Making bricks without straw
Though many bio-energy companies are facing resource shortages, they still have to forge ahead.
Beijing Qingyan Lihua Petro & Chemistry Corporation is a company focused on new energy, renewable energy, and alternative energy. In April, 2008, they began a cooperation with a German company. The two companies aimed to initiate a project with an annual production capacity of 10 tons of bio-diesel. The project has completed the first phase, and it now can produce 4 tons of bio-diesel every year.
According to Lu Xinuo, technical director of the company, their products can serve as fuel for motor vehicles, fuel for central air-conditioners and power stations, and chemical agents such as plasticizer and pesticide activators.
Like many other companies, Qingyan Lihua is also facing a shortage of resources and must compete for used cooking oil. Lu said, "When facing guerrillas, the regular army never wins out."
Illegal oil producers can offer a good price for gutter oil, between 6,000 yuan ($928) and 7,000 yuan (1,082) per ton. But Lu revealed their company can only afford 5,500 yuan ($850) per ton at most, not including taxes.
When the gutter oil flows back to restaurants after simple processing, the price can reach from 9,000 yuan ($1,391) to 10,000 yuan ($1,546) per ton, but Lu's company only sells it at 7,000 yuan ($1,082) per ton.
The competition between small enterprises and qualified bio-energy companies is fierce. Because the qualified companies can only acquire used oil of lower quality, the kind that is as dark as soy sauce, they cannot make the best products they want, and thus they are less competitive in the international bio-energy market.
In June, 2008, Shanghai Green Environmental Technology Corporation officially started its bio-energy business in China. However, the operating deficit was 9 million yuan ($139,140,000) every year on average. After struggling for three years, it stopped bio-energy production this year.
A better environment for bio-energy companies is expected
Many bio-energy companies are making meager profits or suffering deficits every year, but they don't give up.
"Though the profit is quite small and even negligible, we are still willing to do the work, because we hope one day the government will standardize the market order," said Lu Xinuo.
The issue of gutter oil has long been a social concern for food safety. It is believed to be a purely domestic problem. This year, the government has strengthened measures to deal with illegal cooking oil producers.
On July 11, 2011, the Beijing municipal health authority launched a food safety crackdown on restaurants that use illegal cooking oil. Restaurants are prohibited from purchasing cooking oil from illegal sources or buying oil products without having full information about the manufacturer.
