Rusni Distilleries, United Bio Fuels expansions take India’s sweet sorghum ethanol capacity to 38 Mgy; the feedstock grows in popularity worldwide

In India, Rusni Distilleries is planning to double its sweet sorghum ethanol capacity to 8 Mgy in March 2008, and Ultimate Bio Fuels has announced a 19 Mgy sweet sorghum facility in Visakhapatnam.

The completion of the projects will increase India’s sweet sorgum ethanol capacity to 38 Mgy.

China and the US are among other countries expanding sweet sorghum capacity. Recently, China released details of its biofuels plan, calling for production of 3.8 million metric tons of ethanol from sweet sorghum stalks.

The selection of sweet sorghum stalks comes amidst increasing scrutiny of biofuel projects that use food stocks as feedstock. Observers have blamed biofuels for price increases in corn, dairy, meats and what. According to the report, China focused on sweet sorghum because it can be cultivated on otherwise non-arable land and is inexpensive.

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