AGRIFUELS

Media Coverage

 

"Sweet Investment in Fuel and Food"

August 2009 -- Eco Investor

A Queensland based agricultural company claims to
have a solution to the problem of biofuel crops
competing with food crops - sweet sorghum, a crop that
delivers both food and fuel with each harvest along with
the potential for improved farm earnings.

Sweet sorghum has large grain heads that yield food
while the stems are an ideal sugar based feedstock for
ethanol production and have a higher ethanol yield than
comparative sugar crops such as cane, says AgriFuels
Ltd.

The business model is attractive because, unlike most
fuel crops, sweet sorghum can yield up to three harvests
per annum without soil degradation, says AgriFuels’
adviser, Simon Clatworthy from the Sydney based
Perspective Group.

The Perspective Group estimates that even without
subsidies or carbon credits, an AgriFuels crop of sweet
sorghum is significantly more profitable and capable of
generating better cash flow than comparable biofuel
crops such as sugar cane and sorghum grain.

AgriFuels is acquiring farms in the Childers region of
southeast Queensland and has plans to construct an
ethanol refinery Perspective Group expects AgriFuels to
be able to produce commercial volumes of ethanol
feedstock at significantly less cost than competitors, in
addition to achieving solid earnings from sorghum grain
and cane sales.

“AgriFuels’ crop trials with strategic partners both locally
and internationally have identified significant upside to
cashflow by adding sweet sorghum into the local sugar
cane and vegetable cropping cycle and using sweet
sorghum grain heads for food and fodder products,”
said Mr Clatworthy.

The grain heads can be sold into the local or export
markets. The plan is for the remaining stem (cane) to be
harvested, transported and processed using the same
infrastructure as sugar cane.  (more)...

---

"Australia’s AgriFuels tests sweet sorghum as ethanol feedstock in 18 month trial"

12 May 2008 -- BioFuels Digest

By Jim Lane

In Australia, AgriFuels reported that it has planted a second test crop of sweet sorghum, which it projected would yield 33 percent more ethanol per acre than sugar cane. The company said it would conduct a total of three trials over an 18-month period. The first trial was interrupted by Queensland storms and yielded a “worst case” harvest according to the company.

 

In Australia, the federal government has refused to rule out scrapping a $40 million program providing research grants for ethanol, pending review of the impact of ethanol on world food prices.

 

In the weeks leading up to the federal elections last November, Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd pledged $15 million toward second-generation biofuel plants, with a goal of making next-generation ethanol commercially viable by 2017.

 

The ruling Coalition government had proposed a $16 million program to support cellulosic ethanol research and promote biofuels education. The plan ran into opposition from the Australian Lot Feeders™ Association over the use of food crops for biofuels feedstocks.

 

"Sweet Sorghum Promoted As 'Smart' Biofuel"

13 May 2008--Reuters

A corn-like plant that can grow as high as an elephant's eye on some of Earth's driest farmland shows promise as a "smart" biofuel that won't cut into world food supplies, an agriculture expert said on Monday.

Sweet sorghum, used in the United States mostly as animal feed, offers a 10-foot (3 metre) stalk that can be turned into ethanol without damaging the food grain that grows at its top, Mark Winslow said in an interview.

Unlike corn-based ethanol, which uses one and a half times as much energy in its production as it offers as an end product, sweet sorghum produces eight units of fuel for every unit of fuel used to make it in developing countries, Winslow said.

Even in the United States, where mechanized production uses more fuel, sweet sorghum ethanol should still have four times the energy yield of corn-based ethanol, said Winslow of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.

Use of corn-based ethanol also pushes up demand for this crop on international markets, cutting the supply of food grain, and that would not happen with sweet sorghum, he said.

"Sorghum isn't traded internationally, it's grown and consumed locally in dry areas," Winslow said. "Since you're producing the grain on this plant, it's not a trade-off as it is with corn."

The institute is a non-profit, non-political organization that does agricultural research focusing on "smart crops" and production systems aimed at helping poor dry-land farmers without hurting the environment.

TEAMING WITH TATA

The research institute has teamed up with the Tata conglomerate in India for a distillery that produces more than 10,000 gallons (40 kilolitres) of ethanol daily from locally grown sweet sorghum.

The farmers who grow it can still use the grain to feed themselves, turning it into traditional porridge and flatbread, and their livestock, while selling the fuel-producing sugary liquid contained in the stalks to the distillery.

The crop can survive without irrigation, but also tolerate flooding and even some salinity, Winslow said. Because it grows in arid areas, it does not threaten sensitive rainforest as palm oil biofuel does in Southeast Asia and sugarcane biofuel can in Brazil, Winslow said.

Like other biofuels, ethanol made from sweet sorghum does not produce the emissions of climate-warming carbon dioxide that fossil fuels do.

Because it grows in some of the poorest places on Earth in Asia and Africa, it has the potential to keep limited resources from these parts of the world at home, rather than sending them to oil-producing countries, Winslow said.

Sweet sorghum differs from the so-called grain sorghum grown on some 100 million acres (43 million hectares) of agricultural land worldwide, the institute said in a statement. Sweet sorghum could be grown on about half of this land.

The United States, the world's largest sorghum producer, is organizing a conference this year on using sorghum as biofuel. Other countries exploring this possibility include Mexico, Kenya, Nigeria, Mali, Mozambique, Uganda, China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brazil.

http://enviro.org.au/enews-description.asp?id=874

---

 

"Sweet sorghum on trial in Australia"

13 October 2007

By Luke Hallam

AgriFuels Limited will be planting a trial crop of sweet sorghum near Childers, QLD in the next few weeks. The aim of the trial is to assess the suitability of sweet sorghum as a feedstock for ethanol production.

The trial in Childers will be carried out over the next five months. If feasibility studies and trial results are positive an ethanol plant could be established in Childers within 2 years.

A University of Pretoria report says sweet sorghum appears to be suitable for the production of alcohol and researchers have shown that it can yield up to 45 tonnes of biomass per hectare in 110 days. Fermentable solids in the stalks amount to 2.5 to 5 tonnes per hectare.

Sweet sorghum is adapted to fertile soils from clay to loam with neutral to high pH (5 to 8.5) but best growth is achieved on loams and sandy loams. It has some tolerance of salinity and good drought tolerance with best results in semi-arid areas with 500–800 mm rainfall.

This Biopact article explains how Dr A.R. Palani Swamy, an engineer who returned to India from the U.S., has set up a sweet sorghum-based ethanol plant in his native country with the help of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics. The feedstock requires only one ninth of the water needed to grow sugar cane and only half that of maize; fertilizer inputs are comparably low. For these inputs, the sweet sorghum yields around 3160 litres of ethanol a hectare, comparable to the output for corn.

 

http://envirofuel.com.au/2007/10/13/sweet-sorghum-on-trial-in-australia/

---

"Sweet sorghum' promises ethanol plant boost"

Sep 26, 2007 10:42am AEST

An ethanol plant could be up and running in Childers, in south-east Queensland, within two years if trials of the crop 'sweet sorghum' prove successful.

Alternative energy company AgriFuels says the crop could yield 30 per cent more ethanol than sugarcane and would provide farmers with an extra source of income.

 

Managing director Greg Lee says sweet sorghum would be grown in rotation with sugarcane. He says his company has had success with previous trials of the crop all over the world.

 

"Basically once we've proved this crop up and it looks okay we'll then sit down and talk to farmers, work out how it can rotate with the sugarcane people, utilise ... some of the land that's not being used and start to develop hopefully an ethanol plant," he said.

 

Isis Shire Council says the ethanol plant proposed for Childers is not a pipe dream and has the support of the council.

Deputy Mayor Tony Ricciardi says land has already been earmarked for the project.

 

"This is something we can pin our hopes on, it's been in the process for the last two years - there's been a lot of research done overseas on this sweet sorghum and there's been a group of fellas come over into our shire and at the moment council's just rezoned a bit of land to heavy industry next to the Isis central mill," he said.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/09/26/2043625.htm

 

"Trial fuels ethanol dream"

12 May 2008 -- Bundaberg News-Mail

By Clementine Norton

THE ethanol dream is not over for Childers alternative energy company AgriFuels recently planted a second trial crop of sweet sorghum, which could yield up to a third more ethanol than sugar cane.

AgriFuels director Brendan Ellert said the crop was one of three in the feasibility trial which will be carried out over the next 18 months. "The first crop has been harvested, but unfortunately it was during the huge storms in the area, and we have worst-case scenario results rather than best-case results," Mr Ellert said. "However, there are still two trials to go, so we hope for a better result on those." Sweet sorghum can be grown in rotation with sugar cane crops in the Childers region and uses the same processing facilities, so the proposed ethanol plant would have the capability to process sugar cane as well as the grain. "Childers was chosen because it has an ideal climate, is close to existing sugar cane facilities and existing infrastructure, and close to the under-utilised port of Bundaberg," he said.

"It is also close to Brisbane, which is the biggest market for ethanol in Queensland." Mr Ellert (sic) said AgriFuel's business plan will not be affected by government decisions about funding the ethanol subsidy plan. "We haven't based our business plan on receiving government assistance," he said. "When our feasibility study is complete, it is something we may look at." Bundaberg Regional deputy mayor Tony Ricciardi said, while it was still early days, the plant would be a big benefit to the region. "It would certainly relieve pressure on the agricultural community," he said. The trial is one of several innovative projects in Isis, including a recently completed kenaf processing factory, a cane mulch plant and a low-chill stone fruit project.

 


http://www.news-mail.com.au/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3772247

---

"A trial crop of 'sweet sorghum' will be planted near Childers over the coming weeks as an ethanol plant is touted for the region."

Bundaberg News-Mail  -- 26 September 2007

 

By Scott Lamond

 

Isis Shire Council has backed a proposal from AgriFuels Limited after the company presented it's proposal to council last week. 

The news comes as local cane farmers battle low prices, drought and low surface water allocations.

So it would seem any extra cash for farmers would be welcome and AgriFuels is promising profitable returns and reliable markets for locally produced ethanol. 

Managing Director Greg Lee says his bio-diseal company has a keen interest in alternative energy and he says the sweet sorghum variety which they've just introduced to Australia could yield more than 30 per cent more ethanol than sugarcane.

He says it would be grown in rotation and not in competition with cane. 

Mr Lee says his company has had success with previous 'sweet sorghum' trials all over the world. 

Bagasse from the sorghum could potentially be used in alternative sweeteners and co-generation. 

The initial 'sweet sorghum' trials in Childers will be carried out over the next five months. 

If the feasibility studies and trials return positive results an ethanol plant in Childers could be up and running within 2 years.

AgriFuels says the plant would be built with the capacity to also process cane for ethanol production. 

Deputy Mayor of the Isis Shire and local canefarmer Tony Ricciardi reckons this project isn't a 'pie in the sky.' He says land has already been earmarked for the ethanol plant. 

Both Isis Canegrowers and the Isis Central Sugar Mill are eagerly awaiting more detail on the AgriFuels proposal.

In this report: Greg Lee, managing director, AgriFuels; Tony Ricciardi, deputy mayor, Isis Shire.

http://www.news-mail.com.au/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3772247

---

"The Isis Shire Council is backing a biofuel company's proposal to build an ethanol plant in the Childers region."

Deputy mayor and local canefarmer Tony Ricciardi said the council has already earmarked a possible site for the project, after AgriFuels Limited presented their proposal to council last week.

A trial crop of 'sweet sorghum' will be planted near Childers over the coming weeks. Sweet sorghum has a higher sugar content than conventional sorghum, and while it is not commonly grown in Australia it is used overseas as a forage and silage crop, and in sugar production.

AgriFuels managing director Greg Lee said the company has a keen interest in alternative energy, and the sweet sorghum variety the company has introduced to Australia could yield more than 30 per cent more ethanol than sugarcane. Mr Lee said if the Childers trial proves successful, the grain would be grown in rotation with the region's traditional cane crops. The news comes as local cane farmers battle low international sugar prices, drought and low surface water allocations.

AgriFuels is promising profitable returns and reliable markets for locally produced ethanol. Mr Lee said his company has had success with previous sweet sorghum trials all over the world. Bagasse from the sorghum, the waste matter left over after processing to produce the ethanol, could potentially be used as a source of energy, or to manufacture artificial sweeteners.

The initial trials in Childers will be carried out over the next five months. If the feasibility studies and trials return positive results, an ethanol plant in Childers could be up and running within two years. AgriFuels said the plant would be built with the capacity to also process cane for ethanol production.

http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2007/09/26/2043495.htm