China would build 13.33 million hectares of forests by 2020 to
produce bio-diesel oil and fuels for power generation, said
Director Jia Zhibang of the State Forestry Administration on
Tuesday.
Jia said the lipid- and starch-rich materials from the forests
could be processed into liquid to make bio-diesel oil and ethanol
fuel and some woods could be cut into small cubes for the power
generation.
The country plans to produce more than six million tons of
bio-diesel oil with materials from the forests and increase the
installed capacity of power generation by more than 15 million
kilowatts by 2020, Jia said.
"We foresees a bright future for the forest-based bioenergy,"
Jia said.
He said the potential of the country's forest-based bioenergy
would be equivalent to 200 million tons of coal, the utilization of
which would reduce the consumption of fossil energy by ten
percent.
There are more than four million hectares of oil plants
nationwide, and 154 kinds of trees could produce seeds containing
more than 40 percent of oil, with total production of the seeds
totaling five million tons.
Another 57 million hectares of waste land are available and
suitable for planting trees for the production of forest-based
bioenergy, according to Jia.
Jia said the administration would develop the forest-based
bioenergy together with the China National Petroleum Corporation,
the country's grain importer and exporter COFCO and the State Grid
Corporation of China.
(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2007)
