Japan receives biomass ETBE for gasoline blending

April 9, 2007
Japan has received its first-ever cargo of biomass fuel ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE), according to a leading Japanese ocean carrier.

Eric Watkins
Senior Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, Apr. 9 -- Japan has received its first-ever cargo of biomass fuel ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE), according to a leading Japanese ocean carrier.

Mitsui OSK Lines Ltd. on Apr. 6 said it delivered 7,800 kl, or 49,000 bbl, of ETBE to the Nippon Oil Corp.'s Negishi refinery in Yokohama. Mitsui said the shipment left the French port of Fos in early February aboard the M-T Ginga Lanner carrier.

The shipment, ordered by Japan Biofuels Supply LLP (JBSL), a group of 10 Japanese oil distributors, will forward plans to test-market gasoline blended with the additive at 50 service stations in the greater Tokyo area starting Apr. 27.

The ETBE will be mixed with gasoline at the Negishi refinery to produce a 7% ETBE blend, which will be marketed as an alternative to regular fuel.

JBSL plans call for the import of ethanol in the form of ETBE until 2009 when equipment at the Negishi refinery is modified to produce ETBE. At that time, JBSL will shift to imports of unprocessed ethanol.

JBSL was established by the Petroleum Association of Japan in January to procure and supply bioethanol and ETBE. PAJ aims for an addition of 840,000 kl of ETBE to 12 million kl of gasoline, or 20% of the country's annual total gasoline demand, in 2010.

In January, PAJ also announced it would procure ethanol from domestic producers in Osaka and Hokkaido, planning to use the ethanol for synthesis of ETBE.

Bioethanol Japan Kansai, a consortium formed by Taisei Corp., Marubeni Corp., and others, has already begun producing ethanol from wood scrap at its facility in Sakai City, in the greater Osaka area.

Meanwhile, in Hokkaido, a regional agricultural group is said to be building a plant to produce ethanol from sugar beets as well as substandard wheat and rice, starting in fiscal 2008.

Contact Eric Watkins at [email protected].