Chicago, Illinois, USA
October 10, 2011
Chromatin, Inc., a supplier of biomass feedstock for energy producers, has been selected as one of ten companies to receive an award in the PETRO (Plants Engineered To Replace Oil) program, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E).
Chromatin is developing sorghum feedstocks that can be used as drop-in biofuels or as energy-rich replacements for coal in biopower. With this award, the company will engineer sweet sorghum to produce high energy molecules in the plant, providing drop-in, low-cost transportation fuel.
"Chromatin expects to receive $5.7 million from this program, enabling us to deploy our unique technology platforms to develop sorghum varieties that meet specific needs for renewable energy production," commented Dave Jessen, Chromatin's Chief Technology Officer. "By collaborating with academic and industry experts, we plan to accelerate the development of sorghum as a feedstock for power, fuel, and chemical producers."
Sorghum requires less water than most crops, and the types of sorghum developed by Chromatin are not part of the normal food supply, making it ideal for the production of low-cost transportation fuel and as a high BTU source of biopower.
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