Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 113 (2019) 109288

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Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews

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Crop residue utilizations and potential for bioethanol production in China T

a,b a,b a,b,∗
Yan Ru Fang , Yi Wu , Guang Hui Xie
a
College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, 100193, Beijing, PR China
b
National Energy R&D Center for Biomass, China Agricultural University, 100193, Beijing, PR China

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Keywords: Crop residue is an abundant and lucrative biomass resource in China, which is expected to decrease its reliance
Bioenergy on coal and petroleum through the use of crop residue. This study was conducted with the data of crop pro-
Biomass duction released by the National Bureau of Statistics of China and 1417 valid face-to-face questionnaires on
Bioethanol potential residue utilizations. It was found that the crop residue increased from 725.47 Mt in 2007 to 897.06 Mt in 2016 at
Collectable
the annual rate of 2.63%. It amounted for 897.06 Mt including 781.32 Mt field residue and 115.74 Mt and
Straw
Sustainability
process residue, respectively in 2016. Field residue retained in field exhibited the highest ratio (35.19%), for
bioenergy use was less than 1%. A total amount of available field residue (AFR) for bioethanol was 254.57 Mt in
2016. Maize provided the greatest quantity of AFR (95.00 Mt), followed by rice (78.90 Mt) and wheat
(18.89 Mt), sum of three accounted for 76% AFR in China. The largest AFR was found in Heilongjiang
(39.79 Mt), followed by Henan (31.03 Mt) and Jilin (22.51 Mt). The density of AFR exhibited high in NEC and
CSC and southeast provinces of SWC. The bioethanol potential was 124.3 Mt in 2016, with maize, rice and wheat
residues representing 77.8% of the total. The four top-ranked provinces of bioethanol potential were
Heilongjiang, Henan, Jilin, and Sichuan. It was suggested that financial and taxation support are necessary to
promote cellulosic bioethanol research and industrial use in its early stage.

1. Introduction
Biomass as a potential low-carbon emitting, renewable energy
source, is receiving increasing attention and is being developed around
the world [1,2]. Renewables are, by far, the fastest-growing fuel source,
as they providing approximately 14% of the world's primary energy [3].
Globally, China is now the largest primary energy consumer and pro-
ducer, and its rapidly increasing energy demand, especially for coal,
petroleum, and other liquids, has made China influential in world en-
ergy markets [4]. Furthermore, China is on track to become the world's
largest emitter of greenhouse gases [5], and China's carbon emissions
increased the most among all countries in 2017 [6]. Due to growing
energy consumption and associated environmental consequences of
petroleum and other nonrenewable fuel types, bioenergy as a form of
renewable energy has received much interest in China [7]. In this
context, crop residue is an important and abundant biomass resource in
China; if the full potential of crop residue utilization is exploited and
realized, China could decrease its reliance on coal and petroleum. Using
crop residue for bioenergy production entails the production of gas-
eous, biomass pellets, solid fuels, and liquid fuels [8]. Among these fuel
types, bioethanol could become a popular alternative automotive fuel
throughout the world [9]. In 2017, the two largest ethanol producers,
USA and Brazil, contributed to at least 84% of the worldwide ethanol
production, whereas China's only contribution was only 3% [10].
However, considering China's abundance of feedstock, bioethanol fuel
production may be an inevitable long-term energy source for this
country [11–13]. Crop residue has high contents of cellulose and
hemicellulose, which can be hydrolyzed into fermentable sugars, for
conversion into bioethanol. Since crop residue is a key feedstock for
bioethanol production, knowing the quantity of this resource input is
particularly important.
To obtain widespread and efficient use of crop residue in China, the
most important task is to evaluate the available crop residue quantity
for the entire country and its provincial regions. Specifically, the
amount of available crop residue is based on the total crop residue
produced and its collectable quantity [14]. The crop residue weight in
China has been reported [15–18], with some researchers estimating
that the crop residue weight in China was 620 Mt in 2002 [19]; the crop
residue weight was estimated to be 630 Mt per year from 1995 to 2005
[20]; later, in 2008, the crop residue weight was reportedly 751 Mt
[17]. However, when the same years were assessed [21], different crop
residue weights of 641, 649 and 774 Mt were found for the years 2002,
1995 to 2005 and 2008, respectively. A major reason for these disparate
quantities for the same years is the different values that were used for

∗
Corresponding author. College of Agronomy and Biotechnology, China Agricultural University, 100193, Beijing, PR China.
E-mail address: xiegh@cau.edu.cn (G.H. Xie).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2019.109288
Received 29 December 2018; Received in revised form 22 June 2019; Accepted 18 July 2019
1364-0321/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Y.R. Fang, et al.
List of abbreviations:
AFR available field residue
CSC Central-South China
EC East China
FRI Field residue index
Kt kilo (thousand) metric tons
Mt million metric tons
the residue/crop product coefficients (i.e., crop residue index). Thus, a
robust crop residue index should be developed and consistently adopted
because it is the basic information needed to evaluate the amount of
crop residue available for use in bioethanol production.
Two previous studies [15,16] estimated the crop residue yields of
nine crops in 2005 and 2009, respectively, but did not provide details of
the quantity of crop residue for different regions in China. In another
study, the crop residue distributions in 2008 and 2009 were analyzed
[17], however, the data are already outdated; and the crop residue
yields in 2010 were presented for nine crops [18], but not for the whole
crop residue types in China. However, all of these studies overlooked
the quantity of crop residue available for bioethanol production, which
is an important parameter for determining the energy utilization of crop
residue, since it is also a key guideline for resolving China's energy
deficit and for determining where the bioethanol industry should locate
new plants. Additionally, the quantity of crop residue available for
bioethanol production serves as critical reference for policy and plan-
ning purposes [22]. Townsend et al. [23] analyzed wheat straw avail-
ability for bioenergy in England through a postal survey and found that
wheat straw used for bioenergy has limitations. In Canada, Li et al. [24]
found that the available crop residues for ethanol production averaged
48 Mt per year (for 2001–2010), which obtained by deducting the soil
conservation and livestock uses. In summary, the research to date offers
no standardized estimation for the amount of available crop residue for
bioenergy production nor does it consider its current competitive uses
or deduct the uncollectable part from the total crop residue.
Fig. 1. Division of China into six regions (NC: North China, NEC: Northeast China, EC: East China, CSC: Central-South China, SWC: Southwest China, NWC:
Northwest China).
2
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 113 (2019) 109288
NC North China
NEC Northeast China
NWC Northwest China
PRI Process residue index
SWC Southwest China
t ha−1 metric tons per hectare
t km−2 metric tons per square kilometer
Therefore, it seems timely and necessary to provide a better un-
derstanding of the quantities of biomass supplies so that they can be
monitored by including updates of their spatial distributions and tem-
poral variations to meet and accommodate innovative technologies and
industry strategies for cellulosic bioethanol development in China.
Therefore, this paper's aims were to evaluate the crop residue diversity,
quantity, yield, and density as well as the spatiotemporal distribution
across China, which was supported by analyses of the collectable and
available quantity for bioethanol production of each crop residue type,
and calculations of the bioethanol potential of the available quantities
of crop residue. This study used the statistical data of crop production
across China from 2007 to 2016. The results of this study can be used as
a reference for selecting promising sites for use by crop residue-utili-
zation enterprises, and this study provides recommendations regarding
which crop residue type to use in different regions as well as policy
advice to governments to ensure the sustainable use of crop residue and
to maintain regional agricultural production systems.
2. Methods and data sources
To assess the potential of bioethanol production from crop residue,
the total quantity and availability of crop residue should be determined.
The premise behind studying the available quantity of crop residue is to
consider both the utilized and collectable quantities. Yearly estimations
at the national and provincial region levels were made from 2007 to
2016 for temporal analysis and for 2016 for spatial analysis. In this
Y.R. Fang, et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 113 (2019) 109288

way, estimation of the potential bioethanol production from crop re-
sidue was conducted by clarifying the following: (1) study areas and
crops; (2) field residue index, process residue index, and the crop yields;
(3) utilization of crop residues; (4) collectable coefficients and avail-
ability of crop residues for bioethanol production; and (5) bioethanol
conversion rate and bioethanol potential.
2.1. Study regions and crops
A total of 31 provincial regions—22 provinces, 5 autonomous zones,
and 4 municipalities in mainland China—were divided into six regions
(Fig. 1 [25]): North China (NC), Northeast China (NEC), East China
(EC), Central-South China (CSC), Southwest China (SWC), and North-
west China (NWC). For the sake of easing communication, in this study,
autonomous zones and municipalities are simply referred as “pro-
vinces”. Following the National Bureau of Statistics of China [26], this
research studied 16 crops: wheat, maize, other cereals, beans, tubers,
cotton, peanut, canola, sesame, other oil crops, jute and ambary, other
fibers, sugarcane, sugar beet, and tobacco.
2.2. Field residue index and process residue index
stubble height, fall-off rate of leaves and branches, ratio of leaf biomass,
and loss rate during crop residue collection and storage. According to
these findings, the calculated collectable coefficient of crop residue for
China is listed in Table 3.
According to the utilization of crop residue, the available crop re-
sidue for bioethanol production was determined by including the
quantity of crop residue burnt in the field and abandoned. Since the
portion of crop residue retained and burnt in the field was not removed
from the field, this quantity should be included in the stubble weight,
while abandoned and competitive uses of crop residue need be removed
from the field, as these quantities excluded the stubble weight. Thus,
the quantities of residues retained and burnt in the field were calculated
by multiplying the total crop residue with the utilization ratio of each,
while the remaining quantity of utilization came from multiplying the
total crop residue, utilization ratio, and collectable coefficient together.
Therefore, available crop residue for bioethanol production was cal-
culated based on the amount of residue burnt in the field as well the
collectable quantity of abandoned residue. It means that the total crop
residue was deducted from the quantity retained in field and the col-
lectable quantity of competitive uses was the result of the available
quantity of crop residue for bioethanol production.

In its calculation, crop residue includes both field residue and pro-
cess residue components, for which annual crop production is multi-
plied by the values of the field residue index (FRI) and the process re-
sidue index (PRI) [17,27], as summarized in Table 1. A total of six types
of process residues—rice hull, maize cob, cotton seed hull, peanut husk,
sugarcane bagasse and sugar beet bagasse—are produced in the pri-
mary manufacturing process [17]. Most crop residue data are presented
on an air-dried basis (moisture content is approximately 15%) in this
research. Not surprisingly, the quantity of crop residue differs among
China's 31 provinces; this disparity is not solely driven by crop pro-
duction but is also related to the crop FRI and PRI values. Based on the
author group's research [28–32], both FRI and PRI were recalculated
(Table 2A, Table 2B) for the 16 crops per province to better express the
crop residue quantities from 2007 to 2016.
The crop yield data were taken from the National Bureau of
Statistics of China [26] for 16 major field crops grown in China over the
10-year period. For each crop, the study also calculated the residue
yield and distribution density. The residue yield is the crop residue
quantity divided by the arable land area, and the distribution density is
the crop residue quantity divided by the administrative land area.
2.3. Utilization of crop residue
2.5. Bioethanol conversion rate and its potential
Calculation method of a theoretical bioethanol conversion rate that
was based on the cellulose and hemicellulose contents of different crop
residues [36–42] (Table 4). The availability of crop residue multiplied
by this bioethanol conversion rate equaled the bioethanol potential.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Production and distribution of crop residue
3.1.1. Changes in crop residue production from 2007 to 2016
The total crop residue at an annual rate 2.63% increased from
725.47 Mt in 2007 to 897.06 Mt in 2016 (Table 5). The yearly quantity
of crop residue in China averaged 821.96 Mt, which comprised
711.46 Mt of field residue and 110.50 Mt of process residue from 2007
to 2016 (Table 5). The field residue showed a stable increasing trend,
Table 1
Calculations for field residue, process residue, and crop residue in China.
Residue type Field residue (FR) Process residue Crop residue
(PR) (CR)

The field residue utilization percentage were summarized from Rice APa × FRId rice hull, FR + PR
AP × PRIe
1417 valid questionnaires, for which were conducted face-to-face field
Wheat AP × FRI N/A FR
surveys to interview farmers in 15 provinces during 2015–2016. In Maize AP × FRI cob, AP × PRI FR + PR
questionnaire surveys, all the possible residue utilizations included, i.e. Other cereals AP × FRI N/A FR
field residue retained in field, burnt in field, and abandoned, and used Beans AP × FRI N/A FR
for animal feed, cooking and heating, paper pulp, electricity generation, Tubers AP × FRI N/A FR
Cotton AP × FRI seed hull, FR + PR
other bioenergy, and others. The utilization of other bioenergy use was AP × PRI
mainly for biogas production, while a few uses were for biodiesel Peanut AP × FRI husk, AP × PRI FR + PR
ethanol, “others” utilization simply means that the crop residue was Canola AP × FRI N/A FR
eventually used but in a way that was unlike the eight other types; a Sesame AP × FRI N/A FR
Other oil crops AP × FRI N/A FR
typical example was the use of field residue for house roofing. In this
Jute and ambary AP × FRI N/A FR
study, the summarized crop residue utilizations were retained in field, Other fibers AP × FRI N/A FR
burnt in field, abandoned, and competitive uses. Sugarcane AP × (1–70%b) × FRI bagasse, AP × PRI FR + PR
Sugar beet AP × (1–75%c) × FRI bagasse, AP × PRI FR + PR
2.4. Collectable coefficient and availability of crop residue for bioethanol Tobacco AP × FRI N/A FR

production
N/A: means not available, no process residue for the crop.
a
AP: Annual production of a crop (from 2007 to 2016).
The collectable quantity of crop residue refers to the maximum b
Assuming a 70% moisture content for sugarcane.
amount of the residue that can be taken from the field and used [33]. c
Assuming a 75% moisture content for sugar beet.
Previous research [32,34,35] has studied the major factors associated d
Field residue index.
with the collectable quantity of crop residue, such as crop height, e
Process residue index.

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Y.R. Fang, et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 113 (2019) 109288

Table 2A
Values used for Field Residue Index (FRI) and Process Residue Index (PRI) of different field crops in North China (NC), Northeast China (NEC), and East China (EC).
Residue type China NC NEC EC

Beijing Tianjin Hebei Shanxi Inner Liaoning Jilin Heilongjiang Shanghai Jiangsu Zhejiang Anhui Fujian Jiangxi Shandong
Mongolia

Field residue
Rice 0.99 1.04 1.26 0.90 0.95 0.79 0.98 0.98 0.87 1.21 1.17 1.01 1.03 1.08 0.98 1.22
Wheat 1.33 1.34 1.21 1.27 1.30 1.17 1.27 1.30 1.09 1.13 1.47 1.25 1.16 1.39 1.41 1.44
Maize 1.05 0.99 0.96 1.03 1.15 1.31 1.00 1.07 1.15 0.89 0.97 0.93 0.97 0.89 0.91 0.93
Other cereals 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90
Beans 1.49 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.42 1.65 1.24 1.67 1.67 1.67 1.67 1.67 1.67 1.50
Tubers 0.51 0.40 0.40 0.40 0.40 0.59 0.57 0.57 0.57 0.51 0.51 0.51 0.51 0.55 0.50 0.40
Cotton 3.98 3.63 3.63 3.63 3.63 3.63 3.63 3.63N/A 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 4.65 3.66
Peanut 0.96 0.83 0.83 0.83 0.83 0.83 0.83 0.83 0.83 1.22 1.22 1.22 1.22 1.04 1.22 0.86
Canola 2.59 N/A N/A 2.30 2.30 2.30 2.30 N/A 2.30 2.66 2.66 2.66 2.66 2.66 2.66 2.30
Sesame 2.78 N/A N/A 2.62 2.62 2.62 2.62 2.62 2.62 N/A 2.96 2.96 2.96 2.96 2.96 2.62
Other oil 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 N/A 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48
crops
Jute and 1.82 N/A N/A 1.82 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 1.82 1.82 N/A 1.82 N/A
ambary
Other fibers 4.23 N/A N/A 4.23 N/A 4.23 N/A 4.23 4.23 N/A 4.23 4.23 4.23 N/A 4.23 N/A
Sugarcane 0.26 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.26 N/A
Sugar beet 0.23 N/A N/A 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.23 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 0.23
Tobacco 0.65 N/A N/A 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 N/A 0.69 0.69 0.70 0.69 0.69 0.69
Process residue
Rice hull 0.22 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.23 0.19 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.24 0.20
Maize cob 0.19 0.17 0.17 0.14 0.17 0.18 0.17 0.18 0.20 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.15
Cotton seed 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.47N/A 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.47
hull
Peanut husk 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.25 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.30
Sugarcane 0.20 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 N/A
bagasse
Sugar beet 0.05 N/A N/A 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 0.05 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 0.05
bagasse

N/A: means not available, because of no statistics for crop production according to the China Statistical Yearbook [26].

Table 2B
Values used for Field Residue Index (FRI) and Process Residue Index (PRI) of different field crops in Central-South China (CSC), Southwest China (SWC), and
Northwest China (NWC).
Residue type CSC SWC NWC

Henan Hubei Hunan Guangdong Guangxi Hainan Chongqing Sichuan Guizhou Yunnan Tibet Shaanxi Gansu Qinghai Ningxia Xinjiang

Field residue
Rice 0.92 0.91 0.93 1.01 1.04 1.14 0.86 0.85 1.08 1.08 1.01 0.89 0.80 N/A 0.94 0.70
Wheat 1.34 1.44 1.43 1.32 1.27 N/A 1.12 1.16 1.34 1.25 1.27 1.32 1.31 1.36 1.12 1.41
Maize 1.05 0.95 0.93 0.89 0.90 0.90 0.93 0.95 0.90 0.89 0.91 1.08 1.10 1.08 1.21 1.14
Other cereals 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90 1.90
Beans 1.50 1.67 1.67 1.67 1.67 1.67 1.67 1.67 1.67 1.67 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.50 1.46
Tubers 0.40 0.50 0.50 0.55 0.55 0.55 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.47 0.71 0.59 0.59 0.71 0.59 0.59
Cotton 3.34 4.65 4.65 N/A 4.65 N/A N/A 4.65 4.65 N/A N/A 3.63 3.63 N/A N/A 3.95
Peanut 0.83 1.22 1.22 1.22 1.22 1.22 1.22 1.22 1.22 1.22 N/A 0.83 0.83 N/A N/A 0.83
Canola 2.30 2.66 2.66 2.66 2.66 N/A 2.66 2.66 2.66 2.66 2.30 2.30 2.30 2.30 N/A 2.30
Sesame 2.62 2.96 2.96 2.96 2.96 2.96 2.96 2.96 N/A N/A N/A 2.62 N/A N/A N/A 2.62
Other oil crops 2.48 2.48 2.48 N/A 2.48 N/A 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48 2.48
Jute and 1.82 1.82 1.82 1.82 1.82 1.82 N/A 1.82 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
ambary
Other fibers 4.23 4.23 4.23 N/A 4.23 4.23 4.23 4.23 4.23 4.23 N/A 4.23 4.23 N/A N/A 4.23
Sugarcane 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.26 0.26 N/A 0.26 N/A N/A N/A N/A
Sugar beet N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 0.23 N/A 0.23 N/A N/A 0.23 0.23 N/A 0.23
Tobacco 0.69 0.69 0.83 0.69 0.69 N/A 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.51 N/A 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69 0.69
Process residue
Rice hull 0.20 0.24 0.22 0.24 0.23 0.24 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.23 0.20 0.20 N/A 0.20 0.20
Maize cob 0.14 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.24 0.23 0.26 0.23 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17 0.17
Cotton seed 0.47 0.47 0.47 N/A 0.47 N/A N/A 0.47 0.47 N/A N/A 0.47 0.47 N/A N/A 0.47
hull
Peanut husk 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.31 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 0.28 N/A 0.28 0.28 N/A N/A 0.28
Sugarcane 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 0.20 N/A 0.20 N/A N/A N/A N/A
bagasse
Sugar beet N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 0.05 N/A 0.05 N/A N/A 0.05 0.05 N/A 0.05
bagasse

N/A: means not available, because of no statistics for crop production according to the China Statistical Yearbook [26].

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Y.R. Fang, et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 113 (2019) 109288

Table 3 reports and this study confirms the substantial increase in crop residue
Collectable coefficient values of the field residue types in China. production has lasted in the country for 63 years since 1952.
Residue type Collectable Residue type Collectable The major field residues came from rice, wheat, and maize, the sum
coefficient coefficient of which contributed to an annual average of 78% of total field residue
between 2007 and 2016, according to this study (Table 5). This result
Rice 0.79 Canola 0.65
agrees with the finding regarding the total rice, wheat and maize re-
Wheat 0.70 Sesame 0.84
Maize 0.88 Other oil crops 0.85
sidues, which account for 75.7% of the total residue for all field crops
Other cereals 0.84 Jute and ambary 0.87 [43].
Beans 0.54 Other fibers 0.86 The major process residues was composed of rice hull, maize cob,
Tubers 0.76 Sugarcane 0.70 and sugarcane bagasse, the sum of which accounted for 93% of the total
Cotton 0.88 Sugar beet 0.75
process residues annually in China from 2007 to 2016. Rice hull ex-
Peanut 0.83 Tobacco 0.93
hibited the highest annual average process residue (44.03 Mt), followed
by maize cob (34.91 Mt) and sugarcane bagasse (23.71 Mt) throughout
Table 4 the 10-year period. A few previous studies reported that process residue
Theoretically based bioethanol conversion rate of the field residue types in was as well mainly composed of rice, maize and sugarcane. Bi [34],
China. who reported that China produced 40.30 Mt of rice hull, 34.84 Mt of
maize cob, and 29.80 Mt of sugarcane bagasse in 2008, and 34.38 Mt of
Residue type Conversion rate (g kg- Residue type Conversion rate (g kg-
1
) 1
) rice hull, 25.72 Mt of maize cob, and 18.81 Mt of sugarcane bagasse
annually during 2007–2009 according to Guo et al. [31]. These findings
Rice 521.09 Canola 460.20 indicate that major components of the process residue are in agreement
Wheat 487.75 Sesame 492.19
with this study in a great extent, although the pattern changes with
Maize 487.89 Other oil crops 492.19
Other cereals 498.91 Jute and 481.14 time. In these two previous reports, the sum percentage of rice hull,
ambary maize cob, and sugarcane bagasse to the total process residue were
Beans 363.51 Other fibers 481.14 89.04% [31] and 95.98% [34], which is similar with the finding of this
Tubers 561.20 Sugarcane 439.62 study (93%).
Cotton 442.65 Sugar beet 436.10
Peanut 342.54 Tobacco 401.59

3.1.2. The state–of–the-art of crop residue

For the current state, the total crop residue amounted to 897.06 Mt,
while the process residue and total crop residue also increased, with
which consisted of 781.32 Mt of field residue and 115.74 Mt of process
some fluctuation evident over the 10-year period. There was a near
residue in 2016 in China (Table 6). Because the crop production data
24% increase from 2007 to 2016 in the total crop residue, while the
was released by the official statistics administration after a duration of
field residue and process residue increased by 25% and 18%, respec-
some 2–3 years, the data reported in this study was the latest. The
tively. Assessment on crop residue in China has been well documented
production of crop residue in 2016 has not been reported in the pre-
in the previous studies. Bi [34] reported that crop residue increased
vious literature to the best of our knowledge.
from 214.35 Mt in 1952 to 771.35 Mt in 2008. Jia et al. [43] reported
The total mass of all crop residue was 875.33 Mt in 2015 in China,
that it increased from 356.40 Mt in 1978 to 819.70 Mt in 2014 in China.
according to this study. It includes 757.79 Mt of field residue and
As well, the annual production of crop residue was reported as
117.54 Mt of process residue. For the same year, Cao et al. [45] re-
532.99 Mt in 2007 by Ji [18], 750.36 Mt in 2008–2009 by Wang et al.
ported residue production of 674.85 Mt, including 621.81 Mt from field
[17], 846.00 Mt in 2012 by Li et al. [44]. The findings of these previous
crops and 53.04 Mt from fruits and vegetables. Its field residue from

Table 5
Estimates of field residue and process residue resources in China from 2007 to 2016.
Residue type 2007 (Mt) 2008 (Mt) 2009 (Mt) 2010 (Mt) 2011 (Mt) 2012 (Mt) 2013 (Mt) 2014 (Mt) 2015 (Mt) 2016 (Mt)

Field residue 627.03 665.09 665.49 678.31 709.59 732.28 745.58 752.15 757.79 781.32
Rice 182.87 188.39 191.53 191.80 196.63 199.80 199.12 201.88 203.61 202.42
Wheat 145.60 149.80 153.43 153.61 156.48 161.34 162.84 168.60 174.07 172.29
Maize 159.71 174.86 172.55 187.16 204.44 218.31 233.05 230.54 240.03 233.93
Other cereals 9.97 9.58 8.47 7.87 8.70 7.81 7.63 8.25 0.00 8.79
Beans 25.87 30.26 28.69 28.15 28.43 25.95 24.11 24.44 24.01 25.94
Tubers 14.01 14.93 15.01 15.65 16.51 16.57 16.74 16.75 16.66 16.83
Cotton 30.19 29.65 25.33 23.81 26.41 27.44 25.28 24.70 22.41 21.07
Peanut 12.43 13.69 14.12 15.01 15.41 16.02 16.28 15.94 15.95 16.70
Canola 27.40 31.34 35.44 33.93 34.88 36.36 37.55 38.37 38.79 37.78
Sesame 1.55 1.63 1.73 1.63 1.69 1.78 1.73 1.75 1.78 1.76
Other oil crops 3.76 6.43 6.34 7.41 7.41 7.51 7.73 7.91 8.33 9.50
Jute and ambary 0.18 0.15 0.13 0.12 0.14 0.12 0.11 0.10 0.10 0.10
Other fibers 2.66 2.28 1.32 1.05 0.93 0.81 0.71 0.74 0.67 0.84
Sugarcane 8.81 9.68 9.02 8.64 8.93 9.60 10.00 9.80 9.12 29.59
Sugar beet 0.50 0.56 0.40 0.52 0.60 0.66 0.52 0.45 0.45 2.15
Tobacco 1.54 1.84 1.99 1.93 2.01 2.18 2.18 1.93 1.82 1.64
Process residue 98.44 104.88 103.12 104.86 109.83 115.10 117.96 117.52 117.54 115.74
Rice hull 41.05 42.32 43.05 43.12 44.23 44.95 44.79 45.44 45.83 45.54
Maize cob 27.18 29.76 29.52 31.98 34.65 37.12 39.42 39.09 40.73 39.69
Cotton seed hull 3.58 3.52 3.00 2.80 3.10 3.21 2.96 2.90 2.63 2.49
Peanut husk 3.65 3.99 4.11 4.37 4.48 4.66 4.74 4.61 4.59 4.83
Sugarcane bagasse 22.59 24.83 23.12 22.16 22.89 24.62 25.64 25.12 23.39 22.76
Sugar beet bagasse 0.40 0.45 0.32 0.42 0.48 0.53 0.42 0.36 0.36 0.43
Total crop residue 725.47 769.96 768.61 783.17 819.43 847.38 863.54 869.67 875.33 897.06

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Y.R. Fang, et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 113 (2019) 109288

Table 6
Spatial distribution of the crop residue in the six regions and 31 provinces of China in 2016.
Region and province Field residue Process residue Total crop residue

a a
Amount (Mt) Percent (%) Amount (Mt) Percent (%) Amount (Mt) Percenta (%)

NC 98.90 12.66 8.99 7.77 107.90 12.03

Beijing 0.56 0.07 0.07 0.06 0.64 0.07
Tianjin 2.17 0.28 0.24 0.20 2.41 0.27
Hebei 41.07 5.26 3.12 2.70 44.19 4.93
Shanxi 15.35 1.96 1.49 1.29 16.84 1.88
Inner Mongolia 39.75 5.09 4.07 3.52 43.82 4.88
NEC 124.07 15.88 21.11 18.24 145.18 16.18
Liaoning 21.10 2.70 3.64 3.14 24.74 2.76
Jilin 39.08 5.00 6.56 5.67 45.64 5.09
Heilongjiang 63.89 8.18 10.91 9.43 74.80 8.34
EC 191.38 24.49 21.80 18.83 213.17 23.76
Shanghai 1.23 0.16 0.19 0.17 1.42 0.16
Jiangsu 47.52 6.08 4.40 3.80 51.92 5.79
Zhejiang 8.54 1.09 1.57 1.35 10.11 1.13
Anhui 42.96 5.50 4.66 4.02 47.61 5.31
Fujian 7.01 0.90 1.28 1.10 8.28 0.92
Jiangxi 23.90 3.06 5.13 4.43 29.04 3.24
Shandong 60.21 7.71 4.57 3.95 64.78 7.22
CSC 203.95 26.10 41.74 36.06 245.69 27.39
Henan 78.74 10.08 5.08 4.39 83.82 9.34
Hubei 34.43 4.41 5.11 4.42 39.54 4.41
Hunan 34.27 4.39 6.32 5.46 40.59 4.52
Guangdong 18.36 2.35 6.09 5.26 24.45 2.73
Guangxi 35.60 4.56 18.34 15.85 53.95 6.01
Hainan 2.55 0.33 0.80 0.69 3.34 0.37
SWC 90.96 11.64 16.29 14.07 107.24 11.96
Chongqing 10.96 1.40 1.84 1.59 12.80 1.43
Sichuan 38.44 4.92 5.62 4.85 44.06 4.91
Guizhou 13.72 1.76 2.09 1.81 15.81 1.76
Yunnan 25.95 3.32 6.73 5.82 32.68 3.64
Tibet 1.88 0.24 0.01 0.00 1.89 0.21
NWC 72.07 9.22 5.82 5.03 77.88 8.68
Shaanxi 15.35 1.96 1.14 0.98 16.49 1.84
Gansu 14.24 1.82 0.96 0.83 15.20 1.69
Qinghai 1.88 0.24 0.03 0.03 1.91 0.21
Ningxia 4.47 0.57 0.49 0.42 4.96 0.55
Xinjiang 36.13 4.62 3.20 2.77 39.33 4.38
Total 781.32 100 115.74 100 897.06 100

NC: North China, NEC: Northeast China, EC: East China, CSC: Central-South China, SWC: Southwest China, NWC: Northwest China.
a
Residue amount produced in each province as a percentage of each type of China's total residue value.

field crops was lower than this study due to its lower FRI values of
wheat, rice, other cereals, and cotton. The FRI values are the only factor
to affect the accuracy of field residue assessment for specific crops,
production data of which could be collected from the official in-
formation administration. The researcher group of this study was the
only one to determine FRI values with the latest field crop data and
enough sample size for each province of China in the earlier report
published in 2013 [17]. For this study, the FRI values of all the field
crops were updated according to the latest crop production progress in
each province.
The total mass of all crop residue was 869.67 Mt in 2014 in this
study. The finding was 99.39 Mt or 13% higher than the crop residue of
770.28 Mt reported by He [32] for the same year. This was because He
[32] calculated the field residue with much lower FRI values of maize,
sugarcane, and sugar beet. For example, He [32] made a mistake to use
harvest index (0.46) as FRI (1.17) for maize. As a result, He [32] un-
derestimated field residue of maize, which production was the largest
one among all the crops in China.
3.1.3. Spatial distribution of crop residue in regions and provinces
The mass of the total crop residue varied between 77.88 and
245.69 Mt among six regions in China, with a decreasing order of
CSC > EC > NEC > SWC > NC > NWC in 2016 (Fig. 2). The mass
of the field residue exhibited the order of EC > CSC > NEC >
NC > SWC > NWC, and the mass of process residue had the order of
CSC > EC > NEC > SWC > NC > NWC. The order of the total
crop residue in Ref. [45] was the same as reported in this study, which
studied the crop residue in 2015 in China. The decreasing orders were
EC > CSC > NEC > SWC > NC > NWC and CSC > EC >
SWC > NEC > NC > NWC for the field residue and process residue,
on average, for 2008 and 2009, respectively [17]; the major reason for
the slight differences reported in this study may be due to the different
data that were taken from the different research years.
This study reveals that the greatest quantities of crop residue and
field residue were found in Henan province, accounting for 9.34% and
10.08% of the total residue in 2016 in China, respectively. However,
the largest amount of process residue was produced in Guangxi, which
accounted for 15.85% of the total process residue. Beijing had a total
crop residue of less than 1 Mt, which corresponded to only 0.1% of
China's total value. The study of [43] found that the largest quantity of
field residue was produced in Henan, and [43] showed that Guangxi
produced the greatest quantity of process residue, mainly the sugarcane
bagasse, as in the present study.
Rice and wheat straw were mainly found to be distributed in EC and
CSC, whereas maize residue was mostly found in NEC and NC in 2016
according to the present study. Yang et al. [46] also reported that maize
residue was mainly distributed in NEC and NC from 2008 to 2010.
The residue of peanut, canola, sugarcane, and sesame crops were
primarily distributed in CSC, with cotton straw mainly found in NWC,
and SWC harbored the most tobacco residue among the six regions.

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Y.R. Fang, et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 113 (2019) 109288

Fig. 2. Crop residue production in six regions of China in 2016 (including field residue and process residue). NC: North China, NEC: Northeast China, EC: East China,
CSC: Central-South China, SWC: Southwest China, NWC: Northwest China.

Maize, wheat and cotton residues were the main residue types in the all crops in the six regions, except that of NWC, where the highest field
NWC region, which was same as in Ref. [47]. residue yield was maize (Table 7). The yields of all the process residues
Rice field residue exhibited a high yield in NEC, topping the yield of were < 2 t ha−1. Maize had the highest density of field residue in NC,

Table 7
Crop residue yields and densities in China's six regions in 2016.
Residue type NC NEC EC CSC SWC NWC

Yield Density Yield Density Yield Density Yield Density Yield Density Yield Density

(t ha−1) (t km−2) (t ha−1) (t km−2) (t ha−1) (t km−2) (t ha−1) (t km−2) (t ha−1) (t km−2) (t ha−1) (t km−2)

Field residue
Rice 6.85 3.45 7.57 35.65 8.11 86.66 6.41 64.39 6.27 25.21 6.48 2.64
Wheat 6.06 37.77 4.53 0.29 5.45 58.61 4.16 52.41 4.40 4.05 5.36 9.98
Maize 6.49 60.82 7.24 111.59 4.86 22.08 4.58 24.79 4.86 15.89 7.19 17.30
Other cereals 2.37 1.12 5.46 0.27 6.52 3.32 5.27 0.53 4.75 1.39 4.41 1.30
Beans 2.68 1.89 2.73 7.37 3.72 4.28 3.47 2.56 3.33 4.57 2.70 0.82
Tubers 1.92 0.97 3.12 1.62 2.22 2.37 1.92 3.17 2.20 6.63 2.23 1.80
Cotton 4.94 2.62 4.92 0.00 5.26 2.82 4.58 1.57 2.68 0.02 6.14 1.86
Peanut 2.46 1.28 2.35 2.45 3.95 4.19 3.64 7.78 2.07 0.92 3.47 0.09
Canola 2.74 0.26 6.87 0.01 5.39 6.73 4.35 12.15 5.51 9.38 4.16 1.51
Sesame 1.67 0.03 4.51 0.03 3.89 0.23 4.31 1.19 1.73 0.05 2.89 0.04
Other oil crops 5.83 2.17 6.08 1.14 5.90 0.07 4.32 0.08 5.33 0.11 5.76 1.93
Jute and ambary 0.81 0.00 N/A N/A 3.03 0.00 6.83 0.06 1.18 0.00 N/A N/A
Sugarcane N/A N/A N/A N/A 4.48 0.54 6.13 19.97 12.83 2.82 5.58 0.00
Sugarbeet 1.90 0.33 2.76 0.07 0.15 0.00 N/A N/A 2.69 0.00 8.51 0.17
Tobacco 1.50 0.01 1.85 0.10 1.58 0.19 1.27 0.43 1.26 0.62 2.31 0.05
Process residue
Rice hull 1.40 0.60 1.63 7.77 1.59 16.88 1.48 15.05 1.47 6.17 1.58 0.58
Maize cob 0.98 9.30 1.22 18.75 1.17 4.07 1.05 4.13 1.17 4.12 1.06 2.52
Cotton seed hull 0.64 0.34 0.64 0.00 0.55 0.33 0.50 0.17 0.27 0.00 0.77 0.22
Peanut husk 0.80 0.40 0.78 0.81 0.97 1.26 0.90 2.24 0.47 0.21 1.15 0.03
Sugarcane bagasse N/A N/A N/A N/A 9.36 0.42 13.11 15.36 9.87 2.17 4.29 0.00
Sugarbeet bagasse 1.13 0.07 1.61 0.01 0.32 0.00 N/A N/A 0.54 0.00 1.70 0.03

N/A: means not available because there were no statistics for crop production according to the China Statistical Yearbook [26].
NC: North China, NEC: Northeast China, EC: East China, CSC: Central-South China, SWC: Southwest China, NWC: Northwest China.

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Y.R. Fang, et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 113 (2019) 109288

NEC, and NWC but was displaced by the rice field residue of the other
three regions (Table 7). In NEC, the density of maize residue was
111.59 t km−2, which was the highest found for any crop residue across
all of China. With respect to the density of the process residue, those of
rice hull in EC and CSC, maize cob in NEC, and sugarcane bagasse in
CSC were > 15 t km−2, while for other process residues, they were <
10 t km−2.
3.2. Utilization and the collectable crop residue
3.2.1. Utilization of crop residue
The utilization of field residue exhibited a pattern of residue re-
tained in the field (35.19%), burnt in the field (25.20%), abandoned
(8.93%), feed (20.89%), cooking and heating (5.84%), paper pulp
(0.44%), electricity (0.55%), other bioenergy use (0.13%) and others
(2.83%) for all crops in 2016 (Table 8). Based on this study, the pro-
portion of cooking and heating was lower than found in Ref. [48],
which reported that the value was 20% and was unreliable. One plau-
sible explanation is that the economic development and living condi-
tions improved, which directly affected crop residue utilization; for
example, the amount of residue used in households for cooking and
heating would decrease as farmers gain a greater income and better
quality of living. The National Development and Reform Commission
[49] reported a similar result as in the present study, in that the total
crop residue retained in the field was 43.2% and used in feed was
18.8% in 2015; these data are consistent with those reported in this
research.
The utilization ratio of different crop residues in China showed that
more than 40% of residues of rice, wheat, tubers, and sugar beet were
retained in the field, and the corresponding ratios for the other crop
residue types were > 30% (Table 8). The rice, maize, cotton, and ca-
nola residue burnt ratios were all > 30%, and the burnt rate of other
crop residue exceeded 18%. The crop residue for heating and cooking
was still found and was important. However, the crop residue used for
paper pulp, electricity generation, and other bioenergy production was
generally very low for all crops. The residue of maize as feed was
25.68% (Table 8); Shi et al. [50] found a similar value of 29.15%.
3.2.2. Collectable quantity of crop residue
As Fig. 3 shows, over the period of 2007–2016, all provinces showed
a similar variation in this key parameter, except Heilongjiang. The total
collectable crop residue sustained yearly increases corresponding to the
increase in growth. In particular, the highest collectable quantity of
crop residue was in Henan, except for 2013–2015, when the highest
collectable quantity of crop residue in Henan was slightly surpassed by
that Heilongjiang. Beijing had the least collectable quantity of crop
residue from 2007 to 2016.
The collectable quantity of crop residue in the six regions in 2016 is
illustrated in Fig. 4. This value was highest for Henan, at almost 60 Mt,
followed by Heilongjiang, at more than 50 Mt. Shandong was ranked
third, with 46.37 Mt of collectable quantity of crop residue. In terms of
crop type, the greatest quantity of collectable crop residue came from
maize followed by rice and wheat, which when pooled, accounted for
79.51% of the total crop residue in China. The total collectable residue
of maize, rice and wheat accounted for 79.96% of that found in Ref.
[18], which was same as in this study.
For rice residue, its highest collectable quantity was in Hunan
Province, at approximately 19.1 Mt, followed by Jiangsu, Heilongjiang,
and Jiangxi, at > 15 Mt each. Sun et al. [51] studied the collectable
quantity of crop residue in Jiangsu, which was 16.3 Mt in 2014 and had
the same collectable coefficient as in the present study.
Wheat straw in Henan has the greatest collectable quantity, at
32.5 Mt, which was also the highest quantity of collectable residue of all
studied crops found in China. Heilongjiang had the maximum collect-
able quantity of maize residue, at more 31 Mt, followed by Inner
Mongolia, with almost 25 Mt. Generally, the collectable quantity of
cotton residue was small in China, peaking at 12.5 Mt in Xinjiang, fol-
lowed 1.77 Mt in Shandong and no more than 1 Mt for all remaining
provinces combined, with almost half of them having no cotton residue
for collection. Guangxi had the largest collectable quantity of sugarcane
residue (almost 14 Mt), followed by Yunnan (3.16 Mt) and Guangdong
(2.69 Mt). The rest of the pooled provinces had under 0.5 Mt of su-
garcane residue (near zero in 16 provinces). Ji [18] also gave a col-
lectable coefficient for the crop residue collectable quantity calculation;
however, the coefficient only showed the crop group; for example,
wheat, maize and rice, and so on had the same coefficient due to these
crops belonging to the cereal group, and no signal crop had a signal
collectable coefficient, as in this study.
3.3. Availability of crop residue for bioethanol production
3.3.1. Distribution of available crop residue
The available quantity of crop residue for bioethanol production
was estimated as 231.5 Mt annually from 2007 to 2016 (Fig. 5). Clearly,
this value was greatest in Heilongjiang and Henan. From 2007 to 2011,
the maximum amount of available crop residue was in Henan, but
switched to Heilongjiang from 2012 to 2016. The total available crop
residue of these two provinces accounted for 26% (55.03 Mt) and 28%
(64.10 Mt) of the total available weight in China from 2007 to 2011 and
2012 to 2016, respectively. In addition to Henan and Heilongjiang,

Table 8
Utilization and ratio values of different field residue types in China.
Crop residue type Retained in field Burnt in field Abandoned (%) Feed (%) Cooking and Paper pulp Electricity Other bioenergy Others (%)
(%) (%) heating (%) (%) generation (%) use (%)

Rice 43.67 34.68 3.49 12.85 3.02 0.99 0.16 0.12 1.02
Wheat 40.49 18.27 2.46 32.41 3.44 1.06 0.53 1.08 0.26
Maize 30.23 30.94 4.77 25.68 6.89 0.34 0.58 0.00 0.57
Other cereals 38.13 27.96 3.57 23.65 4.45 0.80 0.42 0.40 0.62
Beans 39.12 19.76 1.82 26.14 10.51 0.44 1.74 0.05 0.42
Tubers 42.48 18.89 10.29 20.14 6.82 0.38 0.59 0.04 0.37
Cotton 31.30 31.38 11.23 17.48 6.99 0.40 0.46 0.06 0.70
Peanut 30.14 22.03 12.09 20.79 4.39 0.24 0.38 0.03 9.91
Canola 30.62 32.81 9.38 18.10 7.72 0.38 0.59 0.04 0.36
Sesame 30.38 27.42 10.74 19.44 6.05 0.31 0.49 0.03 5.14
Other oil crops 30.38 27.42 10.74 19.44 6.05 0.31 0.49 0.03 5.14
Jute and ambary 30.14 22.03 12.09 20.79 4.39 0.24 0.38 0.03 9.91
Other fibers 30.14 22.03 12.09 20.79 4.39 0.24 0.38 0.03 9.91
Sugarcane 36.63 24.37 13.89 18.20 5.76 0.31 0.49 0.03 0.32
Sugar beet 42.48 18.89 10.29 20.14 6.82 0.38 0.59 0.04 0.37
Tobacco 36.63 24.37 13.89 18.20 5.76 0.31 0.49 0.03 0.32
Total 35.19 25.20 8.93 20.89 5.84 0.45 0.55 0.13 2.83

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Y.R. Fang, et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 113 (2019) 109288

Fig. 3. Changes in the annual value of the collectable amount of crop residue in 31 provinces of China from 2007 to 2016.

Fig. 4. Collectable quantity of crop residue production in 31 provinces in 2016 (“Oil crops” includes peanut, canola, sesame, and other oil crops. “Other crops”
includes other cereals, beans, tubers, jute and ambary, other fibers, sugar beet, and tobacco).

more than 15 Mt (average value from 2007 to 2016) of the quantity of
available crop residue could be found in Jilin, Sichuan, Hunan, and
Guangxi. In stark contrast, Shanghai, Beijing, Qinghai, and Tianjin each
had a low quantity of available crop residue, which were all lower than
0.5 Mt for 2007–2016.
In this study, the quantity of crop residue available for bioethanol
production was calculated by summing the burnt and collectable
weights of the abandoned part, not unlike the calculations by Ref. [52],
which also considered the burnt crop residue and its discarded quantity.
Considering rural economic development and improvements in rural
citizens’ living standards, household use of crop residue for cooking and
heating should be added to the quantity of residue available for

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Y.R. Fang, et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 113 (2019) 109288

Fig. 5. Changes in the annual available amount of crop residue for bioethanol production in 31 provinces of China from 2007 to 2016.

bioethanol conversion in future years.
For 2016, the total field residue available for bioethanol conversion
was 254.57 Mt in China, and the amount of available field residue in the
six regions is shown in Fig. 6. This value was highest in Heilongjiang
(with almost 39.79 Mt), followed by Henan and Jilin, with 31.03 and
22.51 Mt, respectively. Shanghai and Beijing had little total available
crop residue, at 0.1 and 0.2 Mt, respectively. Yang et al. [53] also re-
ported that Henan and Shandong each had a high available quantity of
crop residue for bioenergy production in 2007.
The highest available residue found was maize, with 95 Mt of it in
China, which accounted for 37% of the country's total available residue,
followed by rice residue (78.90 Mt), at only 16.1 Mt less than the maize

Fig. 6. Available amount of crop residue in China in 2016 (“Other crops” includes other cereals, beans, tubers, jute and ambary, other fibers, sugar beet, and tobacco.
“Oil crops” includes peanut, canola, sesame, and other oil crops).

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Y.R. Fang, et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 113 (2019) 109288

Fig. 7. Distribution density maps of the availability of crop residue for bioethanol production in China in 2016 (province name see Fig. 1. “Other crops” includes
other cereals, beans, tubers, jute and ambary, other fibers, sugar beet, and tobacco. “Oil crops” includes peanut, canola, sesame, and other oil crops).

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Y.R. Fang, et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 113 (2019) 109288

residue value. The third largest available crop residue was wheat, but
only 18.89 Mt was found, corresponding to only 7.4% of total available
crop residue. Hence, the crop residues of rice, wheat, and maize were
still the major feedstock available for bioethanol production, re-
presenting 76% of the entire available crop residue in China. The
highest quantities of available rice and maize residues were found both
in Heilongjiang, at 18.35 and 19.28 Mt, respectively, while Henan had
the highest value of wheat residue, at 12.79 Mt. Most of the available
cotton residue was found in Shandong, and most of the available su-
garcane residue was found in Guangxi (12.16 Mt).
3.3.2. Distribution density of available crop residue for bioethanol
production
The distribution density of the crop residue available for bioethanol
production in 2016 exhibited high in NEC and CSC and southeast
provinces of SWC (Fig. 7). The highest density of available rice residue
found in Hunan, followed by Heilongjiang, Hubei, Jilin, and Liaoning;
that is, across China, NEC had the greatest density of available rice
residue. The province of Henan had the highest density of available
wheat residue, which was close to zero in nine provinces. The top four
provinces regarding the available maize residue density were, in des-
cending order, Jilin > Henan > Liaoning > Heilongjiang, whereas
10 provinces each had a density of < 1 t km−2. The available residues
of cotton and sugarcane reached their highest density in Shandong and
Guangxi, respectively. The top five provinces, ranked in descending
order of available total crop residue were Henan > Jilin >
Liaoning > Heilongjiang > Guangxi; however, in Tibet and Qinghai,
the corresponding values were < 0.5 t km−2. The amount of crop re-
sidue available for bioethanol differs among the crop types, planting
regions, plant structures, seasonal variations, and harvesting methods
used [43,53].
following: CSC > NEC > SWC > NC > EC > NWC. Importantly, in
the NC, NEC, and NWC regions the greatest amount of bioethanol was
produced by maize residue, whereas in the remaining three regions,
rice residue was the major feedstock.
The bioethanol production potential varied between 0.041 and
19.81 Mt in the 31 provinces in 2016. Heilongjiang, Henan, Jilin, and
Sichuan exhibited the highest level of bioethanol potential varied be-
tween 9.48 and 19.81 Mt. The sum of bioethanol potential in the four
provinces accounted for 44.63% of the total, in which Heilongjiang was
the highest (15%). Shanghai and Beijing exhibited the lowest level of
0.041 Mt and 0.06 Mt, respectively.
A total of 96.7 Mt bioethanol came from maize, rice and wheat re-
sidues (a total of 486.4 Mt of available quantity), which accounted for
77.8% of the total bioethanol production potential in 2016 (Table 9).
The available residues of maize, rice and wheat were also the major
feedstock for bioethanol production in 2005 in Ref. [54]. Maize residue
offered the largest bioethanol production potential, at 46.35 Mt, or
37.3% of China's total bioethanol potential. Ranking second in bioe-
thanol potential was that from rice residue, at 33.1% of the national
total. The bioethanol potential from maize and rice residues were
greatest in Heilongjiang, at 9.4 and 9.6 Mt, respectively. Henan had the
largest bioethanol potential from wheat residue, at 6.2 Mt, followed by
Hubei Province. With respect to cotton and sugarcane residues, their
bioethanol potential peaked in Shandong and Guangxi, respectively.
Bioethanol annual consumption reached over 6 Mt in 2020, which was
the bioethanol project goal of China 13th Five-Year Plan [55]. Only the
signal residue of maize in China can produce 8-fold greater bioethanol
utilization than the target of 2020. Therefore, crop residue is a steady
feedstock for bioethanol production in China [54].
3.5. Practical implications of this study

3.4. Bioethanol potential
Theoretical bioethanol production of crop residue followed a
smooth, upward-sloping trend for the 2007–2016 period (Table 9), and
was 28% higher in 2016 than in 2007. Rice residue generated the
greatest amount of bioethanol production from 2007 to 2010, after
which maize residue produced the greatest yield from 2011 to 2016.
The total predicted bioethanol production from rice, wheat, and maize
residues, as a percentage of China's total, ranged from 76% in 2008 up
to 81% in 2015.
The spatial distribution of bioethanol production in China in 2016 is
summarized in Table 10. The expected bioethanol yield totaled
124.3 Mt, and its value per region ranked in descending order, as
According to this study, crop residue exhibited high potential for
bioethanol production due to its available amount, most of which was
assumed to be part of residue burnt in the field. Cellulosic bioethanol
produced from crop residue has also been recognized a highly pro-
mising way to reduce fossil energy consumption and greenhouse house
gas emissions [56,57]. Several technological pathways of commercial
conversion have been developed and demonstrated [58], and further
innovations are being researched and intensively demonstrated
[59,60]. On the other hand, crop residue management causes great
concern due to the large quantity being open burnt in the field, which
had significant impacts on air pollution, climate change and potential
human health in China between 1996 and 2015 [61–63]. The direct
reason for farmers to burn residue in the field is that the residue cannot

Table 9
Theoretical production of bioethanol produced from different crop residue types in China in the period 2007–2016.
Residue type 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
(Mt) (Mt) (Mt) (Mt) (Mt) (Mt) (Mt) (Mt) (Mt) (Mt)

Rice 35.05 36.53 36.96 37.84 39.31 40.04 40.11 40.65 40.93 41.12
Wheat 8.21 8.28 8.38 8.28 8.55 8.66 8.71 8.98 9.31 9.22
Maize 31.88 35.06 34.43 37.50 40.86 43.59 46.42 45.62 47.87 46.35
Other cereals 1.32 1.27 1.12 1.04 1.15 1.03 1.01 1.09 0.00 1.16
Beans 1.31 1.68 1.57 1.55 1.53 1.30 1.19 1.26 1.20 1.35
Tubers 2.09 2.20 2.27 2.33 2.43 2.46 2.49 2.53 2.55 2.57
Cotton 3.71 3.59 3.11 2.85 3.05 2.76 2.34 2.11 1.79 1.46
Peanut 1.35 1.48 1.51 1.58 1.60 1.65 1.67 1.65 1.65 1.69
Canola 4.76 5.48 6.30 6.12 6.48 6.73 7.02 7.25 7.39 7.30
Sesame 0.24 0.26 0.27 0.26 0.27 0.28 0.27 0.28 0.28 0.28
Other oil crops 0.60 1.03 1.01 1.18 1.18 1.20 1.23 1.26 1.33 1.52
Jute and ambary 0.02 0.02 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01
Other fibers 0.35 0.29 0.19 0.15 0.14 0.12 0.10 0.10 0.09 0.10
Sugarcane 6.17 6.94 6.45 6.21 6.47 6.98 7.28 7.15 6.64 9.62
Sugar beet 0.08 0.08 0.06 0.08 0.09 0.10 0.07 0.06 0.06 0.18
Tobacco 0.33 0.39 0.42 0.42 0.44 0.48 0.47 0.42 0.39 0.35
Total 97.47 104.57 104.06 107.40 113.56 117.39 120.41 120.43 121.49 124.27

12
Y.R. Fang, et al. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 113 (2019) 109288

Table 10
Theoretical production of bioethanol from available crop residues in the six regions and 31 provinces in China in 2016.
a b
Region and province Rice Wheat Maize Oil crops Cotton Sugarcane Other crops Total
(Kt) (Kt) (Kt) (Kt) (Kt) (Kt) (Kt) (Kt)

NC 240.49 0.00 7398.01 1088.08 248.58 0.00 287.90 9263.06

Beijing 0.25 0.00 56.37 1.04 0.04 0.00 0.17 57.87
Tianjin 32.54 0.00 149.71 4.68 17.37 0.00 0.54 204.84
Hebei 101.38 0.00 2303.15 255.71 223.31 0.00 86.40 2969.95
Shanxi 0.95 0.00 1315.70 55.74 7.70 0.00 61.93 1442.01
Inner Mongolia 105.37 0.00 3573.08 770.90 0.16 0.00 138.86 4588.38
NEC 14839.79 46.45 21087.21 211.06 0.09 0.00 968.06 37152.67
Liaoning 2246.31 3.75 3811.45 49.11 0.09 0.00 96.75 6207.46
Jilin 3032.07 0.17 7868.58 92.63 0.00 0.00 139.87 11133.33
Heilongjiang 9561.42 42.53 9407.18 69.32 0.00 0.00 731.43 19811.88
EC 2114.49 475.04 1767.21 1498.14 735.09 101.71 563.74 7255.42
Shanghai 29.41 0.97 1.33 1.85 0.32 0.29 6.61 40.78
Jiangsu 656.49 116.48 159.31 271.52 68.52 4.71 214.21 1491.25
Zhejiang 184.87 2.25 19.98 62.66 15.33 32.44 55.68 373.21
Anhui 442.90 114.54 314.66 438.15 171.32 10.58 46.09 1538.23
Fujian 154.37 0.05 13.88 47.51 0.08 19.34 102.15 337.37
Jiangxi 615.19 0.26 8.45 250.35 68.01 34.35 56.60 1033.22
Shandong 31.25 240.48 1249.60 426.09 411.52 0.00 82.41 2441.36
CSC 15132.76 7084.85 9836.67 4001.16 358.67 6459.29 696.95 43570.35
Henan 1070.07 6240.41 6700.58 784.33 67.58 14.54 156.87 15034.38
Hubei 3439.22 830.76 1142.28 1358.36 174.87 23.13 125.72 7094.34
Hunan 5404.28 11.36 823.64 1735.24 113.88 34.59 161.81 8284.81
Guangdong 2399.83 0.53 297.28 101.65 0.00 916.22 154.44 3869.94
Guangxi 2458.97 1.79 872.88 11.73 2.34 5344.10 75.92 8767.73
Hainan 360.39 0.00 0.00 9.85 0.00 126.72 22.18 519.14
SWC 8494.89 1143.53 5664.39 3370.06 9.34 3060.66 2443.66 24186.53
Chongqing 1190.61 29.60 709.89 417.43 0.00 5.07 538.54 2891.14
Sichuan 3871.56 747.47 2138.54 1848.24 8.21 53.89 811.34 9479.26
Guizhou 1285.64 124.41 870.56 672.65 1.13 128.15 420.47 3503.01
Yunnan 2145.64 196.65 1938.61 393.62 0.00 2873.56 486.89 8034.96
Tibet 1.45 45.40 6.80 38.13 0.00 0.00 186.41 278.18
NWC 293.60 465.81 596.28 618.52 107.41 0.07 761.97 2843.66
Shaanxi 131.29 187.37 177.55 96.17 12.99 0.07 142.42 747.86
Gansu 4.08 111.85 184.11 196.19 7.64 0.00 311.12 815.01
Qinghai 0.00 14.36 5.88 29.33 0.00 0.00 62.83 112.40
Ningxia 66.88 23.50 117.66 56.96 0.00 0.00 53.79 318.79
Xinjiang 91.34 128.73 111.08 239.87 86.78 0.00 191.81 849.61
China 41116.02 9215.69 46349.78 10787.02 1459.19 9621.72 5722.27 124271.69

NC: North China, NEC: Northeast China, EC: East China, CSC: Central-South China, SWC: Southwest China, NWC: Northwest China.
a
Oil crops include peanut, canola, sesame and other oil crops.
b
Other crops include other cereals, beans, tubers, jute and ambary, other fibers, sugar beet, and tobacco.

be used for a satisfactory positive economic benefit; whereas burning 4. Conclusions

was the easiest way to clean the field for next cropping without any
cost. Currently, to prevent open burning of residue, governments in
China have released various policy measures, which heavily primarily
rely on prohibition and penalties [64]. However, unless a large industry
is well developed to find a solution for crop residue with a proper value
chain to satisfy economic requirements, farmers have no way to remove
the extra residue from the field, except to burn it in the field. To reduce
open burning of residue and increase its environmental benefits, it is of
essential importance that cooperative policy makers from multiple ad-
ministrative departments stimulate the development of cellulosic
ethanol development in scientific areas [65] and industrial areas [56].
The Chinese government has been ambitious in planning how to
apply ethanol-blend gasoline across the whole country by 2020. One of
the strategies for this plan is to develop commercial cellulosic bioe-
thanol for long-term development. Form 2014 introduced a series of
financial and taxation policies, including a subsidy of 800 CNY/toms
cellulosic ethanol. However, support for this policy is decreasing, and
the industry cannot survive under the current market conditions, which
indicates that relatively high financial and taxation support are neces-
sary to promote cellulosic bioethanol research and industrial use in its
early stage.
China has large amounts of crop residue, which increased at an annual
rate of 2.63% from 2007 to 2016. Its annual average production was
821.96 Mt composing of 711.46 Mt field residue and 110.50 Mt process
residue during the 10-year period. The residue produced from maize
(30.50%), rice (27.64%) and wheat (19.21%) accounting for 77.35% of
the total crop residue in 2016. The sum of field residue retained in the field
(35.19%), burnt in the field (25.20%), and use as animal feed (20.89%)
accounted for 81.28% of the total field residue; whereas amount of 0.68%
field residue was used for energy production in 2016. The greatest
quantity of collectable crop residue was produced from maize (30.51%),
followed by rice (30.51%) and wheat (17.37%), sum of which re-
presenting 78.39% of total. Henan province had the highest collectable
quantity (59.45 Mt), followed by Heilongjiang (51.71 Mt) and Shandong
(47.18 Mt). However, the highest value of available crop residue was in
Heilongjiang (with almost 40 Mt), followed by Henan (31.03 Mt) and Jilin
(22.51 Mt) in 2016. The descending order of the top five provinces re-
garding available total crop residue density was Henan > Jilin >
Liaoning > Heilongjiang > Guangxi. The total theoretical bioethanol
yield was 124.3 Mt, of which, 96.7 Mt came from maize, rice and wheat
residues in 2016. The highest theoretical quantity of bioethanol produc-
tion was found in Heilongjiang, followed by Henan, Jilin, and Sichuan.
The major crop residue for bioethanol production in Heilongjiang and
Sichuan was rice, in Henan and Jilin it was maize, the highest quantity of

13
Y.R. Fang, et al.
wheat residue for bioethanol conversion was in Henan. Therefore, this
study recommends Heilongjiang, Henan, Jilin, and Sichuan as priority
production locations, with maize, rice and wheat residues as promising
feedstock for the bioethanol industries.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by China Clean Development Mechanism
Fund (grant number 2014083).
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