Rapeseed as Biofuel

Studies show that the earliest generation of biofuels using food crops like canola, corn, soybean, sugar, grain and rapeseed have driven up food prices and aggravated deforestation. Measurements of emissions from the burning of biofuels derived from these food crops have been found to produce more greenhouse gas emissions than they save.

Rapeseed and maize biodiesels were calculated to produce up to 70% and 50% more greenhouse gases respectively than fossil fuels.

In Europe, rapeseed accounts for 80% of biofuel production. Though not a food crop, cultivation needs fertilizers and good soils. Scientists found that the use of rapeseed as biofuels released twice as much nitrous oxide as previously assessed by the International Panel on Climate Change.
(Pic: Rapeseed blossom)

The findings illustrated the importance, the researchers said, of ensuring that measures designed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions are assessed thoroughly before being hailed as a solution. The findings have also threatened the European Commission’s goal of generating 20% of energy from renewable sources by 2020, up from the current 8.5%. With such concern, an alternative would seek the use of biofuels that use non food crop feedstock, like algae, that do not compete with food for cropland.


(Rapeseed Plants Bloom in the Valley of Liupanshui, China: Guardian.co.uk)

Among the oil crops in China, namely rapeseed, peanut, sunflower, flax cottonseed, soybean and sesame., rapeseed is the most widely planted oil-bearing crop in China. Besides being an oil crop, it is a fodder and a cash crop too. Rapeseed cultivation takes up about 60% of the total oil crop cultivation land in China. China is the world's leader in rapeseed cultivation, with annual area of 6.5 Mha, followed by India and Canada. The Yangtze River valley is the world's largest rapeseed production region, yielding one third of the world's rapeseed. It has the potential to produce 40 million tons of bio-diesel per year, equivalent to
1 1/2 times the oil output of Daqing Oilfields in China.

The Yangtze River belt, which resembles the most important winter rapeseed belt in China, accounting for 85% of the rapeseed land at national level. Here, rapeseed is grown in winter, in rotation, without disrupting the cultivation of other field crops.

The other 10% of rapeseed is cultivated during spring season in Qinghai, Xinjiang and Heilongjiang provinces.

With peanut, sunflower and sesame seeds being exported or processed into non-oil products, rapeseed is gaining footage as a popular domestic oil seed in China. According to official statistics, 99% of rapeseed harvested is used for oil production, accounting for about 65% of the total oil production in China.

In a move to develop bio-diesel industry to meet China's huge energy demand, the Institute of Oil Crops Research of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, has come up with a new hybrid, Zhongyou-036, the suitability of which very much depends on local climate and soil variations. According to Wang Hanzhong, leader of the development team and research fellow of the institute, the new strain has a high growth rate, is disease resistant and genetically unmodified.

Coupled with the conducive climatic conditions, the huge demand for edible oil and biofuel feedstock, the future of rapeseed oil production appears very promising in China.

References and related news:

China Breeds Rapeseed with Record High Oil Content: Peopledaily.com.cn/200608/29/
Present Situation and Dev Strategy: Rapeseed Production in China: 559

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