Sweet Harmony: Ethanol Production Potential of Rotational Crops with Sugarcane.

Interest in ethanol production has been growing in southern Florida with several companies expressing interest in operating facilities in the area.  Due to the long growing season in southern Florida, annual ethanol production can be very high.  Sugarcane is the primary crop in the region grown on over 160000 hectares.   Approximately 20000 hectares of sugarcane growing area are rotated annually to other crops such as vegetables and rice. Recent research has focused on candidate crops that would work well in rotation with sugarcane.  While yields and potential ethanol production from sugarcane in the area is well established, potential ethanol yields from the rotational crops sweet sorghum, corn, and sugar beets have not been reported.  These rotational crops are needed so that an ethanol production facility could have a year-round supply of feedstock.  This paper summarizes several years of experimental yield data from southern Florida to determine the potential ethanol production of sugar beets, corn, and sweet sorghum.   Well-timed plantings and harvests could yield enough feedstock to produce 6500 L/ha of ethanol.