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China is looking to expand its ethanol supply market share with plants using new technology.

Ethanol (C2H5OH) has a wide range of applications in various industries, including pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, food processing and chemical production. It is also used frequently in biofuel production and as a disinfectant in medicine and drug production.

Henry Ford once thought that ethanol would become the main fuel for cars, but by the early 20th century gasoline had prevailed because it was more affordable.

In recent years, due to the importance of environmental issues, the demand for ethanol as a biofuel has increased rapidly. Ethanol is the most economically effective gasoline additive, helping to reduce costs for producers and consumers.

In 2022, EU countries tripled the volume of ethanol imported from Latin America to dilute gasoline amid rising energy prices.

Ethanol is traditionally produced from grains, potatoes, sugar beets, molasses, and other sugar production waste. Today, the world is looking for new ways to produce ethanol that reduce the use of agricultural products as feedstock. In 2022, Canada patented a technology to produce ethanol from solid waste.

Chinese scientists from the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) developed a method to produce pure ethanol using low-quality coal in 2010. In 2017, the world's first production line using this technology was launched with a capacity of 100,000 tons of ethanol per year.

Five years later, the complex with a capacity of 510 thousand tons was put into trial operation. At the end of 2023, the line will be officially put into commercial operation.

The new plant will produce 600,000 tons of pure ethanol per year. It is worth noting that it takes 3 tons of grain to produce 1 ton of ethanol. Thanks to the new technology, China will be able to significantly reduce its agricultural input.

Currently, the US and Brazil are the leading countries in ethanol production, however, China is looking to increase its market share in this field.

In addition to the newly inaugurated plant in Shaanxi, several large ethanol plants are expected to be built and put into operation in China in the near future.

(according to OL)

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