Based on domestic energy resources, mass production of ecological diesel oil has important strategic significance in enhancing the country's oil supply security, Xu Kangxi, vice president of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), declared at a seminar held in Beijing on January 18.

Developing an ecological diesel industry can promote rural economic and social development, according to Xu and experts in petrochemistry, energy development, plant physiology and oil crops. For example, developing oil crops can provide a new approach to transforming farming and forestry products into industrial ones, and this will help in adjusting the agricultural structure and increasing farmers' income.

Ecological diesel is also beneficial to environmental protection. Compared with normal fuel oil and diesel, ecological diesel can reduce the emission of carbon dioxide, benzene leading to cancers, and the discharge of other pollutants. It can also make use of waste edible oil and oil waste products, and help reduce dirty and poisonous waste oil pollution.

Ecological diesel is a kind of energy recycling. It is a kind of liquid fuel made from oil crops such as soybeans and Brassica juncea seeds; oil plants such as oil palm and Chinese pistachio; aquatic plants; animal fat; and waste food oil.

Ecological diesel is now enjoying rapid development in the world. The United States, Canada, Brazil, Japan, Australia and India are actively developing the technology. The output of ecological diesel in countries of the European Union exceeded 1 million tons in 2001. Over the past few years, the Chinese government has supported research and development of ecological diesel. Some companies of Hainan, Sichuan and Fujian provinces have developed technology with their own property rights, with annual output of ecological diesel exceeding 10,000 tons each.

CAE Officials said China's 10th Five-Year Plan (2001-05) promotes the development of various kinds of oil substitutes and designates ecological liquid fuel as a state industrial development goal. The ecological diesel industry has received support from the State Council, the State Development Planning Commission, the Sate Economic and Trade Commission and the Ministry of Science and Technology, and has been listed in related state development plans.

(China.org.cn by Li Jingrong, January 23, 2003)