Wednesday, February 21, 2007 Sorghum another source of biofuel By Henrylito D. Tacio
DON'T be surprised if a big part of the country's energy needs will be grown on the farms instead of being extracted from the bowels of the earth. The source: biofuel.
Biofuel refers to bioethanol and biodiesel and other fuels made from biomass and primarily used for automotive, thermal and power generation. Biofuels have been given much prominence these days because of their potential as alternative raw material for the production of ethanol.
Ethanol is a clean-burning, high-octane alcohol produced from agricultural crops, such as cassava, sugarcane and corn.
Today, there is great demand for biofuels in the Philippines. This is due to the fact that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo signed into law Republic Act No. 9367, otherwise known as the "Biofuels Act of 2006."
It mandates the use of biofuels as a measure to develop and utilize indigenous renewable and sustainably-sourced clean energy sources to reduce the country's dependence on imported oil and lower the amounts of toxins and pollutants in the atmosphere.
According to the India-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (Icrisat), another alternative source of biofuel is sorghum. A sweet sorghum hybrid -- called SSH 104 - is rich in sugar that can be easily converted into ethanol.
Combined with petrol or diesel, ethanol can be used as "gasohol" -- a fuel that is considerably less polluting than conventional ones.
"It is high time to include sorghum in the Philippine government's list of priority commodities for research and development because of its numerous uses aside from food," said Icrisat director General William D. Dar.
The good news is that the Icrisat's sweet sorghum plantation testing center at the Mariano Marcos State University (MMSU) in Batac, Ilocos Norte has responded well to research institute's ethanol extraction process.
At the MMSU study, the average yield was 110 tons per hectare of sweet sorghum cane stalk for two cropping seasons in eight months (one main crop followed by one ratoon crop.) Ratoon is the outgrowth after the main stalk has been cut.
Is growing sweet sorghum profitable? Here's the result of the study: The net income for two cropping seasons ranges from P65,000 to P72,000 per hectare.
"The commercialization and massive planting of sorghum augurs well for our country," Dr. Dar urged.
Currently, sugarcane is the main crop tapped by the government for a gasoline-ethanol blend. But compared with sugarcane, sweet sorghum may be a better source of fuel, according to Dr. Heraldo L. Layaoen, a crop science professor at MMSU.
Dr. Layaoen, who is pioneering sweet sorghum cultivation in the country, claimed that the cost of producing a liter of ethanol from sweet sorghum is lower than that from sugarcane molasses.
One reason, he says, is that sweet sorghum is sweeter.
The MMSU studies have shown that sugarcane has up to 14 percent sugar content while sweet sorghum has 23 percent.
Dr. Layaoen also says that one hectare planted to sweet sorghum will yield 95-125 tons after a planting season of 100-115 days, compared to sugar cane's 65-90 tons per hectare with a longer crop season of 300-330 days.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap considers sweet sorghum as "plant of life." He cited several reasons.
For one, from its stalk can be squeezed the precious sugar-rich juice suited for ethanol production. For another, the silage after the extraction of juice is rich in micronutrients and minerals that can be used as forage for animals.
Aside from ethanol, sweet sorghum can also be made into other food products such as syrup, jaggery (a kind of molasses), "basi" wine, flour, cookies, cakes and pop sorghum kernels (like popcorn). "It has far higher protein and vitamin content than honey," Dr. Layaoen points out.
According to Dr. Layaoen, sweet sorghum adapts well to drought and will not compete much for fresh water, needing only about 175 cubic meters per crop, which is just one-fourth of sugarcane's 700 cubic meters water need per crop.
Sorghum is one of the five top cereal crops in the world, along with wheat, oats, corn, and barley.
Currently, sorghum is grown in over 66 countries. About 90 percent of the area planted to sorghum is in developing countries, mainly in Africa and Asia, where low-income farmers grow it generally for food.
In the Philippines, the use of sorghum as a whole is very limited since rice and corn have been recognized as important human energy sources.
