Kawasaki Heavy develops cost-competitive way to convert farm waste to ethanol

Kawasaki Heavy Industries Ltd. says it has developed technology to produce auto fuel from farm waste at a cost competitive with imported ethanol made from food crops, such as sugar cane.
Replacing fossil fuels with bioethanol can help reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) which contributes to global warming, but the cost of production and competition with food supplies tempers its appeal.
A five-year study, subsidized by the Japanese government, proved that Kawasaki Heavy’s new technology, if introduced commercially, can produce ethanol from rice straw at a cost of 40 yen (US$ 0.41) per liter, the company said.
If the costs for gathering straw waste from rice farming in Japan are added, the cost would be 80 yen (US$0.82) per liter.
That compares with 80 to 100 yen (US$ 0.82 to $1.02) per liter for importing ethanol from Brazil, a farm ministry official said.
Japanese oil companies currently use ETBE to mix with gasoline to help the country’s efforts to reduce global warming. Japan is currently the world’s fifth-biggest greenhouse gas emitter.
A Kawasaki spokeswoman said the company has no specific plan for commercial production and added the technology would be competitive in a country with ample biomass resources and lower labor costs such as Brazil and Southeast Asia.
The Japanese government is more cautious about the prospects for such technology.
When the farm ministry mapped out its plans for bioethanol production technology in September 2012, the ministry said it would take about five years before commercial production of ethanol from non-food products would be economically viable.
(June 1, 2013)