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Government, private sector to fuel case for using bioethanol
(Yomiuri Shimbun, The (Tokyo) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 25--TOKYO -- The government and the private sector have started to get serious about using bioethanol, made from corn and other plants, as an alternative fuel for automobiles.
The use of bioethanol is considered helpful to control carbon dioxide emissions, whose reduction is required under the Kyoto Protocol to combat global warming. This is because the plants grown to produce the biofuel absorb CO2 from the atmosphere, which cancels out the CO2 produced when the fuel is burned.
But there are a number of hurdles to be cleared, for example high prices, before the energy source can be widely used.
On April 10, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai and Luiz Ferdinand Furlan, Brazilian minister of development, industry and trade, agreed that Japan's imports of bioethanol from Brazil should be promoted.
On April 17, Nikai said that Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi had instructed him to take necessary tax and budget measures to promote ethanol.
Nikai thus indicated that the government is set to make serious efforts for wider use of bioethanol.
Government officials are likely to consider introducing preferential tax treatment for fuel products, including bioethanol.
Bioethanol is an alcohol made by the fermentation of such plants as sugarcane and corn. By mixing it with gasoline, it can be used as fuel for automobiles.
Of 41 million kiloliters produced worldwide in 2004, the production by Brazil and the United States accounts for 70 percent, each producing 15 million kiloliters and 14 million kiloliters, respectively.
Plants absorb CO2 in the air when they grow. The amount of overall CO2 therefore would not increase even after bioethanol is burned as a fuel. Under the Kyoto Protocol, bioethanol is excluded from the target of calculation of CO2 emissions.
In Kyoto Protocol action plans compiled in April last year, the government set a target of using bioethanol to provide energy equivalent to that produced by 500,000 kiloliters of crude oil by fiscal 2010.
The Petroleum Association of Japan has been proceeding with a plan to import 360,000 kiloliters of bioethanol, equivalent to 210,000 kiloliters in oil, for chemical treatment and later for blending with gasoline.
The government is obliged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 6 percent from the 1990 level.
The association's project is expected to help the nation reduce emissions by a little less than 1 percent.
Under the project, bioethanol imported from Brazil would be first treated with a substance generated in the process of gasoline refinement to form a compound called ethyltertiarybutylether (ETBE).
ETBE would then be blended with gasoline. Blending of ETBE up to 8 percent is said to have no negative effect on the running ability of automobiles.
On Iejima island in Okinawa Prefecture, Asahi Breweries Ltd. started from January to produce bioethanol from sugarcane, taking advantage of distilling technologies it has developed for alcohol production.
In a joint experiment with the government, bioethanol, directly mixed with gasoline, is being used in automobiles used by the municipal government of Ieson on the island.
In 2003, the government lifted a ban on the sale of gasoline for automobiles that is mixed with up to 3 percent of bioethanol. Local governments, such as the city government of Shinjo, Yamagata Prefecture, have since been using bioethanol.
But as processing costs of bioethanol are higher than those of gasoline, the use of bioethanol has yet to be widely introduced.
According to the Natural Resources and Energy Agency, an external organ of the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry, the import price of bioethanol is 20 to 40 higher than gasoline in terms of calories--the calories per liter of gasoline is equivalent to that of 1.7 liters of bioethanol.
If bioethanol is blended with gasoline, the retail price of the product is estimated to be 0.6 higher per liter than that of gasoline. Such price levels are unlikely to be welcomed by oil dealers, who already face fierce competition.
The Petroleum Association of Japan has been calling for a reduction or exemption of tax on volatile oil products.
Stable procurement of bioethanol is also an important issue.
Under the current circumstances, only Brazil has spare amounts for export. Therefore, prices may shoot up due to such factors as unusual weather.
Seiichi Konishi, former professor at the National Defense Academy, who specializes in fuel chemistry, said: "The nation should not limit imports of bioethanol to only one nation. Japanese companies should be encouraged to invest in Southeast Asian nations to manage sugarcane fields or operate [bioethanol] plants so that the nation can secure reliable sources of bioethanol."
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