In Louisiana, farmers growing crops in Louisiana and Mississippi may soon have two new crops to add to their portfolios. Researchers with the LSU AgCenter, Mississippi State University Cooperative Extension Service and the United States Department of Agriculture are working together to bring sugarcane and sweet sorghum north – way north – of Interstate 10. The […]
In Japan, a research team from Ibaraki University is looking at the country’s abandoned farm fields as potential sites to grow sweet sorghum for domestic ethanol production. Currently the country imports ethanol to achieve its blending mandates and reduce its fossil fuel imports.
In the UK, researchers led by the University of Newcastle have developed a holistic high-throughput methodology for assessing sweet Sorghum bicolor feedstocks at 10 days post-anthesis for total fermentable sugar yields including stalk biomass, soluble sugar concentrations, and cell wall saccharification efficiency. This methodology has been demonstrated as an efficient and effective way to screen […]
In the Philippines, biofuel still remains limited by the lack of cultivation of sweet sorghum, according to a study by the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Additionally, the study names as a problem the limited local market for biofuels crops, which could be addressed with a financial package from the government. The report also identifies the […]
As Ceres points towards minimal plantings of its sweet sorghum hybrids in its key market of Brazil for next year, investors ask two questions. Will sweet sorghum realize its vast potential, and when? Just when many observers hoped that Ceres would dramatically expand hectares planted with its Blade hybrid sweet sorghum, the 2014 planting outlook […]
In Florida, ground preparation has begun for the 20 million gallon per year sweet sorghum to ethanol facility 15 miles from Clewiston in sugarcane country. The facility uses technology supplied by Uni-Systems do Brasil and will produce 25MW of electricity from the bagasse as well as supply 65,000 tons of CO2 to a co-located facility […]
In Louisiana, the LSU AgCenter will have an official opening on Jan. 25 for its pilot plant. The plant focuses on sweet sorghum, energy cane and other grasses to produce convertible sugars, fiber and bioproducts and can be scaled up to any capacity. The project is part of a larger USDA-funded five-year, $17.2 million grant.
In Oklahoma, Danielle Bellmer, an associate professor at Oklahoma State University, has received funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, United Sorghum Checkoff Program, Oklahoma Bioenergy Center and the South Central Sun Grant Program to develop biofuels from sweet sorghum. Benefits of sweet sorghum include high-energy content, drought resistance and adaptation to multiple climates and […]
In Tennessee, Delta BioRenewables delivered its first-ever commercial-sized batch of sweet sorghum juice to the Commonwealth Agri-Energy plant in Kentucky. Delta BioRenewables is looking to supplement corn with sorghum, which is drought tolerant and a good rotation crop. After the successful test batch, the company hopes to use sweet sorghum for approximately 5 percent of […]
Last month, Ceres announced that it has signed a sweet sorghum market development agreement with Syngenta. The companies will work together to support the introduction of sweet sorghum as a source of fermentable sugars at Brazil’s 400 or more ethanol mills. Last season, Brazilian mills planted Ceres sweet sorghum on more than 3,000 hectares (7,400 […]
