Hopeful Biorefinery Technologies
Year:2008 ISSUE:34
COLUMN:EDITORS NOTE
Click:326    DateTime:Dec.03,2008
Hopeful Biorefinery Technologies    

"Who will be the main alternative in the post petroleum time? Most researches are globally focused on using renewable biological resources to manufacture bio-fuels, biochemicals and bio based materials, with important progresses having been achieved today. A graph of diversified production routines paralleled with petroleum based, bio based and coal based will soon bring to the chemical industry," commented by Mr. Li Zhong, vice president of China National Chemical Information Center in his opening speech at the Conference on Biorefinery Technologies and Industrialization held in Xiamen, Fujian province of southeastern China November 11th-14th.
    This four-day conference was sponsored by China National Chemical Information Center. It interested more than 200 attendees from 120 companies.
   Li cited the data from China's Eleventh Five-year Program on Bio Industry in his inauguration speech that China has around 260 000 kinds of biological species, consisting a firm support to developing biological industry. It is predicted by 2020 the bio based drugs will account for one third of the global total drug market. The bio based materials will also substitute for 10% - 20% of the current chemical materials. Therefore the biorefinery technologies will not only create a new production routine for chemicals, but also play an important role in sustainability and remaining a balanced ecological environment.
    Different from the traditional petrochemical industry, the biochemical industry bases on renewable resources, reported by Wang Changlin, a researcher of the industrial development institute under the State Development and Reform Commission. Currently in China, main products that can be made from bio materials contain citric acid, monoethylene glycol, lactic acid and ethanol. He thought that the indirect substitution - bio chemicals is of more economic domination than the direct substitution -bio fuels under China's current petrochemicals prices situation.
    Other subjects such as the forest chemicals industry, enzyme related technologies, stalk to ethanol know-how technologies, bio fuels routines, bio mass ethylene process and other biologically refining technologies and industrialization experiences have been introduced and discussed deeply on the conference.

Zhong Weike
December 1st, 2008