Japan to more than double bioethanol use by 2017

Japanese refiners will increase their consumption of bioethanol to around 900,000 kiloliters a year by the fiscal year that begins April 1, 2017 from 360,000 a year currently, Petroleum Association of Japan (PAJ) Chairman Akihiko Tembo said. PAJ member refiners are planning to boost bioethanol consumption in response to a government request to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions with the renewable fuel, which is made from sugar cane in Brazil that the refiners mostly convert to ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE), in the U.S. and then ship to Japan for blending with gasoline. The PAJ aims to increase its purchases of bioethanol from Brazil, Tembo said. (September 16, 2010)