EXTRACTION PERFORMANCE OF JUICE AND BIOETHANOL PRODUCTION FROM SWEET SORGHUM (SORGHUM BICOLOR, (L.) MOENCH)

Abstract

The present work was initiated to determine extraction performance of juice and bioethanol production from sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor, (L.) Moench). Influence of impregnation of material on juice extraction was established. Study shows that juice obtained by pressing the stems of this plant contains 98.85 g/L of soluble sugars and 27.45 g/L of reducing sugars. The method of sugars extraction by squeezing is influenced by the temperature and the time of impregnation. Indeed, this work shows that, to improve the extraction of residual sugars, a bagasse / water ratio of 1/1, a temperature of 45°C and 30 min of impregnation, are optimal conditions for an efficient and optimal sugars extraction required for the production of ethanol. These conditions made it possible to obtain an overall extraction yield of the order of 68.203 and 91.189% respectively for total soluble sugars and reducing sugars. The production of ethanol by fermentation of the sweet sorghum juice in batch mode gave a yield of 91.2 % of the theoretical yield of Gay Lussac.