Jiangsu Xuzhou Petroleum Branch of Sinopec Sales Co., Ltd. stopped selling ethanol gasoline. Recently, it caused a lot of vibration in the industry, and also caused hot discussion outside the industry. In fact, since its birth, ethanol gasoline has enjoyed a “high degree of market attention” which is not commensurate with its “low market share”. At a time when food and energy security issues are widely concerned, the release of the “stop sale” notice directly touched the already sensitive nerves of the public, and once again exposed the short board of “grain as the main raw material” in the biofuel ethanol industry. At this critical moment, it is necessary to re-examine the industry development ideas and optimize the technical route based on the long-term adjustment.

Bioenergy represented by biofuel ethanol is a national strategic emerging industry. The promotion of ethanol gasoline for vehicles is not only in line with the strategic direction of building a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient modern energy system, but also helps to solve the burning problem of agricultural and forestry wastes such as straw, improve the atmospheric environmental quality, solve the problem of “aged grain”, improve the level of food quality and safety, and help to improve the quality and safety of grain It can not only promote farmers to open up new channels to increase income, but also help to improve the comprehensive utilization of agricultural and forestry waste resources and promote the development of advanced Bioenergy Industry. In other words, the promotion of ethanol gasoline has important practical significance and strategic value.

In addition, the conditions for the development of ethanol gasoline are complete: the strategy of green and low-carbon energy transformation has created unprecedented development space for the development of ethanol gasoline industry; the annual available straw and forestry waste in China exceeds 400 million tons, which provides abundant raw material basis for the sustainable development of the industry; the industry development of more than 20 years has cultivated and reserved a total of 1 A large number of professional and technical personnel provide a solid intellectual guarantee for the transformation and upgrading of the industry.

But the weakness of ethanol gasoline industry is also obvious. The production structure of “87% raw material source is corn” is the sword of Damocles hanging on the head of the industry, and also the “seven inch” of China’s biofuel ethanol industry.

With a large population in China, the importance of food security cannot be overemphasized. Therefore, the development of biofuel ethanol cannot and should not be based on a high proportion of food raw materials. However, the reality is that the current global mature biofuel ethanol production technology takes corn, wheat, rice and other food crops as the main raw materials. “Competing with people for food” and “competing with grain for land” are always the problems that cannot be avoided in the development of the industry.

one can’t make bricks without straw. At present, the production and use of ethanol gasoline is not only an energy problem, but also a food security problem. Without the support of food security, no matter how advanced the technology is and how grand the planning is, it will be water without source and a tree without roots, and the industry development will not be sustainable.

Poverty leads to change, and change leads to adaptation. In order to achieve large-scale and sustainable development, the industry must find a new way, from “food” to “non food”. That is to start a new stove, turn to rich resources of corn straw, hay, leaves and other kinds of plant fiber materials, reduce the dependence on food crops. Today, the technology of ethanol preparation from grain raw materials has been highly commercialized. However, the road of technology upgrading of “another gateway” is doomed to be difficult, but it has to be taken in the long run.

It is worth mentioning that China has already made some beneficial explorations in this respect. In 2001, in order to solve the problem of processing a large number of “aged grain”, China officially launched the pilot project of biofuel ethanol. However, after five years of rapid development, “competing for grain” has become a major problem. Therefore, since 2006, China has suspended the development of fuel ethanol based on grain as the basic raw material, and has successively built several non grain fuel ethanol demonstration stations in Guangxi, Inner Mongolia, Shandong, Henan and other places Project or industrialization device, and such projects have the conditions of industrialization demonstration.

Practical work is the key. The core problem of fuel ethanol is never “whether to develop” but “how to develop”. “Stop selling” is just a small twists and turns in the development of the industry, so we should not exaggerate its negative impact by generalizing it. At the same time, “stop selling” also rings a warning bell for the industry, and the thinking of taking precautions is indispensable. The technical innovation and application practice of “non grain fuel ethanol” should be the next focus of the industry, enterprises and competent departments. Only in this way can the development of ethanol gasoline be decoupled from grain, thus helping to realize the “double security” of food and energy.