Sweet Sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, is a native of Africa, south of the Sahara Desert. It is a drought-resistant, heat-tolerant member of the grass grass family, with an efficient C4 photosynthetic pathway. Nowadays, it is grown on all the continents (except Antarctica), as well as in northern hemisphere countries. Its cultivars have been adapted to a variety of climate and soil conditions.

Multifunctional Feedstock

Sweet sorghum looks much like maize without the ears. Instead of tassels on top, it has clusters of many seeds. The seeds are small and round about 1.5mm in diameter. Each plant grows 2 to 3 m tall and 25 to 50 mm in diameter at the base of the stalk.

DalinYebo's µ-BioRefinery: Converting Sweet Sorghum into Furfural and Energy.

Sweet Sorghum biorefineries

The µ-BioRefinery™ is designed around known and proven process technologies (from the sugar, pulp & paper and chemicals industries), producing furfural and energy products (ethanol and electricity) with the option of additional food or feed from the grain (instead of ethanol).

Example:  In Brazil, Sweet sorghum is used as an alternate crop with sugar cane to fill the gap in sugar cane production, when sucrose content drops too low for harvesting. This happens during a period of 3 months every year and sweet sorghum keeps their bioplastics plant operating 12 months of the year.

We have tested and identified varieties that are ideal as feedstock for a biorefinery with integrated ethanol and  furfural production!

µ-BioRefinery introduction

µ-BioRefinery's Sugar Platform

See full article and links to downloads at dalinyebo.com