A demonstration study of ethanol production from sweet sorghum stems with advanced solid state fermentation technology

Shizhong Li, Guangming Li, Lei Zhang, Zhixing Zhou, Bing Han, Wenhui Hou, Jingbing Wang and Tiancheng Li

Applied Energy, 2013, vol. 102, issue C, 260-265

Abstract: Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is a promising energy crop for biofuel production. A demonstration study on cost-effective conversion of fermentable sugars in sweet sorghum stems into ethanol with advanced solid-state fermentation technology is presented in this paper. A continuous solid-state fermenter, which is 55m in length and 3.6m in diameter, is successfully operated in Inner Mongolia, China in 2011. Results show that the retention time (fermentation time) of the solid substrate is less than 30h, and the ethanol yield reaches 90.5% of the theoretical yield. A total of 16ton of sweet sorghum stems (with 13.5% sugar content and 70% moisture) are used to produce 1ton of ethanol (99.5%, v/v). The cost of fuel ethanol production is $615.4per ton (49cent/liter) on the premise that the price of the sweet sorghum stems is $30per ton.

Keywords: Advanced solid state fermentation technology; Continuous solid state fermentation; Continuous solid state distillation; Sweet sorghum; Bioethanol; Demonstration study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2012.09.060

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