Gamagrass varieties as potential feedstock for fermentable sugar production

Abstract

To evaluate the potential of gamagrass as a feedstock for biofuels, seven gamagrass varieties were analyzed for their chemical composition and subjected to pretreatment at 121 °C using 1% NaOH/H(2)SO(4) (w/w) for 60 min and enzymatic hydrolysis for fermentable sugar production. Based on total sugar yield, the varieties Eagle Point Devil Corn and Sun Devil were selected for NaOH and H(2)SO(4) pretreatment, respectively. The investigation on pretreatment conditions showed that, the conditions applied in gamagrass variety screening (121 °C, 1% NaOH/H(2)SO(4), 60 min) were sufficient to maximize sugar production, such that the total sugar yield of Eagle Point Devil Corn reached 479.6 mg g(-1) after NaOH pretreatment and that of Sun Devil reached 456.5 mg g(-1) raw biomass after H(2)SO(4) pretreatment. Compared with other potential energy crops including switchgrass and Bermuda grass, gamagrass gave a higher sugar yield after NaOH pretreatment and a comparable sugar yield after H(2)SO(4) pretreatment.