Calgren implemented the California Low Carbon Ethanol Feedstock Program in collaboration with Pacific Ethanol and Aemetis, and with implementation support from Chromatin, Inc., Penny Newman, the A.L. Gilbert Company, and JD Heiskell. This program was a transformative feedstock development initiative to assist the state's major ethanol producers in increasing feedstock flexibility to meet both the renewable fuel and greenhouse gas reduction goals stipulated under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard the the state's Low Carbon Fuel Standard. The project had several objectives, including carbon intensity reduction for ethanol, the California In-State Sorghum Initiative to bolster sorghum production in California, and California Air Resources Board certification to validate carbon intensity reductions achieved by the project. The project successfully converted 41,000 tons of sorghum sourced from the US Midwest into ethanol at Calgren's existing ethanol production facility in Pixley, California, producing a total of 3.6 million gallons of sorghum-based ethanol with a weighted average carbon intensity value of 70.7 g CO2e/MJ and generating over 7,600 metric tons of CO2e greenhouse gas emissions reduction. Sorghum processing yielded no significant difference in ethanol quality in comparison to corn-based ethanol, based on a roughly 30/70 blend of sorghum/corn feedstocks. Of the total tonnage processed, more than 1,600 tons were grown in California. The project also successfully completed sorghum grain trials that achieved yields exceeding 6,800 lbs/acre, demonstrated that sorghum can reach reasonable yields even under reduced water application, and brokered the production of sorghum on 1,400 acres in California--the largest in-state annual sorghum production in over 30 years.
