Elucidation of native California Agave americana and Agave deserti biofuel potential: Compositional analysis

Because biofuels have the unique potential to be rapidly deployed in existing transportation fuel infrastructures, they should play a major role in helping California quickly meet its aggressive goals to substantially reduce greenhouse gas contributions by this major sector. Furthermore, energy crops are vital to significantly impact the State’s large and burgeoning need for sustainable fuels. Among crops amenable to be grown in California to support fuel production, agave pose a particularly promising prospect, given their drought tolerance and high productivity on marginal land in a State prone to drought and limited water resources. This study focuses on measuring compositional profiles of wild A. deserti and cultivated A. americana, two agaves native to California, to elucidate their potential for biological conversion to fuels that can help meet the huge State need for low-carbon transportation. Results from this study indicate that these two California agave species can be rich in fructans, ranging from 96–314 g/L of equivalent fructose and glucose in their leaf bases. In addition, structural and water-soluble sugar contents exceeding 63 wt.% show that these plants are amenable to fermentation to ethanol and other biofuels. Moreover, because the low K-lignin content of agave leaf bases bagasse of only about 12–18 wt.% suggests low recalcitrance and the negligible acid insoluble ash content should facilitate pretreatment prior to fermentations, the agave species native to the State hold considerable promise as potential biofuel feedstocks.