by Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest) … As we highlighted this week in the Digest, Chromatin and Pacific Ethanol announced that they have entered into a multi-year agreement to produce, deliver and use locally grown sorghum in the production of ethanol. The agreement covers up to 30,000 acres of Chromatin sorghum to be grown over multiple years and supplied to Pacific Ethanol.
…Why grain sorghum? Though yields are lower than corn — the EPA has approved a pathway, combining sorghum and the use of biogas to replace fossil fuel inputs — that qualifies ethanol produced in this way for D5 advanced biofuels RINs. In this way, producers can access higher prices — and work their way around the 15 billion cap imposed on traditional corn ethanol in the Renewable Fuel Standard.
…You can expect that, for now, Pacific Ethanol and other producers like Aemetis will import milo (sorghum) from Argentina to expand their advanced biofuels production.
…But it is more than a start — it is a trend. We’ve seen it in Brazil, where a number of sugarcane ethanol production facilities have begun to work with companies such as Solazyme and Amyris to expand their product line from sugar and ethanol to include an array of fuels, chemicals and tailored renewable oils.
…Today in the US, there are four main pathways from the traditional ethanol fleet to advanced biofuels that are gaining active traction. They are:
1. Feedstock shift. Conversion from corn to grain sorghum and biogas.
2. Feedstock mix. Supplementing corn sugars with cellulosic sugars supplied by specialty suppliers of renewable sugars made from cellulosic biomass.
3. Retrofit. Converting from production of ethanol to production of isobutanol.
4. Co-locate. Adding on co-located, but stand-alone, cellulosic ethanol production to add capacity at a traditional corn ethanol plant.
5. Co-product. Utilizing CO2 produced as a by-product of ethanol fermentation to produce algae for the fuel, feed and nutraceutical markets. READ MORE (includes table)
