Sweet sorghum grown on sludge-amended stripmine soil: a preliminary look at yields, composition and ethanol production

Carlson, K.D. and Cunningham, R.L. and Herman, A.I. (1983) Sweet sorghum grown on sludge-amended stripmine soil: a preliminary look at yields, composition and ethanol production. Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science, 76 (1-2). pp. 111-122.

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Abstract

Results of a 1-yr field plot study are reported for the Sorghum bicolor cultivar Wray grown on stripmine soil in 3 replications of 4 soil treatments: control (no amendment); commercial fertilizer; and 2 levels of sewage sludge amendment (209 and 418 t/ha total dry solids, respectively). Mean sucrose content of whole-stalk dry solids was 35. Juice yields of 50-68% from fresh stalks were obtained and the 14% total sugar conc. in the juice was readily fermented by Saccharomyces cerevisiae to ethanol in 72% yield. Since sucrose content of the bagasse dry solids was 24%, additional fermentable substrate can be obtained by water extraction. Without additional pretreatment, c. 133% of the cellulose in the fresh bagasse was converted to glucose by standard cellulase treatment. More detailed studies are in progress on using stripmine land and sewage sludge to produce sweet sorghum as a possible feedstock for fuels and chemicals.ADDITIONAL ABSTRACT:In trials on stripmine soil in 1981, sweet sorghum cv. Wray was sown on plots given 112 kg N + 67 kg each of P and K/ha as NPK fertilizer or 209 or 418 t anaerobically digested sewage sludge/ha. Yields of fresh stem, expressed as total wt. of 9 stalks, increased from 10.9 kg to 12.8 kg with NPK fertilizer. Juice yield was also highest with NPK fertilizer but bagasse yield was highest with 209 t sewage sludge

Item Type: Article
Author Affiliation: USDA, Peoria, Ill. 61604, USA
Subjects: Crop Improvement
Divisions: Sorghum
Depositing User: Ms K Syamalamba
Date Deposited: 07 Mar 2012 05:07
Last Modified: 07 Mar 2012 05:07
URI: http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/id/eprint/3609

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