All automobiles in northeast China's Liaoning Province must switch to ethanol fuel as of yesterday.

Only some special institutions, like the army and State strategic storage facilities, will be allowed to continue using pure fossil fuel, according to new provincial regulations.

All petrol stations and distribution units must replace normal gasoline with ethanol gasoline and supply ethanol gasoline only.

According to the regulation, the price of ethanol gasoline will match that of normal gasoline.

Anyone violating the regulation could be fined between 5,000 yuan (US$600) and 30,000 yuan (US$3,600).

"Ethanol fuel can play an important role in easing consumption of traditional petrol and protecting the environment," said a senior official from the Liaoning Development and Reform Committee.

Ethanol is a form of alcohol used as a petrol additive. It makes up 10 percent of the fuel blend.

Liu Shuming, a professor from the Automobile Engineering Institution of Jilin University, said the blend could help reduce car emissions and remove deposits inside the engine.

"It can even expand the life of some major components of the automobile engine," said Liu.

Production and use of ethanol fuel is encouraged by the government, which hopes the product will help promote the country's energy, environmental protection and even, agricultural industries.

Five provinces - Jilin, Heilongjiang, Henan, Anhui and Liaoning - have switched to the mixture since 2000. And some cities in Hubei, Shandong, Hebei and Jiangsu provinces took part in this project since this February.

Some industry insiders said this alternative energy would then be applied nationwide in the future.

"I know it's good to use the blend in terms of environmental protection and energy security. But the performance ratio is the most important concern for us," said Wang Jian, a driver in Shenyang, capital of Liaoning Province.

Some experts said ethanol gasoline provides greater power and better acceleration to vehicles and its consumption is lower than normal gasoline under the same conditions.

But Dai Baoling, senior manager of the Jilin Ethanol Fuel Company, one of the major alcohol producers, said the blend would affect engine performance.

This was backed by Meng Fanlin, manager of the Shenyang Dual-fuel Vehicle Company.

The central government has designated four major ethanol fuel producers in Jilin, Heilongjiang, Henan and Anhui provinces as authorized suppliers.

Heilongjiang Province is planning to turn 345,000 tons of out-of-date grain into alcohol. And the output would meet the province's demand for one year, according to the local Ethanol Fuel Promotion Office.

It takes 3.3 tons of grain to produce one ton of alcohol.

Production of ethanol fuel may hit 10.2 million tons, accounting for one-fourth of the total petrol production by the end of 2005, according to the China Automobile Newspaper.

However, some experts argued that China's grain output could not meet the alcohol production demand. The Jilin Ethanol Fuel Company has been in the red since it started production in September of 2003, experts said.

Normal vehicles (including motorcycles) can adapt to ethanol gasoline directly without any reconfiguration, however, vehicles which have run for more than 30,000 kilometers will need to clean up their oil-supply system beforehand.

The United States and Brazil have used ethanol fuel for years. Brazil was the first country to make use of ethanol fuel a legal requirement in 1931.

(China Daily November 2, 2004)