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Company to make building materials from sorghum

A California-based manufacturing company is setting up shop in Nodaway County, Missouri, to produce fiberboard products made from sorghum.

ChloroFill LLC CEO and founder Michael Hurst says the 5,400-square-foot manufacturing plant will use an environmentally sound process based on a renewable resource easily grown in northwest Missouri. He expects the plant’s size to double over the next three to five years.

A story in the Rolla Daily News says the sorghum used to produce the construction board is being grown on a 90-acre plot on a Northwest Missouri State University farm.

The hybrid plants don’t produce seed heads, since only the stalks are needed for production.

The plant will manufacture a product called DurahForm, consisting of processed sorghum stalks fused together using a protein binder. Produced in sheets, DurahForm is similar to high-grade plywood made from bamboo or exotic hardwoods but is manufactured without using formaldehyde. Hurst said DurahForm’s applications include counter tops, wall and ceiling coverings, furniture, cabinetry, wainscoting, doors and flooring.

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