The Imperial Valley of California has some of the world’s best conditions for crops. The area receives the most sunlight in the United States, and its irrigation-fed water supply allows for precise control of water to crops. Canergy chose this area to develop its energy cane varieties. Canergy can harvest its cane for 11 months per year, for direct delivery to its nearby biofuel facility, mitigating long term storage issues encountered with other lignocellulosic feedstocks.
Canergy has evaluated growth and compositional characteristics of 17 varieties of energy cane, and tested bioconversion of the juice and fiber fractions to fuel. Attributes such as crop yield, juice and fiber content, and cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin content have all been evaluated. Most notably, crop yields exceeding 80 green tons per acre have been achieved, meaning that Canergy can source 100% of its crop from 10 – 12 thousand acres within a 12 mile radius of its plant. In this presentation, Canergy will present data from field trials and describe key factors and outcomes from ongoing compositional and conversion tests with the different varieties, which have identified optimal varieties for its commercial plant.