Biochemical Screening of Different Types of Sweet Potato for Bioethanol Production

Abstract

Today the present scenario is focused at energy production from agricultural biomass which has emerged as one of the dependable non-traditional feedstock for the production ofbioethanol. Production of this renewable fuel, especially from starchy materials such as tuber crops, holds a remarkable potential to meet the future energy. In recent years, with the increase in price of fossil fuels, the demand of biofuel production from tuber crops such as sweet potato has increased by leaps and bounds. Among different tuber crops, sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L.) has been considered as a promising substrate for bioethanol production and has become very important to meet the future energy crisis in developing countries. In our present study, eight varieties of sweet potatoes were collected from different region of Odisha and biochemically analysed for ethanol production. Among them, the Gouri variety collected from Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, exhibited maximum amount of starch (293.69±2.9 gkg−1) and sugar (326.09±2.1 gkg−1) followed by Sree Krishna variety. The Gouri type also produced maximum ethanol of1 4 7.7±0.4 gkg−1 and showed ethanol yield of 90.6%. The other varieties were exhibiting low starch and sugar content (approximately 15% less) than the Gouri variety. As the Gouri variety was more potent for starch and sugar synthesis, so this variety can be utilised for enhanced bioethanol production.