USDA, Energy Department ink agreements with China on biofuels cooperation

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of Energy, and the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission signed a pact on biofuels cooperation today.

Under the agreement, the two countries will cooperate on biomass production, sustainability, production, bio products, and rural development.

The USDA and the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology also inked a renewal of their 2002 protocol supporting science and technology exchanges with China.

Last week, the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics (DICP) announced that BP will provide $3 million to support the Energy Innovation Lab which focuses on clean energy. The BP China research team will work in the lab in cooperation with DICP scientists.

The deal is a follow up to an cooperation agreement signed in October between BP, DISP and the water-purication company, Hyflux, to develop a zeolite membrane to purify ethanol.

China has recently announced abandonment of ethanol projects that use foodstocks, excepting existing plants and those already under construction. China is the third-largest ethanol producer, behind Brazil and the US.

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