Sweet sorghum
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Bioenergy > Feedstocks > Ethanol feedstocks > Sweet sorghum
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| Average yield: | 110 tons per hectare for two cropping seasons in 8 months[1] | ||
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Contents |
History
Sweet sorghum is an African native plant. It is known as one of the world oldest crops and it is likely that African slaves introduced the crop to the United States in the 17th century.
Sustainability
Environmental Sustainability
Greenhouse Gases
Biodiversity
Sweet sorghum is a highly competitive crop and can dominate over many weeds and other plants.
Pollution
In general fertilisers inputs are: 30-60 kg/ha of P, 60-120 kg/ha of K, 150 kg/ha of N. Even though sweet sorghum is a very competitive crop, several herbicides are available to compliment cultural and mechanical practices.
Land Degradation
Nutrient needs of sorghum are similar of the ones of corn. Sorghum uses relatively large amounts of nitrogen and moderate amounts of phosphorus and potassium. The grain in a 100-bushel per acre grain sorghum crop removes about 100 lbs. of nitrogen, 14 lbs. of phosphorous, and 14 lbs. of potassium.
Social Sustainability
Ethanol is produced from the sweet juice available in the stalk of the crop plant. The grains can still be used for food and feed purposes. Sweet sorghum has a higher vitamin and protein content than honey and can be used for the production of syrup, flour, and a popcorn-like product called pop sorghum kernels.
Sweet sorghum is cheaper to produce than other comparable grains. In India for example, its cost of cultivation is about one-third that of sugarcane.
Technology/Science
Properties
Sweet sorghum is a drought resistant plant that needs only about 175 cubic meters of water per crop. This is not even one quarter of the average water requirement of sugarcane crop. Tillers and heads are produced over a longer time period and therefore short periods of drought do not seriously harm pollination and fertilization. In a longer drought, sweet sorghum produces fewer and smaller heads.
The waxy coating of sorgum foliage makes them resist drying and they lose a smaller percentage of their water content than, for instance, corn leaves. The planting season of sweet sorghum, at 100-115 days, is relativley short. The average yield for this period of time is varying between 95-125 tons.
Sweet sorghum has a very high sugar content, varying from 15 to over 20 percent. Maximum yields are achived at average temperatures of at least 80°F. Photosynthesis is best at day-time temperatures higher than 90°F. During planting time the sorghum seed needs soil temperatures of 60-65°F.
Technology
Economics/Policy
Publications
- CGIAR (ICRISAT) flyer (January 2007) on Sweet Sorghum: Sweet Sorghum: A water saving, bio-energy crop for the Philippines
News
- China and Singapore to jointly engineer dedicated energy crops, Biopact, 11 December 2007: Scientific institutions in Singapore and China have agreed to begin joint research into developing energy rich hybrid plants. Sweet sorghum is to be a main focus.
- Can Sorghum Solve the Biofuels Dilemma?, 13 May 2007 from WBCSD: A new crop that provides food, animal feed and fuel at the same time promises to help developing countries redirect money spent on oil imports to benefit their own farmers. Is sweet sorghum biofuel's "holy grail"?
- Sweet super sorghum - yield data for the ICRISAT hybrid, 21 February 2007 from Biopact: The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) released the yield data for its drought-resistant sweet sorghum hybrid called SSH 104 from trials in the Philippines.
- ICRISAT harnesses ethanol from drought tolerant sweet sorghum, 25 January 2007 from Biopact: "The International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), presented its first batch of ethanol made from sweet sorghum as an alternative source of biofuel to Philippine President."
Countries
Sweet sorghum is grown worldwide on about 44 million hectares in almost one hundred different countries. It is therefore the fifth most important cereal crop in the world. The major producers are the United States, India, Nigeria, China, Mexico, Sudan and Argentina.
External Resources
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_sorghum - Information about Sweet sorghum on Wikipedia.
- LAMNET Latin America Thematic Network on Bioenergy. Publication on "Sweet Sorghum - One of the best world food-feed-energy crop".
Events
- 19-22 August 2008, Houston, Texas, USA: International Conference on Sorghum for Biofuel (No website; sponsored by the USDA Agricultural Research Service Office of International Research Programs and Texas A&M University). (Themes: conversion technology, sorghum, etc.)
- 20-21 November 2008, Hainan, China: Sorghum & Ethanol Summit. (Themes: sorghum, ethanol)
Notes
| Tropical feedstocks for bioenergy | edit | |
| Bamboo (Charcoal) | Cassava (Biodiesel and Bioethanol) | Coconut palm (Biodiesel) | Jatropha (Biodiesel) | Nypa palm (Bioethanol) | Oil palm (Biodiesel) | Sugar cane (Bioethanol) | ||
| Bioenergy feedstocks | edit | |
|
Biodiesel feedstocks: Ethanol feedstocks: | ||
