Developing efficient practices for producing bioethanol from sweet sorghum, evaluating several varieties of the plant and growing environments

Abstract

The challenges we face today envisaging environmental protection, starting from global warming and climate change, up to natural resources depletion, creates opportunities for developing new technologies for biofuel production. Considering that most biofuels used at the moment are based on energy-intensive crops, the question arises whether occupying large areas of land to the detriment of food is justified or not, especially as these crops generally deplete the soil of nutrients. In the present paper we propose a different approach for assessing an easily adaptable energy plant named Sweet Sorghum, that can grow with low input requirements, in difficult growing conditions, on contaminated or poor-nutrient and dry soils, and yet having a high productivity potential. Our research directions are targeted towards identifying the best opportunities for producing bioethanol from Sweet sorghum testing different varieties and sustainable planting conditions. We have been established several experimental cultures and evaluated the potential for producing biofuels using different techniques, such as juice extraction and fermentation and lignocellulose processing.