Sweet sorghum-a promising alternative feedstock for biofuel production

Abstract

The key principle in resource management is sustainability which consists of operational robustness, attenuation of environmental footprint and socio-economic considerations. Dependence on fossil fuels is unviable due to their continuous depletion all over the world and also the inexperienced greenhouse gas emissions related to their utilization. Therefore, the continuous initiatives geared towards developing various renewable and probably carbon neutral biofuels as energy resources are being taken up. Alternate energy resources such as 1st generation biofuels derived from terrestrial crops like sugarcane, sugar beet, corn and wheat place a colossal stress on global food markets, but this potential food versus fuel conflict is palliated by using sweet sorghum as a bioenergy crop. It can be processed into both biofuel and valuable co-products, thus meeting the various requirements of food, fuel and fodder.This paper mainly reviewed the technologies for bioethanol production from sweet sorghum, focussing on its potential benefits as feedstock for ethanol production over other substrates and recent advancements to enhance ethanol yield. It also reviewed the advances in pretreatment along with the novel process of ethanol production from sweet sorghum stalks, biogas production from sweet sorghum and environmental cum socio-economic aspects. No doubt, there are outstanding issues related to ethanol production and yield, still sweet sorghum derived bioethanol could progressively substitute a significant proportion of the fossil fuels required to meet the growing energy demand.