VIASPACE, Inc. (VSPC) Giant King Grass Featured in April Issue of Biorefining Magazine
This morning before the opening bell, VIASPACE Inc. and its subsidiary VIASPACE Green Energy Inc. (VGREF) reported that Giant King Grass was featured in the April issue of Biorefining Magazine. Included in the article was data that compared the composition of Giant King Grass to corn straw and wheat straw. The sugar composition is important for fermentation processes to produce bioethanol, butanol, biochemicals and bioplastics.
The Biorefining Magazine article entitled “A Field of Promise: VIASPACE reports independent test results of Giant King Grass evaluation” was written by Erin Voegele. Biorefining Magazine provides its subscription base with in-depth coverage of advanced biomass refining technology scale-up, project finance, policy and markets.
Today’s press release included an excerpt of the article: “Data gathered during independent evaluations of VIASPACE Inc.’s Giant King Grass demonstrate the crop has essentially the same properties as corn stover and wheat straw. According to VIASPACE, the third-party testing included evaluations of the crop’s sugar and lignin content, several levels of pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis to sugars.”
“These initial results show that a ton of Giant King Grass can yield as much bioethanol as a ton of corn stover,” stated VIASPACE Chief Executive Carl Kukkonen. “This validates Giant King Grass, a nonfood, dedicated energy crop, as a competitive feedstock for producing cellulosic biofuels.”
When reviewing these results, it is very important to keep in mind that the per acre yields of Giant King Grass are up to 10 times higher than those of corn stover. ‘With our high yield, we believe that Giant King Grass can reduce biofuel feedstock costs by up to 40 percent, even when compared to projected prices for corn straw as agricultural waste,’ Kukkonen added.
In addition to obvious yield benefits, Giant King Grass can be harvested several times per year while leaving the soil ecosystem relatively intact, providing advantages regarding soil erosion, carbon sequestration and potential nitrogen fixation from the atmosphere.
The Biorefining Magazine article can be accessed at biorefiningmagazine.com
VIASPACE is currently pursuing opportunities for Giant King Grass to be used as a fuel for biomass electric power plants, as a feedstock for producing biogas through anaerobic digestion, and as a feedstock for biorefineries to produce biofuels, biochemicals and bioplastics. Boasting extremely high yields per acre, Giant King Grass is attractive as a reliable, low cost alternative to coal and oil for electricity and biofuels production.
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