Global Biofuels Ltd., a subsidiary of NeGSt Global Integrated Co. Ltd., is implementing a project to convert the juice from the stalk of sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L) Moench) to ethanol. The initiative is the product of research on sorghum cultivars by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) with HQ in India. Sweet sorghum is similar to grain sorghum with sugar-rich stalks.
With fossil fuel prices skyrocketing, there is increasing demand for renewable bio-fuels such as ethanol, as an alternative fuel for blending with petroleum products. Sweet sorghum being a water-efficient crop grown in the semi-arid tropics, can serve as an excellent source of ethanol while still meeting the food, feed and fodder needs of small farmers, and energy/power demands of surrounding farming communities and cities from its byproducts.
The proposed project is intended to utilize ICRISAT’s expertise in breeding varieties of sorghum that have a high content of sugar in their stalk and the technical skills of PRAJ industry for the production of ethanol from sweet sorghum. PRAJ is now in direct partnership with Global Biofuels Ltd to implement a similar project in Nigeria, using sweet sorghum as a new feedstock for Bioethanol.
The proposed project is intended to utilize ICRISAT’s expertise in breeding varieties of sorghum that have a high content of sugar in their stalk and the technical skills of PRAJ industry for the production of ethanol from sweet sorghum. PRAJ is now in direct partnership with Global Biofuels Ltd to implement a similar project in Nigeria, using sweet sorghum as a new feedstock for Bioethanol. By linking the distillery with the sorghum farmers, this initiative will empower small and medium scale farmers in Nigeria to realize an additional end-use and thereby increase their income and improve livelihood while at the same time helping our country, Nigeria, to reduce her carbon footprint in a sustainable manner. ICRISAT’s breakthrough in developing sorghum varieties (sweet sorghum) that can be used to produce ethanol is a pioneering venture. The process is helping India to meet its obligations under the Kyoto Protocol as well as meet its domestic fuel needs. In Nigeria, this ethanol from sweet sorghum project will initially benefit not only the 16,000 farmers who grow the crop for the pilot project but will also generate employment for many more farm families in the vicinity and contiguous state.
The Global Biofuels Limited is establishing a core pilot farm of 5 ha scaled up to 30 ha, 300 ha and 3,000 ha during the first 18 months, in Akoko NW LGA in Ondo State. The farming activities for sweet sorghum production as feedstock in Biofuels industry will eventually cover 30,000 ha in each of the middle belt states of Nigeria guinea savanna region. Within the group of farms, processing factories for juice extraction to ferment into ethanol will be established. |