Biofuel

Utilization of biodiesel

Global production of biodiesel nearly doubled from 2.1 billion liters in 2004 to 3.9 billion liters in 2005. In 2005, the European Union was the principal producer, with Germany accounting for half of the global production, followed by Italy and France. Outside the EU, the USA was the leading country in biodiesel production. Biodiesel production is also observed to be growing in developing countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, which produce biodiesel mainly for their domestic markets.

The development of biodiesel in China is in the very early stage. Biodiesel production in China in 2005 was between 0.1 - 0.2 million metric tons. Waste cooking oil is the major raw materials for biodiesel production and biodiesel production from Jatropha, Chinese Pistachio, rapeseed and palm oil waste are under research and testing. The government sets a target of producing 2 million metric tons of biodiesel by 2010 and 12 million metric tons by 2020.