Author: David Scott Horton (II) Publisher: ISBN: Category : Alcohol as fuel Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
Petroleum prices have made alternative fuel crops a viable option for ethanol production. Sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor] is a non-food crop that may produce large quantities of ethanol with minimal inputs. Eleven cultivars were planted in 2008 and 2009 as a half-season crop. Four-row plots 6.9 m by 0.5 m, were monitored bimonthly for °Brix, height, and sugar accumulation. Yield and extractable sap were taken at the end of season. Stalk yield was greatest for the cultivar Sugar Top (4945 kg ha -1) and lowest for Simon (1054 kg ha−1). Dale ranked highest ethanol output (807 L ha−1) while Simon (123 L ha−1) is the lowest. All cultivars peak Brix accumulation occurs in early October. Individual sugar concentrations indicated sucrose is the predominant sugar with glucose and fructose levels dependent on cultivar. Supplemental ethanol in fermented wort was the best preservative tested to halt degradation of sorghum wort.
Author: P. Srinivasa Rao Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media ISBN: 8132207831 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 134
Book Description
A number of driving forces, including the soaring global crude oil prices and environmental concerns in both developed and developing nations has triggered a renewed interest in the recent years on the R&D of biofuel crops. In this regard, many countries across the globe are investing heavily in the bioenergy sector for R&D to increase their energy security and reduce their dependence on imported fossil fuels. Currently, most of the biofuel requirement is met by sugarcane in Brazil and corn in the United States, while biodiesel from rapeseed oil in Europe. Sweet sorghum has been identified as a unique biofuel feedstock in India since it is well adapted to Indian agro-climatic conditions and more importantly it does not jeopardize food security at the cost of fuel. Sweet sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is considered as a SMART new generation energy crop as it can accumulate sugars in its stalks similar to sugarcane, but without food¬¬-fuel trade-offs and can be cultivated in almost all temperate and tropical climatic conditions and has many other advantages. The grain can be harvested from the panicles at maturity. There is no single publication detailing the agronomic and biochemical traits of tropical sweet sorghum cultivars and hybrid parents. Hence, an attempt is made in this publication- “Characterization of improved sweet sorghum cultivars” to detail the complete description of cultivars. This book serves as a ready reference on the detailed characterization of different improved sweet sorghum genotypes following the PPVFRA guidelines for the researchers, entrepreneurs, farmers and other stakeholders to identify the available sweet sorghum cultivars and understand their yield potential in tropics.
Author: Joseph Andrew Linton Publisher: ISBN: Category : Alcohol as fuel Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
This study examines the feasibility of producing sweet sorghum as an ethanol feedstock in Mississippi. An enterprise budgeting system is used along with estimates of transportation costs to estimate farmers' breakeven costs for producing and delivering sweet sorghum biomass. This breakeven cost for the farmer, along with breakeven costs for the producer based on wholesale ethanol price, production costs, and transportation and marketing costs for the refined ethanol, is used to estimate the amounts that farmers and ethanol producers would be willing to accept (WTA) and willing to pay (WTP), respectively, for sweet sorghum biomass. These WTA and WTP estimates are analyzed by varying key factors in the biomass and ethanol production processes. Deterministic and stochastic models are used to estimate profits for sweet sorghum and competing crops in two representative counties in Mississippi, with sweet sorghum consistently yielding negative per-acre profits in both counties.
Author: Gary John Gascho Publisher: ISBN: Category : Agriculture and energy Languages : en Pages : 35
Book Description
Studies were conducted to evaluate the potential of sweet sorghum as a fuel ethanol feedstock for the southern coastal plain. Several cultural aspects were studied and a methol for rapid evaluation of the fermentable sugar concentrtions in the stalks was developed. The major findings of the studies were. 1. Wray, M81E, and MN1500 were the highest yielding early, medium, and late-maturing cultivars tested. Because of its high sugar concentration and resistance to lodging, Wray was the best single cultivar. 2. On the better agricultural soils of the area, the yield potential is five to six metric tons of total sugars per hectare. 3. The best planting time is in early May. Yields are reduced in plantings after mid-May because of early maturity and damage from the fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda (J.E. Smith). The best harvest time is at the soft, to hard-dough stages of the seed. To maintain a constant supply of high-yielding sweet sorghum for a fuel ethanol plant, it was demonstrated the combinations of cultivars, planting dates, and harvest stages resulted in 95% of maximum sugar yield over a four-month period. 5. Nutrient requirements for sweet sorghum were low in comparisons to corn. No response to P or K was found when the soil test was high or medium for the elements, respectively. For a medium P soil test, yield responses were obtained to at least 25 kg P/ha. For a low K test, response was obtained to 186 kg K/ha. Response was obtained to about 100 kg N/ha. The N application should be split, with about one-half to two-thirds applied as a sidedressing when the sorghum is 30 to 60 cm high. No response was found to a 10-34-0 starter fertilizer, but the P soil test was high in this study. 6. The actual removal of nutrients by a sweet sorghum crop was determined to be 1,5 kg/MT fresh stalks for N, 0.3 for P, 1.8 for K, 0,6 for Ca and 0,3 for Mg. 7. No yield advantage was found in decreasing the row sapcing from 90 cm nor was there as advantage to increasing the population above 75 thousand plants per hectare. 8. The best control of annual grasses was obtained with a propazine plus metolachlor treatment. 9. No positive responses were found to the application of several growth regulators. 10. As automated analysis for determining the concentrations of total sugars in fresh or frozen sweet sorghum stalks was developed using an AutoAnalyzer II.
Author: Frank Rosillo-Calle Publisher: Taylor & Francis ISBN: 1136554890 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 293
Book Description
The increasing importance of biomass as a renewable energy source has lead to an acute need for reliable and detailed information on its assessment, consumption and supply. Responding to this need, and overcoming the lack of standardized measurement and accounting procedures, this handbook provides the reader with the skills to understand the biomass resource base, the tools to assess the resource, and explores the pros and cons of exploitation. Topics covered include assessment methods for woody and herbaceous biomass, biomass supply and consumption, remote sensing techniques as well as vital policy issues. International case studies, ranging from techniques for measuring tree volume to transporting biomass, help to illustrate step-by-step methods and are based on field work experience. Technical appendices offer a glossary of terms, energy units and other valuable resource data.
Author: Rebecca J. Corn Publisher: ISBN: Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) has potential as a bioenergy feedstock due to its high yield potential and the production of simple sugars for fermentation. Sweet sorghum cultivars are typically tall, high biomass types with juicy stalks and high sugar concentration. These sorghums can be harvested, milled, and fermented to ethanol using technology similar to that used to process sugarcane. Sweet sorghum has advantages in that it can be planted by seed with traditional planters, is an annual plant that quickly produces a crop and fits well in crop rotations, and it is a very water-use efficient crop. Processing sweet sorghum is capital intensive, but it could fit into areas where sugarcane is already produced. Sweet sorghum could be timed to harvest and supply the sugar mill during the off season when sugarcane is not being processed, be fit into crop rotations, or used in water limiting environments. In these ways, sweet sorghum could be used to produce ethanol in the Southern U.S and other tropical and subtropical environments. Traditionally, sweet sorghum has been grown as a pureline cultivar. However, these cultivars produce low quantities of seed and are often too tall for efficient mechanical harvest. Sweet sorghum hybrids that use grain-type seed parents with high sugar concentrations are one way to overcome limitation to seed supply and to capture the benefits of heterosis. There are four objectives of this research. First to evaluate the importance of genotype, environment, and genotype-by-environment interaction effects on the sweet sorghum yield and composition. The second objective is to determine the presence and magnitude of heterosis effects for traits related to sugar production in sweet sorghum. Next: to study the ability of sweet sorghum hybrids and cultivars to produce a ratoon crop and determine the contribution of ratoon crops to total sugar yield. The final objective is to evaluate variation in composition of sweet sorghum juice and biomass. Sweet sorghum hybrids, grain-type sweet seed parents, and traditional cultivars that served as male parents were evaluated in multi-environment trials in Weslaco, College Station, and Halfway, Texas in 2007 and 2008. Both genotype and environment influenced performance, but environment had a greater effect than genotype on the composition of sweet sorghum juice and biomass yield. In comparing performance, elite hybrids produced fresh biomass and sugar yields similar to the traditional cultivars while overcoming the seed production limitations. High parent heterosis was expressed among the experimental hybrids for biomass yield, sugar yield and sugar concentration. Additional selection for combining ability would further enhance yields and heterosis in the same hybrid. Little variation was observed among hybrids for juice and biomass composition suggesting that breeding efforts should focus on yield before altering plant composition.
Author: David Scott Horton (II)
Author: Stanley S. Roberts
Author: Brett R. Weeden
Author: P. Srinivasa Rao
Author: H.S. Latha
Author: Joseph Andrew Linton
Author: Gary John Gascho
Author: Frank Rosillo-Calle
Author: Rebecca J. Corn
Author: Y.M. Ramesha