New Energy-Rich Sorghum Offers Ethanol without the Corn

by Marc Gunther (The Guardian) California startup NexSteppe presents a new brand of sorghum, bred for optimal energy production, designed as a greener alternative to corn for ethanol fuels and biomass boilers
As scientists around the world research biomass feedstocks — trees, shrubs and grasses that are designed to produce energy — a California startup called NexSteppe is betting that fast-growing, drought-resistant sorghum will emerge as a crop to sustainably fuel cars, trucks and power plants.
Sorghum, a millenia-old cereal grain, today feeds animals and people. It is turned into flour, syrups and beer, and used in gluten-free products. In Asia, sorghum is made into couscous, and across Africa, it’s consumed as a porridge.
Last year, though, NexSteppe introduced two new brands of sorghum seeds, dubbed Palo Alto and Malibu, that were bred expressly to be energy crops. They grow on marginal land and in a variety of climates, and they climb to a height of 20 feet after only four months of growth.
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NexSteppe isn’t the only company developing dedicated energy crops. Ceres, a small public company where Rath previously worked, breeds sorghum, switchgrass and miscanthus, but its products have been slow to reach the market.
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Its Malibu sweet sorghum is designed to produce easily accessible fermentable sugars for fuels, while its Palo Alto high-biomass sorghum aims to deliver a low-moisture feedstock for cellulosic biofuels and biomass boilers that produce heat and electricity. The company, which employs about 35 people, half of them scientists, uses conventional breeding methods, and does’t use genetic modification. READ MORE