Nitrogen management for biofuel production from sweet sorghum [abstract]

Abstract

The energy crisis is one of the most challenging problems humankind is facing today. Therefore, it is important to find ways to meet the need. To achieve this goal, sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) is holding promise for biofuel production. For the moment, although the production of biofuel is not very efficient from most prospective bioenergy crops, sweet sorghum has shown many advantages e.g. its nitrogen and water efficiency, etc. Up to today, very little research has been done to really test how nitrogen fertilization affects the production of ethanol from sweet sorghum grown in the field. Indeed, nitrogen appears as the crucial fertilizer that greatly affects plant growth and therefore their use for biofuel production. Due to (1) the high cost and negative environmental impact of such nutrients, (2) the scale of energy needed to face worldwide demand, (3) the need to make the biofuel production system sustainable and profitable, it is very important to study how to make biofuel plants more efficient and how to create an environment that better suits their production. To provide data on these issues, 7 nitrogen rates were applied to sorghum planted in 3 types of soil. Then, data was carried out on the effect of N application on sweet sorghum growth and development, biomass production, juice expression, sugar production and ethanol yield.