Objective
Sweet-sorghum is one of the most promising energy crops for the southern and central regions of the EU. It can be utilised for the production of oxygenate fuels (ETBE) - needed for reformulated gasoline - as well as for the power/heat production. One ha of sweet-sorghum plantation can supply (on average) 5 tons of Bio-ethanol (10 to of ETBE), 37,000 KW (electricity) and 50,000 KW (useful heat).
Because the crop is composed of sugar, ligno-cellulosic and some starch (grains), a critical need for the exploitation of sweet-sorghum is clearly a low-cost, fast, and efficient separation of the sugar-juice from ligno-cellulosic bagasse.
This separation at or near the plantation area, is both desirable and useful as it will :
- minimize quick degradation of sugars (fermentation) which occurs few hours/some
days post harvest depending on the cane piece length;
- account for the different market destination of the sugar-juice (to distilleries) and
of the ligno-cellulose badges (to power-stations) thus potentially enabling to realize
a higher net economic value;
- simplify and reduce the cost for transportation and the logistics infrastructure.
Local concentration of sugar-juice (before or after fermentation) could also be
considered.
Taking into account all that has been previously mentioned, a proposal for the design, construction, testing on 100 ha plantation of a prototype innovative harvesting machine (capacity of 0.5 ha/hr) able also to carry out a simultaneous sugar-juice extraction and the bailing of the defibred bagasse is presented to the European Commission for financial support.
The entire research project could be implemented in a period of 2 years. Pasquali Co has developed in the past years (in the frame of the JOULE programme) a small capacity harvesting machine optimised for sweet-sorghum, but not designed for the sugar-juice separation and bagasse bailing.
The proposed machine will be able to reduce about 50 % the global cost for harvesting + sugar-juice separation + transport to the utilisation site.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology environmental engineering energy and fuels liquid fuels
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture grains and oilseeds
- engineering and technology industrial biotechnology bioprocessing technologies fermentation
You need to log in or register to use this function
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Data not available
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
50141 Calenzano
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.