Sajid Mehmood, Irshad ul Haq, KS Khan and Muhammad Gulfraz
Keywords: Sorghum, grains, fermentation, ethanol, gas chromatography.
Abstract: Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Monech] is the only crop that provides both grain and stem used for sugar, alcohol and syrup etc. In the present study seeds of 10 varieties of sorghum were evaluated for ethanol, starch, fat, fiber and metal ion contents. The simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF) of grain samples were conducted by using Saccharomyces cerevisiae and ethanol produced was quantified with the help of gas chromatography (GC). The concentration level of ethanol (7.6-12.5%), starch (63.90-78.11%), protein (9.67- 11.23%), fat (5.0-8.4%) and fiber (0.83-1.08%) was obtained from different varieties of sorghum. The study reveals that grains of these varieties can be utilized for the production of ethanol on industrial scale, by improving the existing methods of fermentation process.
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