The Mainichi Daily News reported that the Niigata prefecture of Japan started marketing biofuel generated from brown rice that is domestically-grown, which at a ratio of approximately 3% is blended wtih gasoline.
Both in quality and mileage, according to Japan’s National Federation of Agricultural Cooperative Associations Zennoh (JA Zennoh), the bioethanol is equivalent to regular gasoline which would be availabe at the same price range.
JA Zennoh said that the rice paddies, that are left uncultivated due to the government’s rice-reduction program, are promoted through the project, adding an expected annual sale of approximately 33,000 kiloliters.
In few of the Japanees retail markets, the oil companies started selling the gasoline blended bioethanol in 2007 but none of the mixtures was previously made with the use of rice.
The annual demand for gasoline in Japan is approximately 60 million kiloliters.
