While ethanol made from corn remains the most common biofuel produced in the United States, both public and private researchers are finding other sources — such as sorghum and corn biotech products — may offer additional efficient and economic benefits to the production process.
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) leads a $13.5 million multi-institutional research effort to improve sorghum as a source for biofuel production. Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the five-year grant assesses how plants and microbes interact and which sorghum germplasm grows best with less water and nitrogen.
Daniel Schachtman, professor of agronomy and horticulture and director of UNL’s Center for Biotechnology, is leading the effort. He says sorghum is a logical choice because sorghum varieties more easily replace corn than other sources. In addition, some research suggests sorghum may create more biomass for cellulosic ethanol than corn.
By Marc Zienkiewicz, Issues Ink Media
See full story at Seed World.
More details at: http://seedworld.com/making-the-most-of-ethanol