Sugarcane engineered to produce biodiesel at 123 gallons more per acre than soybeans

Scientists in the US have shown that sugarcane can be genetically engineered to produce oil in its leaves and stems for biodiesel production.

As well as producing oil for biodiesel, the modified sugarcane plants also produce more sugar which could be used in ethanol production.

So far the ‘Plants Engineered to Replace Oil in Sugarcane and Sweet Sorghum’ (PETROSS) project led by scientists from the University of Illinois has engineered sugarcane with 13% oil, 8% of which can be converted into biodiesel. According to the project’s economic analyses, sugarcane with just 5% oil would produce an extra 123 gallons (559 litres) of biodiesel per acre than soybeans and 350 more gallons (1591 litres) of ethanol per acre than corn.

"Instead of fields of oil pumps, we envision fields of green plants sustainably producing biofuel in perpetuity on our nation's soil, particularly marginal soil that is not well suited to food production," said Stepehen Long, Gutgsell Endowed Professor of Plant Biology and Crop Sciences at the University of Illinois and leader of the PETROSS project, in a university press release.

A paper published in the journal Biocatalysis and Agricultural Biotechnology analyses the first genetically modified sugarcane varieties created by the team.