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The use of Biodiesel has significantly increased in the past few years, as it is becoming the alternative fuel of choice in Europe and gaining potential as a viable alternative in the US and other regions. To date, canola and soybean, also used as edible oils, are the main feedstock sources for biodiesel production.
Lately, due to the growing demand for biodiesel, canola and soybean prices have significantly increased. Canola oil prices have risen in the past year from 650$ to over 850$ per ton. Price increase together with limited availability of agricultural land and humanitarian concerns relating to competition with lands suitable for growing food (hence impacting food prices) have strengthened the need to develop an alternative feedstock to serve the rapidly expanding biodiesel industry. Such feedstock should be suitable for growth in non arable lands, and would not be exposed to price fluctuations of the food industry.
Initiated at September 2007, Evogene project is aimed at combining industry needs with plant development capabilities to produce an optimized feedstock which is "Biodiesel oriented" (tailored for the biodiesel industry). The project is focused on using advanced breeding techniques on oil yielding crops for the development of non edible commercial crops for biodiesel, suitable for growth in non arable lands under harsh condition and that require low inputs. Through the project we utilize our knowledge on oil yielding crops' genomics, unique selection systems and capabilities in classical and advanced genomic based breeding.
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More Biodiesel projects:
Increased Yield (Oil Yield) of Canola and Soybean
Background
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