Chromatin Announces Dual-Purpose Hybrid Sorghum for Sugar and Bioenergy Production

Chromatin Inc. announced today its dual-purpose SweetFuel™ sorghum hybrids, which combine high yields of both fermentable sugar and biomass per acre. Chromatin’s SweetFuel™ hybrids are ideal for capturing the value of sugars produced in sorghum juice as well as the additional value of the energy stored in biomass or bagasse.

Chromatin’s Chief Technology Officer, David Jessen, presented data on SweetFuel™ hybrids at yesterday’s International Bioenergy and Bioproducts Conference and BioPro Expo in Atlanta. Speaking in a session on Transformative Technologies, Jessen presented data from sorghum field trials and highlighted the opportunity for Chromatin’s dual-purpose sorghum hybrids to reduce the cost of renewable energy. “Replacing fossil fuels with an energy crop requires a systems approach,” said Jessen. “Our SweetFuel™ hybrids make it possible to increase bioenergy value by at least 2-fold over collecting sugar alone — offering sugars for chemical and fuel processes, and high energy biomass for thermochemical conversions”.

Jessen’s presentation also emphasized the potential for future sorghum improvements, including near-term advances from breeding, as well as next-generation designs that will deploy Chromatin’s proprietary gene stacking technology. “We are confident that our R&D pipeline will create large step-changes in the value of sorghum as a feedstock,” added Jessen. “Unlike other energy crops under consideration today, sorghum offers a refined breeding system that makes it possible to rapidly incorporate improvements. Our SweetFuel™ hybrids provide an excellent foundation for this program.”