(421bn) Eastern Gamagrass, a Promising Feedstock for Bioethanol Production

Currently, one important issue in lignocellulosic bioethanol investigation is to identify plant species that are suitable for feedstocks. Eastern gamagrass is a native, warm-season, C₄ perennial with many desirable characteristics that warrants further investigation as a bioethanol crop. But, up to date, there have been no reports on the bioethanol production from Eastern gamagrass. In this study, gamagrass and other two C₄ species, switchgrass and miscanthus were investigated for bioethanol production through cellulose solvent-based lignocellulose fractionation (CSLF) pretreatment and enzymatic hydrolysis and ethanol fermentation. It was found that glucose release percentage for gamagrass (nearly 100%) was higher than those for switchgrass and miscanthus (about 85%). Higher ethanol yield from glucose in the hydrolysate of gamagrass (0.43 g/g) was also observed compared to switchgrass and miscanthus (0.38 g/g). Therefore, during the whole process of biomass-to-ethanol, gamagrass can yield 35% more ethanol per gram biomass than switchgrass and miscanthus.