Burning Rice Straw, Lighting the Future: The Biofuel Revolution in Motion (November 2007)

Burning Rice Straw, Lighting the Future: The Biofuel Revolution in Motion (November 2007)

In 2007, the world was facing a double crisis: soaring oil prices and global warming. The Middle East unrest following the Iraq War and the rapid economic growth of the BRICs countries pushed up the demand for crude oil, and the price of crude oil was just before the $100 per barrel mark. Gasoline prices rose to 140 yen per liter, forcing Japanese households and industries to search for new energy sources.

At the same time, global warming became a major topic of discussion in international politics. The British Stern Report, published the previous year, warned of the impact of climate change on the global economy, and in 2007 Al Gore and the IPCC were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Environmental measures were no longer the duty of developed countries and were becoming the main battleground for technological innovation.

Against this historical background, the Japanese government moved. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) jointly launched the Biofuel Technology Innovation Council. Nippon Oil Corporation, Toyota Motor Corporation, and several universities and research institutes joined in this grand challenge to produce biofuels at 40 yen per liter.

At the time, the cost of producing even sugarcane-derived bioethanol was 140 yen, and 100 yen for wood-based ethanol. In the U.S. and Brazil, however, production at 40 yen per liter was already a reality. However, this was using food crops such as corn and sugarcane, and was fraught with a "food vs. fuel" problem that would cause food prices to skyrocket.

Japan took its own course with "unutilized resources. The country discards 7 million tons of rice straw annually, 1.4 million tons of construction waste, as well as pruning branches, weeds, and thinned wood. All of these resources require almost no raw material costs, do not compete with food, and can be stably procured domestically.

These plant resources are decomposed, sugar is extracted, and converted into ethanol using highly efficient fermentation technology. Furthermore, technological innovation was required for the entire value chain, including the establishment of know-how for use as automobile fuel, collection and transportation systems, and manufacturing plants.

This was not just a fuel development project, but a "national project" that would solve multiple issues at once, including global warming countermeasures, resource utilization, revitalization of the agriculture and forestry industries, and revitalization of local economies.

The challenges piled up. Fermentation efficiency, economics of raw material collection, institutional support, and attracting private investment ....... However, there was a definite sense of enthusiasm among those involved. A sense of mission, "We have to get serious about this now," was driving the conference room, the laboratory, and the field sites.

The flame that was lit during this period was later passed on to the renewable energy policy. Over the next few years, it would ripple out to decentralized energy, a regional recycling society, and the revitalization of farming villages.

Rice straw became fuel, scrap wood became hope, and the 40 yen figure became a fire that lit the future... In 2007, a small energy revolution quietly began in a corner of Japan.