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Sweet Sorghum |
Praj has pioneered the use of Sweet sorghum or "Sorgo" or "Kadval" for Ethanol production due to its high sugar content similar to sugarcane. This has been the result of extensive research on sweet sorghum, establishing its advantages as a raw material for ethanol production. Sweet Sorghum is a viable alternative for a variety of reasons :
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- Can be uniformly grown in warm, sunny weather.
- Known crop for farmers.
- Harvesting & cultivation practices are simple and identical to sugar cane.
- Requires less water and fertilizers compared to sugarcane.
- Crop cycle is short - 3.5 to 4 months. Usually, two cycles are possible from same piece of land annually, provided irrigation is possible.
- Generates bagasse as co-product which can be a principal source of energy for operation of distillery in the form of boiler fuel.
- In addition to bagasse, sweet sorghum also gives sufficient quantity of green foliage, which is useful as fodder for cattle.
- Sugar Cane machinery can be used for extracting sugars from the stalk
- Cost of production of sweet sorghum is comparatively less as compared to sugar cane.
Distilleries can be designed to operate on sweet sorghum between 6 to 10 months a year. Where cultivation season is 6-8 months, distilleries would require additional feedstock such as syrup/molasses or sugar cane / sugar beet to operate distilleries round the year.
Wastewater from the distillery can be composted using press mud produced from clarification of juice. There is also the possibility of excess electricity (co-generation) generation for commercial sale. These factors reduce cost of production of alcohol.
Advantage of PRAJ technology and plant design for sweet sorghum based distilleries :
- Complete know-how for developing a sweet sorghum project
- Can undertake project for development of sweet sorghum crop with Agricultural back up.
- Backed up by data generated on pilot and plant level.
- High efficiency of sugar extraction systems.
- Add-on module for existing sugar factory unit.
- Virtually no liquid waste.
- Negligible requirement of process water during steady state of distillery operation
- Complete reuse of water.
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