Differences between Chinese biodiesel and foreign biodiesel

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Author: Ning Shoujian (Expert Member of the National Biodiesel Industry Collaboration Group at Shenyang University). After reading the moderator’s article titled “The Gap Between Chinese Biodiesel and That Produced Abroad,” I felt there was a lot to say, so I decided to start a new post instead. First of all, it should be noted that I use the term “differences” rather than “gap” in order to objectively assess the distinctions between China’s biodiesel industry and its foreign counterparts. By making such comparisons, we can identify our strengths and identify our weaknesses, so as to leverage our strengths and address our shortcomings. Constantly thinking that one is not good enough and blind arrogance are both undesirable attitudes. I. Development history: Compared with European countries such as Germany and Italy, our biodiesel industry is still in its infancy; this is a weakness of ours, and it has led to the current situation of imperfect policies, a lack of standardization within the industry, and uneven technical levels ； But this also means that we have many experiences to draw on during our development process; as long as we learn in an objective, practical, and humble manner, it is easy to bridge the gap of several decades. At the same time, we must also recognize that there are many areas where the development and growth of biodiesel are on par with those in our country. Saying these is not an act of Ah Q mentality or self-comfort; it’s a reminder to everyone that when we learn from others, we must make choices – not everything imported from abroad is necessarily good!  II. Process level: Compared to foreign countries where significant efforts have been made in alkali catalysis, the development of biodiesel processes in China adopts a multi-pronged approach. Many practical process flows have been developed for waste oils and fats, and numerous enterprises and research institutions have proposed and implemented various practical processes by utilizing units such as pretreatment, esterification, transesterification, and catalysts, along with different combinations of these catalysts. Although I have categorized these processes into four main types, each of them has its own advantages in terms of technical details, an aspect that foreign countries cannot match. Therefore, if we were to learn *advanced foreign technologies* in this regard, it would truly be like trying to imitate others in a foolish manner! III. Equipment level: In this regard, we are far behind foreign countries in terms of the design, manufacturing, and after-sales service of equipment! The gap is even greater, especially in manufacturing and after-sales service. We may not be that far behind in terms of design concepts and approaches; otherwise, China’s Shenzhou 6 and Chang’e missions wouldn’t have been able to reach space ； But our overall manufacturing standards are far from satisfactory! In 1992, when I was working on a 20,000 tons per year aldicarb production project in Shandong, pilot-scale production used granulators manufactured abroad. At that time, the Ministry of Chemical Industry required that domestic equipment be used for industrial-scale production; as a result, several design institutes, including those in Chengdu, Lanzhou, and Shanghai, jointly measured the imported equipment and designed their own versions based on theoretical considerations. The granulators they produced were able to generate 90% granules, whereas our machines could only produce 60% granules. This is the gap in manufacturing standards! However, this is not the fault of biodiesel; the entire chemical industry and many other industries face this problem. At the same time, our after-sales service system for equipment is even further behind that of foreign countries! IV. Management Methods: Compared with those large multinational corporations abroad, the gap in our management team, management theories, and management methods is also astonishing! At present, the vast majority of biodiesel companies in China operate on a family-based basis, working independently; this is true even in the field of technology development. There is no ability to combine efforts, and compared to the operational approaches used abroad, their overall strength is too weak, resulting in a lack of competitiveness in the industry. The root causes of this phenomenon are deep-seated and difficult to change, but it is indeed a major challenge before us. Without overcoming this issue, our progress can only remain limited, making it hard to achieve significant breakthroughs or substantial development! V. The workforce: We have to admit that the overall quality of our workforce is declining! Over the years, the majority of the workers in our company have come from migrant workers; there are very few remaining industrial workers from the cities. Coupled with the influence of societal attitudes toward employment, there is a shortage of true industrial workers with no one to take their place! Compared to the industrial workers in foreign companies who receive thorough training and have a solid theoretical foundation, the gap between us is enormous. This is a key factor behind the substandard quality of some of our products, as well as the reason for the low level of equipment manufacturing mentioned above. To change this situation, on the one hand, our companies need to strengthen training for workers, and on the other hand, society must pay attention to the training and education of industrial workers. An industrial society without qualified industrial workers is terrifying! VI. Raw material situation: I believe this is an area where we have an advantage over foreign countries. Moreover, the principle established in our country – namely, \"not to compete with the public for grain, and not to compete for land used for grain production\" – should serve as a guiding principle for the development of biomass resources worldwide, and it is already being adopted or applied inadvertently by some international organizations. Domestic projects aimed at using rapeseed oil to produce biodiesel were halted almost as soon as they began, thereby avoiding the mistakes made with grain-based ethanol. Today, biodiesel is almost always produced from waste oils, and a scientific production method has been developed for this purpose; this gives an advantage over Germany’s use of rapeseed oil and the United States’ use of soybean oil. From another perspective, our country has a rich variety of plant species, which allows us to rapidly develop new energy crops; this is also one of our advantages. What needs to be done at present is to coordinate the collection, processing, and procurement of raw materials across different regions. Encouragingly, to date, many cities in China such as Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Dalian, Shenyang, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Ningbo, Kunming, Nanjing, Xiamen, Xuzhou, and Hohhot have already introduced regulations regarding the management of waste edible oils; it is hoped that these regulations will be effectively implemented. VII. Complete sets of equipment: Unlike foreign biodiesel production, which relies on large-scale continuous equipment, the equipment used in China is of the unitized, batch-type variety. In my opinion, this type of equipment is suited to the actual conditions of our raw material supply; it represents a biodiesel production approach with \"Chinese characteristics.\" Its advantage lies in its flexibility, allowing it to handle raw materials of various qualities and thus expanding the range of available raw material sources ； It should be noted that the current equipment processes require our joint efforts to be improved, in order to reduce or even eliminate potential leaks and contamination at the points where different units are connected. By making improvements to enhance the energy efficiency, operational efficiency, and separation factor of these unit devices, we can develop a set of equipment suited to our specific national conditions. It is worth mentioning that the cost of our equipment is currently much lower than that of imported complete sets of equipment, which provides us with ample room for equipment upgrades. VIII. Market situation: Unlike in foreign countries where biodiesel has always received support, Chinese biodiesel companies have had to rely solely on their own efforts to develop since their inception, with almost no subsidies from the government at all! This is our weakness, but it is also precisely the advantage of our biodiesel company! From a macro-supply perspective, biodiesel – fatty acid methyl esters – cannot meet society’s demand for diesel on one hand; on the other hand, it would be a waste to simply burn this resource. As a substitute for diesel, biodiesel is also an excellent solvent and a basic raw material for many industries. Therefore, our companies should not rely on subsidies; we must learn to survive without them. Moreover, entering the realm of large state-owned monopolies is not necessarily a good thing for our companies! Furthermore, I personally believe that such subsidies cannot be permanent; they can only serve as temporary incentive measures for a certain period of time. Companies must grow on their own, and as biomass resources are developed and utilized on a larger scale, such policy-based subsidies will surely be abolished, because no company can afford to rely on them forever! Therefore, China’s biodiesel enterprises must maintain the spirit of independence and self-reliance from the early stages of development and forge their own path!