Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), a division of the American Chemical Society, has announced that in 2009, China surpassed all other countries in the production of bioethanol patents, emerging as the global leader in the commercialisation of bioethanol research.
In the CAS Chemistry Research Report: China Takes Lead in the Commercialization of Bioethanol, CAS examines 40 years of scientific research into biofuel development. Its key finding is that although US researchers continue to publish more scientific research about bioethanol than other countries, China produces the largest number of bioethanol-related patents.
According to the report, the US published 105 journal articles related to first- and second-generation bioethanol research in 2009, more than any other country. However, in the same year, the State Intellectual Property Office (SIPO) of China issued the most bioethanol-related patent documents (156). From 2000 to 2009, global research literature on second-generation bioethanol (derived from non-food sources, such as wheat stalks) grew 586 percent, including patenting activity that skyrocketed 2,341 percent. Research into second-generation bioethanol significantly outpaced examination of first-generation (derived from edible feedstocks) and third-generation (derived from algae) bioethanol.
The report notes that US researchers are foremost within the newest category of bioethanol research: third-generation, or algae-based, bioethanol.
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