Articles in the May 11, 2012 Issue of Crop Biotech Update

NEWS Global • FAO Director-General Warns of Horn of Africa, Sahel Funding Gap  Africa • FAO: Use Your Oil Resources to Improve Agriculture in Africa  • Biotechnology, Key to Realizing Africa's Full Agricultural Potential, says Ghana Minister  • CGIAR Program to Improve Maize Opens Call for Proposals  Americas • IFIC Survey on Consumers' Perception of Food Tech  • Cornell Researcher Works to Reduce Aluminum Toxicity in Rice  • NSF Grant Supports Study on Hidden Soybean Genes  • New Source of Biofuel from Ceres Sweet Sorghum Hybrids  Asia and the Pacific • PAU Experts Urge Use of Biotechnology in Pest Management  • Consumer Attitude toward GM Foods in South Korea  • New Nematode-Resistant Wheat  • ADB Report: Comprehensive Approach Must Be Implemented for Food Security and Poverty Reduction in Asia  • Philippine Agri Experts Underscore Need for Alternative Bt Eggplant Technology  • UWA Crop Root Study to Boost Grain Production  • China's Ten Measures to Promote Transformation of Traditional Agriculture  • QUAAFI-Pioneer Hi-Bred Partners on Predicting Crop Yield Technology  Europe • JHI Receives £1.25M Grant for Barley Research  • Moss Detects Air Pollution  • Undue Delays in the EU Approval of Safe GM Products  Research • Pollen Allergic Risk Assessment of GM Pepper and GM Chinese Cabbage  • Effects of Bt Maize Feeds on Immune Response and Digestive Fate of Bt Gene and Protein  • Scientists Compare Nutritional and Phytochemical Properties of GE Pepper and Its Parent Cultivar  Announcements • Conference on Czech Contribution to Sustainable Bioeconomy  Document Reminders • Biotechnology the Invisible Revolution  • Analysis of U.S. Genetically Engineered Crop Regulation and Litigation

New Source of Biofuel from Ceres Sweet Sorghum Hybrids

Amyris, under a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant, successfully processed the improved sweet sorghum hybrids from energy crop company Ceres, Inc. The sweet sorghum hybrids from Ceres undergo a process of extraction of juice from the stem. Then this juice is concentrated into sugar syrup, after which it is brought to Amyris' pilot facility in California and converted into its trademarked product, Biofene.

Ceres Director of Business Development Spencer Swayze says that they believe sweet sorghum could be an essential source of sugars that could be fermented as the U.S. strives to expand its production of renewable biofuels and biochemical with the help of non-food crops. He also mentioned that sweet sorghum is a producer of cheap, fermentable sugars that would be able to aid in providing low-cost products.

Amyris Director of Product Management Todd Pray said, "The results from these evaluations confirmed that the Amyris No Compromise renewable diesel production process performs well across different sugar sources. Ceres' sweet sorghum hybrids produced sugars that yielded comparable levels of farnesene as sugarcane and other sugar sources Amyris has utilized." He also added that sweet sorghum can offer updated feedstock flexibility with environmental benefits.

Another benefit of using these sweet sorghum hybrids is that it is fast-growing, efficient in producing large quantity of fermentable sugars and biomass, and these plants requires a significantly less amount of fertilizer than sugarcane. Sweet sorghum can also grow in dry areas.

Read more about this new technology at http://www.ceres.net/News/NewsReleases/2012/05-03-12-News-Rel.html.

---

Share

Tweet

---

This article is part of the Crop Biotech Update, a weekly summary of world developments in agri-biotech for developing countries, produced by the Global Knowledge Center on Crop Biotechnology, International Service for the Aquisition of Agri-Biotech Applications SEAsiaCenter (ISAAA)

View Crop Biotech Update ( May 11, 2012 ) Newsletter
Subscribe to Crop Biotech Update Newsletter
Crop Biotech Update Archive
Crop Biotech Update RSS
Biofuels Supplement RSS

Article Search: