Biofuels and biobased chemical makers hope to win with
cellulosic sugars
On the hot, dry agricultural land of California’s Imperial
Valley, 17 new varieties of an unusual crop are being tested on a 100-acre
plot. If the tests are successful, the valley’s bounty of lettuce, cantaloupes,
and broccoli may someday be joined by plants that are converted into fuels and
chemicals.
The crop, energy cane, is a less sweet cousin of sugarcane.
It is a perennial grass that was developed by plant scientists to create a
large amount of biomass quickly. Canergy, a biofuels start-up, plans to grow
enough energy cane to power one or more commercial-scale fuel ethanol plants
starting in 2016.