Commercial manufacturing of cellulosic bio-ethanol from agricultural residue is expected to be given further impetus after commercial production begins in China next year, experts say. Chemicals firm Chemtex Engineering Co said work on a new plant that uses second-generation production technologies will start soon in Fuyang, Anhui province. The company will produce two kinds of biofuel: fuel ethanol and mono-ethylene glycol. The company, a part of Mossi Ghisolfi Group of Italy, is a pioneer in second-generation technologies and has a cellulosic bio-ethanol plant in Italy. “We plan to invest USD500 million in China for the conversion of 1 million metric tons of biomass into bio-ethanol and bio-glycols,” said Sean Ma, President and Chief Executive of Chemtex China. Bio-ethanol can be added to petrol to boost fuel quality and reduce carbon emissions. Cellulosic biofuels are normally made from biomass such as wood waste, sugarcane and bagasse, a byproduct of sugarcane or sorghum production. They are regarded as sustainable options to corn-based ethanol and petroleum-based diesel. Beta Renewables, a joint venture between the Mossi Ghisolfi Group of Italy and biochemical company Novozymes of Denmark, which set up the first cellulosic bio-ethanol plant in Italy last year, has already indicated that it expects output to rise significantly in the long run. There are two kinds of technology for making bio-ethanol, the first generation involving crop cultivation, which is widely used in China, and the second generation that uses agricultural residue, Ma said. China has seven big bio-ethanol facilities, and four of them, including Jilin Ethanol Co and Henan Tianguan, use first generation technology or grains as feedstock, says Michael Christiansen, President of Novozymes China. Two factories use the 1.5-generation technology or cassava and sweet sorghum for fuel output, while only one factory, Shandong Longlive, uses corn-cob residue or second-generation technology. A production of 4 million tons of bio-ethanol is envisaged in the 12th Five Year Plan (2011-15) by 2015. Although only 3% of China’s petrol consumption has been replaced by ethanol fuels, the country is the third largest adaptor of ethanol in the world after the U.S. and Brazil.

The European Union imposed tariffs of up to 42.1% on solar glass from China to curb import competition for EU producers, heightening trade tensions over renewable energy. The duties punish Chinese exporters such as Zhejiang Jiafu Glass and Xinyi PV Products (Anhui) for allegedly selling glass in the EU below cost. The glass is used in solar panels, which are themselves the focus of two European trade probes affecting China. EU producers suffered “material injury” as a result of dumped imports from China, the European Commission said. The levies, which took effect on November 28, are for six months and may be prolonged for five years. The duties are the preliminary outcome of an investigation that the Commission opened in February after a dumping complaint by a European group on behalf of producers that account for more than a quarter of the production of solar glass in the EU. The EU solar-glass market was valued at less than €200 million, the Commission said when it opened the inquiry. Chinese exporters increased their share of the EU solar-glass market to 28.8% last year from 6.2% in 2009, the Commission said. The provisional levies range from 17.1% to 42.1%, depending on the Chinese exporter. Jiafu Glass faces the maximum rate, while Xinyi PV Products is subject to a 39.3% duty. EU governments must decide within six months whether to turn the provisional duties into “definitive” levies lasting for five years.

Environmental experts say a green project to convert dirty coal to cleaner natural gas is draining scarce water from grasslands, causing irreparable damage. Beijing is anxiously awaiting its first batch of synthetic natural gas – a material converted from coal and piped 300 kilometers from Heshigten Banner in Inner Mongolia. The gas will power some of Beijing’s central heating systems, replacing coal to cut harmful emissions of particulate pollutants. When the pipes are fully pumping next year, Beijing will receive 4 billion cubic meters of synthetic gas a year – nearly half of last year’s natural gas consumption. But environmental experts say the water-intensive conversion process could drain already scarce water resources in the country’s drylands in the northwest, eroding land and causing more sandstorms. “If water depletion continues, not only will the local people suffer, the environmental impact could be profound,” Chinese Academy of Sciences Ecology Researcher Xie Yan said. Nationwide, replacing dirty coal with cleaner natural gas is a key measure in reducing smog. Because of the country’s limited conventional natural gas and abundant coal reserves, converting coal to natural gas seemed a convenient choice. Beijing’s demand for natural gas is expected to rise rapidly, reaching 18 billion tons in 2015 and 28 billion tons in 2020, as all its heating systems and industrial boilers make the switch from coal to gas. Beijing Gas Group, which is fully-owned by the municipal government, has invested in the coal-to-gas project in Inner Mongolia to meet the demand. The conversion of coal into gas requires vast quantities of water not just for production, but also for cooling and the removal of contaminants. On average, one cubic meter of synthetic natural gas needs six to 10 tons of freshwater. Moreover, China’s northwest, where coal is abundant, is already experiencing chronic water shortages. Five provinces – Shanxi, Shaanxi, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang – which possess 76% of the country’s coal reserves, have just 6.14% of its total water resources. The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) has approved 18 coal-to-gas projects, most of them in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia, the South China Morning Post reports.

China is staging a renewed battle against chemical pollution after the National People’s Congress (NPC) passed two amendments to an international environmental treaty. Included in the amendments are 10 polluting substances to be restricted or banned under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. The convention, signed in 2001 and effective from May 2004, aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of organic pollutants including DDT. 179 countries and regions had signed the convention by May 2013. Of the 10 newly-added environment-threatening chemicals, China still produces and uses chemicals related to perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), perfluorooctanesulfonyl fluoride (PFOSF) and endosulfan. PFOS is a fluorosurfactant created by U.S. company 3M in 1952 that is used in coatings. According to a study by the Environmental Directorate of the Organization for European Economic Development, “PFOS is persistent, bio-accumulative and toxic to mammalian species”. Though 3M announced the phase-out of its production in 2000, PFOS and PFOSF-related products are still made in China. Endosulfan was extensively used as an agri-chemical to control insect pests. It later became controversial due to its acute toxicity, its potential for bio-accumulation and its role as an endocrine disruptor. Second to India, China produces around a quarter of the world’s endosulfan even though it has about 70 substitutes that can be used as pesticides. The use and production of the chemicals will now be strictly controlled.

In a country where water shortages have already crippled economic development, processing seawater for drinking and industrial use offers a future not only to the country but also to global investors. More than 300 specialists and businessmen from across the world flocked to Tianjin recently, looking for opportunities at the five-day congress of the International Desalination Association. Jeff Green, Founder and CEO of NanoH2O, announced at the congress that a desalination plant with a CNY45 million investment will be set up in Liyang, Jiangsu province, next year, the biggest investment that the company has made abroad. Green said the plant will supply high-quality reverse osmosis membranes to both domestic and overseas markets. The new products are expected to largely reduce desalination costs. The company believes the Chinese water desalination market will be worth CNY6 billion by 2020 and that at least 100 million people in the country will be drinking desalinated water by then. Reverse osmosis membranes are an essential material used during the desalination process. The water-processing costs are largely decided by the quality of the membranes. Those with higher permeability rates are able to effectively reduce energy consumption when seawater is pumped through the membranes to distill fresh water. Energy consumption accounts for about half of the total costs of desalination plants in China, said Wang Shichang, Desalination Expert at Tianjin University and a Co-chair of the International Desalination Association’s Congress. Tianjin has two desalination plants, supplying more than 6 million tons of water into the distribution network since 2010. China’s seawater processing capacity has reached about 760,000 tons per day, and the average cost has decreased from more than CNY20 per metric ton to about CNY7 a ton, a price similar to ordinary industrial water. As one of 13 countries across the world with a severe shortage of freshwater, China’s per capita freshwater reserves are only one-fourth of the global average. About 447 out of 600 cities in China suffer from water shortages, and 147 cities are seeing severe shortages, the China Daily reports.