-scale production of cellulosic ethanol by 2025. ; In 2021, the National Energy Administration issued the “2021 Energy Work Guidance Opinions”, clearly stating that the development of cellulosic ethanol will be the key development direction of biofuel ethanol.

According to the “2022-2026 China Cellulosic Ethanol Industry Market In-depth Research and Development Prospects Forecast Report released by the Industrial Research Center, Cellulosic ethanol is an advanced bioliquid fuel and is the future industry development trend. However, currently, the cellulosic ethanol industry is still in its early stages of development. Factors such as high production costs, immature technology, and high investment thresholds have greatly restricted its large-scale development. . The expansion of cellulosic ethanol production capacity is slow. In the international market, cellulosic ethanol-related companies include DuPont, Clariant, Abengoa of the United States, Clariant of Germany, etc.

Cellulosic ethanol production technology is divided into biochemical conversion, thermochemical conversion, chemical conversion, etc. Currently, biochemical conversion is the main method. Cellulosic ethanol has broad application prospects in transportation, chemical industry, energy and other fields. Compared with gasoline, diesel and traditional biofuel ethanol, cellulosic ethanol has lower carbon emissions. With the gradual implementation of carbon emission reduction policies, the cellulosic ethanol market is developing will be accelerated and the level of commercialization will continue to improve.

At this stage, my country’s cellulosic ethanol production companies include Datang New Energy, COFCO, Henan Tianguan Group, Shandong Longli Biotechnology, etc. Industry analysts said that my country is rich in agricultural straw resources and developing the cellulosic ethanol industry will help improve the comprehensive utilization rate of agricultural waste and alleviate the The energy crisis is of great significance. Cellulosic ethanol is an advanced bioliquid fuel and has good prospects for future industry development. However, due to high production costs and immature technology, my country’s cellulosic ethanol industry has developed slowly and the level of commercialization needs to be improved.