9-69: Evaluation of Sweet Sorghum for Ethanol Production

Sweet sorghum as a potential feed stock for ethanol production offers several benefits 1) high fermentable sugar content in the stalk and convertible starch in seed heads, 2) a lower agricultural input than corn for both fertilizers and water, and 3) a wider growing region than sugarcane. Adoption of sweet sorghum as an ethanol feedstock for raw sugar factories/distilleries may have the added benefit of extending mill operations by two months. Sweet sorghum averages 73.7% of stalk (56.8% juice + 16.9% dry solid fiber), 7.5% seed heads and 18.9% leaf matter. Theoretically the ethanol yield would be 5.7g of ethanol (3.8g from juice and l.9g from seed heads)/ 100g of sweet sorghum. Post processed biomass was utilizable for cellulosic ethanol production or fuel.  Sweet sorghum as a biofuel crop will be evaluated based on current sciences and economics.