Guangzhou China, June 7, 2011 - "Technical Requirements for Biodiesel Assessment", the domestic first trade standard for biodiesel officially issued by China Association of Environmental Protection Industry (CAEPI) on April 20, 2011, is expected to regulate Chinese biodiesel industry in a comprehensive approach.
In fact, before this trade standard, China has already issued and implemented two national standards, namely "Biodiesel Blend Stock (BD100) for Diesel Engine Fuels" taking effect on May 1, 2007 and "Biodiesel Fuel Blend (B5)" taking effect on February 1, 2011, aiming to guarantee the biodiesel quality and also promote consumption of biodiesel as vehicle fuel. However, these two national standards can only be seen as quality requirements for the product "biodiesel" itself, rather than rules and regulations for both production and sales of biodiesel.
The trade standard can compensate for the shortcomings. Specifically speaking, besides the product quality requirements, the trade standard also mandates three more categories of requirements, such as technical innovation, environmental benefit, and service and development. So the trade standard can lead all the activities in biodiesel industry, like product design, manufacturing, sewage treatment, distribution and sales, to comply with a set of unified requirements and thus regulating the Chinese biodiesel industry in a very comprehensive approach.
Qingdao Furuisi Bio-energy Scientific Technology Development Co., Ltd. (Qingdao Furuisi) is a biodiesel producer who has already reached the trade standard. According to Ms.Zhang, an employee from Qingdao Furuisi, the standard requires biodiesel producers to have their own innovative technology and superior product quality first, which can be the hardest part for applicants to come up to the standard. Moreover, in terms of environmental protection, the standard mandates that all the wastes from biodiesel production should be treated strictly according to the local relevant laws, and it also mandates that the crude glycerine from the production should be recovered and refined and the floridin for oil decoloring should be utilized to produce bricks. These environmental requirements can also hinder many enterprises from reaching the standard. Ms. Zhang added that the remarkable advantages for a company to come up to the standard is to largely enhance clients' confidence in the company's biodiesel quality and thus increasing the sales of their biodiesel.
However, Ms. Zhang claimed that even though the sales of their biodiesel were very good, only a little biodiesel was sold to gas station as vehicle fuel and most biodiesel was still used as fuel in production equipment like boiler. At present, the market price gap between the common used fossil-based diesel (0#) and biodiesel is below USD76/t (RMB500/t), very little profit margin for gas stations when the biodiesel blend rate is 5%. So even though the "Biodiesel Fuel Blend (B5)" has taken effect since February 1, 2011, the consumption of biodiesel as vehicle fuel still hasn't prevailed all over the country. To improve this situation, setting pilot spot for biodiesel consumption as vehicle fuel might be an effective measurement as well. For example, currently there is only one province, Hainan Province, where biodiesel is mandated to be used in China. In Hainan Province, biodiesel is sold to 23 gas stations in two counties, namely Lingao and Chengmai where have received good market response by now.
Source: CCM International