Global Biofuels Limited embarked on a project to supplement local fuel consumption and energy supply through mechanized sorghum production for ethanol furl as a renewable energy source.

The company plans to set seven plants each value at over $3bn (N345bn) in the country for this purpose, to produce approximately 1.5 million litres of ethanol fuel per day.

The benefiting states for the projects include Osun, Oyo, Kwara, Ondo, Ekiti, Niger and Kogi, where the establishments of the Ondo and Ekiti plants have already commenced.

High oil prices and environment concerns have driven countries huge-budget researches into alternative fuels, with the use of sorghum as biofuel was fast gaining ground as the United States and China are collaborating to explore the potential for using sweet sorghum as a feedstock for ethanol fuel.

In line with the above, Global Biofuels has begun a 20 hectare sweet sorghum commercial production farm in Arigidi, Ondo State, as part of its furl ethanol refining project.

The company said it planned to expand the farm, which would supply feedstock to its integrated ethanol factory to 3,000 hectares in 2009 and to 10,000 hectares thereafter.

The factory has a 90,000 litres per day capacity ethanol production capacity, which would also be used for power generation.

To this end, the company said in a statement on Tuesday, it had entered into partnership with India’s PRAJ Industries, and John Deere and Shepherd Agriculture of South Africa on the ethanol factory complex for large-scale mechnised commercial farming of sweet sorghum as feedstock.

The second plant, the Ekiti State sweet sorghum biofuels project, is a proposed 11,000-hectare sweet sorghum farm and integrated ethanol-refining complex located at Ilemesho-Ekiti, Oye Local Government Council of the state.

It is envisaged that these projects would further facilitate the Federal Government’s efforts at meeting the 10 per cent ethanol content in fuel by 2010, a proposal that had suffered some hiccups in recent times.

The Coordinator, Feedstock Production Group and Director, Global Biofuels, Prof Babatunde Obilana, said, "In the next 18months, a total of 3,000 hectares of sweet sorghum feedstock will be harvested to feed the ethanol refinery for crushing, clarification of juice and fermentation into ethanol."