An Illinois biotech company is working on the development of sorghum varieties specifically suited for energy production. Chromatin, Inc. CEO Daphne Preuss told the Advanced Biofuels Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C. this week that the company is expanding its technology development portfolio to produce fit-for-purpose sorghum as a renewable feedstock for the biofuels, green power and renewable chemicals sectors. “Feedstock …
Company Promotes In-Field Production of “Sorganol”
An Iowa inventor and entrepreneur is promoting a harvester he developed that can produce ethanol from sweet sorghum right in the field. Lee McClune of Knoxville, Iowa invented the SORGANOL® Process (PatPend) and Sor-Cane Harvester after studying research done at Iowa State University in the 80s on the potential of producing ethanol from sorghum. According to McClune, the harvester acidifies …
Sorghum Poised for Bigger Role in Ethanol Production
Today, about 1/3 of the sorghum crop goes into ethanol production. An interesting little piece of information I picked up when I spoke with Gerald Simonsen, the Chairman of the National Sorghum Producers during Commodity Classic. Sorghum is a good feedstock for ethanol production for several reasons. First, it uses half the amount of water used in corn production and …
NREL Tests Sorghum for Cellulosic Ethanol
Representatives of the National Sorghum Producers (NSP) witnessed a pilot test of bioenergy sorghum at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) this week. NSP collaborated with NREL to provide almost 100 different sorghum samples for testing, eventually choosing two for pilot testing. The resulting data shows that high biomass forage sorghum demonstrates great potential to fit into cellulosic ethanol conversion. …
Studying Sorghum for Ethanol in Maryland
Researchers at Salisbury University in Maryland are studying the potential for growing sweet sorghum for cellulosic ethanol in the state. Since May, eight sweet sorghum varieties have been growing on a Wicomico County farm for evaluation as potential stock for ethanol production on the Delmarva peninsula. Dr. Samuel Geleta of Salisbury Univerisity’s Biological Sciences Department says about half of the …
Biofuels Focus at Commodity Conference
National commodity organizations representing growers of corn, soybeans, wheat and sorghum gathered together for the first time as one group last week in Grapevine, Texas at the annual Commodity Classic. Corn and soybean growers have been together as one for the past 14 years, wheat joined the group last year, and sorghum made four this year. Renewable fuels were a …
More Sorghum Projected for Ethanol Use
USDA’s World Agricultural Supply Demand report for February projects more sorghum to be used for ethanol. According to the report, sorghum food, seed, and industrial use is projected 40 million bushels higher based on indications of increased sorghum use by ethanol plants in the Southern and Central Plains. The report also noted that ethanol blender and producer margins have recently …