China is the biggest agricultural nation in the world and used to boast bumper grain harvests. But passion for farming has waned as grain prices have stayed low. Both central and local governments are having to shoulder the financial burden of storing the shopworn grain. To counter these problems, China has launched an important project to promote the use of alcohol derived from grain as a fuel for buses.
The project to popularize motor ethyl gas was officially unveiled in June. Zhengzhou, Luoyang and Nanyang in Henan province were chosen as pilot project areas for the 3000 buses. The green motor ethyl gas sign stands out at an appointed gas station in Zhenghou. Buses have to be examined by specialists at the station before their tanks can be filled. If the oil tank is clean, the green label will be glued inside the bus.
"The 15 pilot gas stations specialize in filling motor ethyl gas. We will examine the buses' performance, monitor their gas emissions and listen to feedback from the bus drivers. We'll look at their experience before deciding the next step." Said Cao Xianhong, Vice President of China Petrol Chemical Corp.
"Henan is a large agricultural province and most of the population are farmers. The transformation of farm produce remains a key issue for our economy. We have spent years building agricultural infrastructure, improving plant breeds, installing corollary equipment and a service system. Grain yield has exceeded 40 million tons for consecutive years. But we can only consume 36 million tons each year; 4 million has to be stored.” said Zhang Dawei, Director of Henan Development Planning Commission, "China has had bumper grain harvests for all these years and the large amount of grain in storage has put a great burden on the government."
"Agricultural development in our province progressed much in the past 4-5 years, despite adverse weather conditions. It is a good thing to have a bumper harvest but it also creates problems because all the grain depots are full. We have roughly 25 million tons of stock every year, mostly wheat, and it costs 5 billion yuan to store it. In fact, the farmers have a lot of grain stored at home. This directly affects the grain market. If the grain depots are full, the government has less capacity to buy more grain, and the grain price declines as a result." said Zhang Yixiang, Vice Governor of Henan Province.
This is a state grain depot in Wancheng District in Nanyang City, Henan province. The depot can hold 80 million kilograms but there is already 60 million already in store. The depot spends 0.2 yuan to store 500 grams of grain each year. This year's harvest season has not been over but farmers are already here to sell their grain. The director of the grain bureau just shakes his head in face of the natural bounty.
"We plan to buy 50 billion kilograms of grain this year - 60 per cent of that will have to be stored outside the depots if the grain doesn't sell well. We have bought about 50 million kilograms of the farmers' surplus grain at a protective price in accordance with national policies." Said Wu Jian, Director of Wancheng District, Nanyang City, Henan Prov.
If the grain is stored too long, it deteriorates. If the wheat is not used within 5 years, it's only suitable for use as industrial raw material or fodder. The Wancheng District in Nanyang City alone will produce more than 10 million kilograms of degraded grain each year. That figures does not include the surplus grain stored by the farmers. Promoting the use of ethyl gas is an ideal way to use up the excess grain.
"It is a very important project both from the perspective of restructuring our province's economy and easing our financial burden. Most importantly, it helps boost the development of agriculture and lifts farming incomes. We make ethyl alcohol from grain and many kinds of grain such as corn and wheat can be used as the raw material. We mostly use the degraded grain to produce alcohol, and then extract it to change it into fuel alcohol. It is a very pure kind of alcohol. One kilogram of alcohol takes about 3 kilograms of grain to produce." Zhang Yixiang added.
Ethyl is what we usually call ethyl alcohol, the main material is grain. Ethyl is dehydrated and mixed with gasoline to transform it into fuel ethyl. The fuel ethyl is further mixed with the gasoline to produce the motor ethyl gas. Tian Guan Corporation in Henan Province pumps out about 200,000 tons of ethyl gas annually.
"Our annual volume is about 200,000 tons and we consume 70,000 tons of Nanyang's surplus grain. Nanyang has a very rich store of grain and making good use of it has always been the major concern of the municipal CPC committee and local government, as well as industry. We have the capacity to transform one quarter of the total grain grown in Nanyang." Said Zhang Xiaoyang, Project Manager from Tian Guan Corp., Henan Province
The transformation of degraded grain not only helps reduce the burden of storing it but also helps farmers regain their enthusiasm for their occupation. Farmers are now more confident about their work.
"Half of my 47 hectares of land are used to grow grain, the other half seeds. If the grain sells well, farmers will need more seeds. If he places a higher trust in the seeds, he'll need more of those fine seeds to produce more grain. He will benefit more as a result." said Li Wuheng, a farmer of Henan Province.
|
