ISSN 2756-388X
International Journal of Plant and Animal Sciences ISSN 2167-0366 Vol. 10 (1), pp. 001-006, January, 2023. © International Scholars Journals
Review
Forest biomass resources and utilization in China
Jianfeng ZHANG1, Guangcai CHEN1*, Qixing SUN2*, Zebo LI1, Ying WANG1
1Institute of Subtropical Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Fuyang, Zhejiang, China
2Institute of Forestry, Chinese Academy of Forestry, Beijing, China
Accepted 10 November, 2022
Abstract
Under the context of climate change, persistent high oil prices and rapidly growing dependence on imported oil prompt China to pay much more attention to biofuels that provide environmental benefits besides fuel. China has rich biodiversity with 30 thousand high plant species and 154 kinds of energy trees could produce seeds containing more than 40% of oil, with total production of the seeds totaling 5 million t, and 200 x109 t of biomass production per year, which is equal to 2 x 109 t of petroleum. There are over 2000 types of wild and cultivated firewood plants in the country. So far there is 4 million ha raising oil-bearing trees planted on some land in different regions. Another 57 million ha of waste land are available and suitable for planting trees for the production of forest bioenergy. On part of these lands, the central government plans to cultivate a total of 13 million ha of high-grade bioenergy forests by 2020. This will yield 6 million tons of diesel that would be enough to fuel power plants with a combined capacity of 11 GW each year. Moreover, forest biomass plantations potentially offer many direct and indirect environmental benefits. In view of climate change their globally significant environmental benefits may result from using forest biomass for energy rather than fossil fuels.
Key words: Biomass energy, China, forest biomass resources.