Juice from sweet sorghum was successfully used to replace process water in a study at the National Corn-to-Ethanol Research Center (NCERC) at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. This demonstrated the potential for corn ethanol plants to increase production above nameplate capacity, according to the Sorghum Checkoff which has been working with NCERC on the study.

The lab-scale results indicate that incorporating sweet sorghum juice could increase the throughput of existing corn ethanol plants as well as reduce enzyme and nutrient usage per gallon of ethanol produced, the Sorghum Checkoff reported. “Sweet sorghum juice sugar can also help ethanol producers diversify their feedstocks and serve as a bridge to the next generation of biofuels,” said Sabrina Trupia, NCERC assistant director of research.

“We think this study will help support the commercialization of sweet sorghum as a new industrial sugar feedstock crop across the broad geographic area of the country where it can be grown,” said John Duff, renewables program director for the Sorghum Checkoff.

For more information, download Advancing Biofuels Research - NCERC at SIUE (pdf).