University researchers find sugarcane has optimum biofuel properties

Sugarcane may address a government biofuel mandate, university researchers at Illinois report.

The research team at Plants Engineered to Replace Oil with Sugarcane and Sweet Sorghum (PETROSS) are currently genetically engineering sugarcane, in three prime locations.

Ank Michielson, the project’s manager explains that the purpose of this project is to increase the plants photosynthesis rate by 50%, increase their stem oil by 20%, and to enable the plants to adapt in colder temperatures.

If these figures are achieved, companies have the potential to make $1.56 (€1.13) per gallon, equating to an additional $82 billion (€59 billion) in revenue, assuming no government subsidy is provided.

The Energy Independence and Security Act stipulates that by 2022, the energy industry must create 36 billion gallons of renewable transportation fuel per year. At present, 13 billion gallons of fuel produced per year is renewable.

Stephen Long, director of PETROSS projects says: ‘metabolisms produce oil and then break [crops] down into sugar. They are adding additional genes and promoters which increase the expressions of those desired traits.’

The researchers believe that producing commercially viable crops will be an easy transition as farmers already have the equipment needed, and know how to harvest and separate the oil out from the sugarcane.