Abstract
The aim of this report by He-Ro Consulting Ltd., is to provide a clear
understanding of the situation in China regarding the use of renewable
feedstocks in the Chemical Industry, the factors leading to their
introduction; usage today; and possible future developments.
The 162 page report is broadly divided into three main sections:
In Section 1 we look at the Chinese government: the key role it has taken in
initiating the developments in the bio-resources area; the process by which
relevant central guidelines contained in the 5 Year Plans are transmitted via
the various layers of the government apparatus, and refined into concrete
action plans with clearly defined goals and timelines for academia and the
chemical industry.
We look at the specifics of government policy, for example the "2008 - 2009
biobase raw material high-tech industrialization project" announced by the
National Reform and Development Commission on 11 December 2007. This calls
specifically for biobase development - under detailed specified conditions -
of polylactic acid (PLA), bio-ethylene, poly-hydroxy fatty acid esters,
cellulose derivatives or monomer materials like 1,3-propanediol (PDO)
Butane-1,4-diol (BDO), furfural etc.
In Section 2 we look at the role of academia in research and development, and
examine the patent situation. While more companies are now investing in
in-house R&D, a glance at the registered patents (included in full summary in
the appendix) shows that few belong in the hands of manufacturing industry.
Thus while primary research and, perhaps increasingly, initial market
development is still largely the purlieu of academia, industrialized
development lays takes place in the industrial sector.
In Section 3 we examine the actual situation in the Chinese chemical industry
While Bio-fuels is the largest sector within the renewable feedstocks group,
by volume, value, and ' visibility' , it has been the subject of widespread
analysis. Accordingly, we cover this sector in brief, principally in how it
has influenced government policy in the feedstock use issue of food vs
energy/chemicals. Likewise, China has a very firmly established fermentation
sector in the chemical industry and this report does not cover products such
as Citric Acid, Monosodium Glutamate, Ascorbic Acid etc, where fermentation
has become the ' traditional' method of production. Instead, in Section 3 we
focus on those products identified within the government planning as the key
development items: PLA, bio-ethylene, PHBV 1,3 propanediol etc. We provide
details of the producers, routes of synthesis, announced production capacities.
In Section 4 we summarise and draw some conclusions from the preceding
chapters in respect of possible future developments within the industry.
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