Bermuda grass as feedstock for biofuel production: a review

Bermuda grass is a promising feedstock for the production of fuel ethanol in the Southern United States. This paper presents a review of the significant amount of research on the conversion of Bermuda grass to ethanol and a brief discussion on the factors affecting the biomass production in the field. The biggest challenge of biomass conversion comes from the recalcitrance of lignocellulose. A variety of chemical, physico-chemical, and biological pretreatment methods have been investigated to improve the digestibility of Bermuda grass with encouraging results reported. The subsequent enzymatic hydrolysis and fermentation steps have also been extensively studied and effectively optimized. It is expected that the development of genetic engineering technologies for the grass and fermenting organisms has the potential to greatly improve the economic viability of Bermuda grass-based fuel ethanol production systems. Other energy applications of Bermuda grass include anaerobic digestion for biogas generation and pyrolysis for syngas production.