Date: January 13, 2008 

Author: Rick Neale 

Source: Florida Today

A small Sebastian corporation wants to build Florida's first sweet sorghum-based ethanol production plant amid the croplands of southern Brevard County.

Global Renewable Energy hopes to seed a 100-acre sweet sorghum test crop this spring south of Palm Bay, said Harold Brooks, the company's chief executive. The property is owned by the Sartori family, Brevard's fifth-largest private landowner.

If Brooks' vision becomes reality, his company will someday grow 3,000 acres of sweet sorghum and build a distillery producing 3 million to 4 million gallons of ethanol per year. Economic ramifications are unknown.

"We're not sure this is going to be commercially, economically successful. We're the pioneers of the whole country on this," Brooks said. "With every planting, we learn more."

The biofuel concept remains in the research and development stage. GRE has partnered with a firm in India, Crest Biotech, on a feasibility study.

Conversion of sugar-based crops into ethanol is common in Brazil and India, but not in the United States. Sugar-to-ethanol plants are planned or under construction in Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma.

Corn-based ethanol is blended with gasoline and sold across much of the Midwest. President Bush has called for increased bio-energy production to wean the nation from its dependence on imported oil. Studies have shown, however, that ethanol decreases fuel mileage, generates formaldehyde, acetaldehyde and other pollutants from tailpipes, and consumes more fossil energy in its production than it offers in its use.

In March, GRE planted a 10-acre sweet sorghum test crop in an old Indian River County citrus grove. After a second experimental summer crop was successful, the company grew and recently harvested 70 acres near the St. Lucie County border off Florida's Turnpike. Ethanol distillation experiments followed.

"We think it's the answer. From all the studies we've read, it's two to three times better than corn -- energy in, energy out," Brooks said.

Brooks, a Sebastian dentist and bio-energy entrepreneur, founded GRE in 2004. The company president, Ray Coniglio, is a former vice mayor of Sebastian and past president of the Sebastian River Area Chamber of Commerce.

Coniglio hopes sweet sorghum farming will take root across many of Central Florida's struggling citrus groves. Stricken by canker and other diseases, the industry's statewide citrus acreage dropped 25 percent from 2000 to 2006, U.S. Department of Agriculture records show.

Brevard's citrus-producing property plummeted 49 percent during this span, from 10,045 acres to 5,080 acres. Indian River County citrus acreage fell 33 percent, from 60,293 acres to 40,191 acres.

"Farmers are very interested. They're in a wait-and-see attitude, but they're very interested," Coniglio said. "It's not like we're going out and working on a new invention. We're doing something that's needed. States are making mandates that 10 percent of gasoline must include ethanol."

But funding for the sweet sorghum initiative is difficult to find. GRE is seeking investors and government aid. It also needs farmers. And before attempting full-scale crop production, Brooks said his company needs a press, which could cost from $200,000 to $700,000, and a $250,000 sugar cane harvester.

Last month, GRE officials asked state Rep. Ralph Poppell, R-Vero Beach, to try to secure $520,000 in funding. Coniglio said state officials rejected an $800,000-plus request last year.

GRE also will plant 100 acres of sweet sorghum in Indian River County and 20 acres near Destiny, head chemist Jim Minner said.