A reliable method for predicting bioethanol yield of different varieties of sweet potato by dry matter content

In this study, we analyzed the potential of using dry matter content for determining ethanol yield of sweet potatoes as one of the raw materials for bioethanol production. We tested dry matter content, total starch content, crude protein content, glucose content, fructose content, sucrose content and fermentation indicators of 29 sweet potato varieties in Henan province. Correlation analysis between main component contents of sweet potato and the fermentation indicators were carried on. The results showed that there was strong linear correlation between dry matter content and bioethanol yield (R² = 0.935). In order to prove the conclusion, we also tested dry matter content and ethanol yield of another 24 sweet potato varieties. Based on the dry matter content and linear correlations, we predicted the ethanol yields. We performed correlation analysis between the predicted values and the measured values of bioethanol yield of the 24 sweet potato varieties, and found highly significant positive correlation between the predicted values and the measured values. These results confirmed the reliability of using dry matter content for bioethanol production prediction for sweet potatoes.