Paper details

Title:

Sweet Sorghum: Integrated Bioethanol and Biogas Production from a High Water-Use Efficient Energy Crop

Author(s):

Picco, D., Pin, M., Vecchiet, A., Balducchi, R., Di Natale, G., Piscioneri, I., Fornasier, F., Mondini, C., Tomat, E.

Document(s):

Abstract:

Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a drought tolerant energy crop, with a high nitrogen use efficiency, identified as a possible ethanol feedstock because of its biomass yield and high concentration of fermentable free sugars. The cultivation of sweet sorghum is easy and economic, and it could be an alternative in particular regions where conditions are not favorable for growing starch-rich crops, such as maize. Bagasse and stillage are the main by-products of the sweet sorghum processing for bioethanol production and become useful raw materials for further bio-production, such as lignocellulosic fuels, biogas and 2nd generation bioethanol. In its poor post-harvest storage characteristics and in the seasonally availability, sweet sorghum found the main disadvantages. The project MULTISORGO wants to exploit the advantages of sweet sorghum as potential energy crop for bio­energy production. Thereby, the main objective of MULTISORGO is to optimize all the single steps of the bioethanol production chain starting from sweet sorghum biomass, focusing on the sugar preservation during the storage and the by-product energetic exploitation for different biofuels production. The final aim is to propose an EU sustainable model for the biofuel production in decentralised plants using a promising crop, also considering the RES directive restrictions.

Keywords:

bioethanol, biogas, decentralised generation, modelling, power generation, sweet sorghum, decentralized generation

Topic:

Processes for Fuels from Biomass

Subtopic:

First generation liquid biofuels: alternative resources for innovative and efficient conversion

Event:

19th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition

Session:

OD2.1

Pages:

1905 - 1912

ISBN-13:

978-88-89407-55-4

ISBN-10:

88-89407-55-7

Paper DOI:

10.5071/19thEUBCE2011-OD2.1

Price:

FREE