Compositional and Agronomic Evaluation of Sorghum Biomass as a Potential Feedstock for Renewable Fuels

Dahlberg, J. and Wolfrum, Ed. and Bean, B. and Rooney, W. L. (2011) Compositional and Agronomic Evaluation of Sorghum Biomass as a Potential Feedstock for Renewable Fuels. Journal of Biobased Materials and Bioenergy, 5 (4). pp. 507-513.

[img] PDF - Published Version
Restricted to ICRISAT researchers only

Abstract

One goal of the Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee was to replace 30% of current U.S. petroleum consumption with biofuels by 2030. This will take mixtures of various feedstocks; an annual biomass feedstock such as sorghum will play an important role in meeting this goal. Commercial forage sorghum samples collected from field trials grown in Bushland, TX in 2007 were evaluated for both agronomic and compositional traits. Biomass compositional analysis of the samples was performed at the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, CO following NREL Laboratory Analytical Procedures. Depending on the specific cultivar, several additional years of yield data for this location were considered in establishing agronomic potential. Results confirm that sorghum forages can produce high biomass yields over multiple years and varied growing conditions. In addition, the composition of sorghum shows significant variation, as would be expected for most crops. Using theoretical estimates for ethanol production, the sorghum commercial forages examined in this study could produce an average of 6147 L ha-1 of renewable fuels. Given its genetic variability, a known genomic sequence, a robust seed industry, and biomass composition, sorghum will be an important annual feedstock to meet the alternative fuel production goals legislated by the US Energy Security Act of 2007.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Sorghum; Biomass Compositional Analysis; Cellulosic Ethanol; Renewable Fuels; Biofuel Feedstocks; Energy Crops
Author Affiliation: 1University of California, Kearney Agricultural Research and Extension Center, 9240 South Riverbend Avenue, Parlier, CA 93648, USA
Subjects: Plant Production
Divisions: Sorghum
Depositing User: Mr Siva Shankar
Date Deposited: 23 Aug 2012 05:53
Last Modified: 23 Aug 2012 05:54
Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1166/jbmb.2011.1171
URI: http://eprints.icrisat.ac.in/id/eprint/7478

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item
EPrints Logo
eprints is powered by EPrints 3 which is developed by the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. More information and software credits.