The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is keen on framing a rule that would categorize grain sorghum as an “advanced biofuel,” by the renewable fuel standard. Once approved, it would usher in a new method for transforming oil into fuel through a process of distillation.

The EPA assessed the lifecycle of greenhouse gas emissions in grain sorghum refinement and found that the grain once transformed into a biofuel, released about half the amount of greenhouse gases as compared to baseline petroleum fuels. This helps it qualify as an “advanced biofuels” under the metrics set by the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

Biofuel Produced from Sorghum Oil Slashes GHG Emissions by Half

The document published by the EPA states that depending upon the evaluation conducted by EPA of the lifecycle, the biodiesel and heating oil manufactured from distilling of sorghum oil through a process called transesterification, and the jet fuel, renewable diesel, and heating oil produced from distilling sorghum oil through a process called hydrotreating, to bring down greenhouse gas emissions by half.

National Sorghum Producers strategic business director John Duff elaborated that the ruling was something the producers of sorghum and their friends and allies in the ethanol industry have been trying to win in their favor in the past four years.

Both oil refineries and importers, under RFS, are needed to buy RINS, short for renewable identification numbers, to provide proof of the fact that they are aligning themselves with mandates to cut down upon or supplant stipulated volumes of non-renewable fuels. Out of five RIN codes, “advanced biofuels” RINs cover four.