SUITABILITY OF THE GRAIN OF DIFFERENT CEREAL SPECIES FOR BIOETHANOL PRODUCTION DEPENDENT ON CULTIVARS AND GROWING CONDITIONS

The grain of cereals is used as raw material for the production of bio ethanol. Concerning this goal the suitability of defined grain materia l sets of cereal species were investigated. With and without an additi on of technical enzymes the alcohol output per unit of dry matter (l/d t) of winter wheat, winter triticale and winter rye was analyzed. The autoamylolytic quotient (AAQ) and the alcohol yield (l/ha) were calcul ated. Grain material of several cultivars per species from two vegetat ion periods and partly from different locations was available. As far as the data allow comparisons, results are: With addition of technical enzymes as compared to autoamylolytic processing the variation of the alcohol output (l/dt) between and within species was evidently lower. The variation within the species refered to effects of cultivars and growing conditions. As compared to wheat, triticale and rye showed bet ter auto-amylolytic properties, but rye did not reach the alcohol outp ut levels of wheat and triticale. Alcohol outputs per unit dry matter and grain yields per ha were not correlated. Alcohol yields per ha wer e substantially influenced by the grain yields/ha. With and without an addition of technical enzymes the alcohol yields/ha of the best wheat cultivars exceeded those of the best triticale and rye cultivars.