To establish the local market for bioethanol demand in transportation sector, Thailand has released the regulation of denatured ethanol for gasohol uses (Table 10) to ensure high quality fuel for automobile use. No regulation for biofuel uses is announced by the government. In stead, the utilization of bioethanol as liquid fuel has been promoted by price incentive system. The retail price of gasohol E10 (for octane 95) is cheaper than gasoline around 0.33 USD/liter by exemption and reduction of excise & municipal tax and Oil Fund charge.

At the initial phase of trading ethanol locally, the price of ethanol for domestic market is referred to the price of imported ethanol from Brazil (FOB price of Brazilian Commodity Exchange Sao Paulo) with the additional cost of freight, insurance, loss, survey and currency exchange rate. Thai cassava ethanol industry has used two feedstock, i. e. molasses and cassava; the former one being utilized at a higher production capacity. This leads to shortage

of molasses and price increase. As a result, the reference price based on Sao Paulo does not reflect the real ethanol situation of the country, both in term of production and uses. Subsequently, the pricing formula of biofuel ethanol has been revised. The reference price of bioethanol for fuel uses, as approved by The National Energy Policy Committee, Ministry of Energy, has taken into account for the cost of raw materials and produced quantities of fuel ethanol from both feedstocks, i. e. molasses and cassava, using the conversion ratios of 4.17 kg molasses (at 50°Brix) and 2.63 kg cassava chips (with starch content > 65%) for 1L of anhydrous ethanol. In addition, the structure of ethanol reference prices includes the production costs of each feedstock, which are 6.125 and 7.107 Baht/L for molasses and cassava, respectively. This monthly-announced ethanol reference price reflects the actual cost of local ethanol producers.

PEth = (PMol x QMol) + (PCas x QCas)

QTotal

Where

PEth = Monthly reference price of ethanol (Baht/L)

PMol = Price of molasses-based ethanol (Baht/L)

PCas = Price of cassava-based ethanol (Baht/L)

QMol = Quantity of molasses-based ethanol (million L/day)

Qcas = Quantity of cassava-based ethanol (million L/day)

Qiotai = Total ethanol quantity (million L/day)

(For QMol, QCas and QTotal using the value of one month previously, e. g. for the 5th month reference price, use the value of 3th month)

P Mol = RMol + CMol

Where

PMol = Price of molasses-based ethanol (Baht/L)

RMol = Raw material cost of molasses, using a previous 3-month average export price announced by Thai Customs Department and the conversion ratios of 4.17 kg molasses (at 50°Brix) for 1L of anhydrous ethanol, e. g. using the average export price of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd month to calculate the price of 5th month

CMol = Production cost of molasses-based ethanol (6.125 Baht/L)

P Cas = RCas + CCas

Where

PCas = Price of cassava-based ethanol (Baht/L)

RCas = Raw material cost of cassava, using the root price of one month previously, the conversion of 2.38 kg (25% starch) fresh roots for 1kg of chips with the production cost of 300 Baht/ ton chips, and the conversion ratios of 2.63 kg cassava chips (with starch content > 65%) for 1L of anhydrous ethanol

CCas = Production cost of cassava-based ethanol (7.107 Baht/L)

(Note: 1 USD = 30 Baht)

3. Conclusion

Cassava is not only a traditional subsistence food crop in many developing countries, it is also considered as an industrial crop, serving as a significant raw material base for a plenitude of processed products. Important ones are starches, modified starches and sweeteners for application in food, feed, paper, textile, adhesive, cosmetics, pharmaceutical, building and biomaterial. Consequently, the demand of cassava has been rising continuously and thereby contributes to agricultural transformation and economic growth in developing countries. Recently, in some countries such as Thailand, China and Vietnam, cassava is also used as the energy crop for producing bioethanol, an environmentally friendly, renewable alternative fuel for automobile uses. The promise of using cassava for bioethanol use is supported by many reasons including distinct plant agronomic traits for high tolerance to drought and soil infertility, low input requirement relatively to other commercial crop, and potential improvement of root yields. In addition, roots are rich in starch and contain low impurities. Although, fresh roots contain high moisture contents and are perishable, simple conversion to dried chip can be achieved by farmers at a low cost. Chips as corn analog are less costly to transport, store and process. High energy input for ethanol production from starch materials become less concerned as low energy consumption processes are developed including SSF, SLSF for uncooked process and VHG for a higher ethanol concentration. Improved waste treatment and utilization is also significant in order to minimize overall production cost. With those development, the use of cassava as an energy crop raises more concerns for food and fuel security. Both are critical to agricultural countries that mainly import fossil oil fuel and have lost their economic growth. To overcome that concern, the development of sufficient feedstock supply is considered as the first priority. A short-term and long term plans for root yield and productivity improvement by good cultivation practice and varietal improvement have been presently implemented in some regions. By that with a combination of zero-waste process concept, effective policies and market mechanism, the use of cassava as a food crop, industrial crop and energy crop become sustainable and beneficial to mankind.