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

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{sup -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 legislatedmore » by the US Energy Security Act of 2007.« less