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Doctor of Philosophy / Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering / Donghai Wang / Scott R. Bean / Sorghum has been considered one of the best species dedicated to biofuel production because of its drought tolerance, low fertilizer or pesticide input, established production systems, and genetic diversity. The mission of this research was to better understand the relationship among "genetic-structure-function-conversion." The main focus of this research was to study the impact of sorghum proteins on ethanol fermentation and to investigate novel methods for evaluation of sorghum fermentation quality. Changes of sorghum protein in digestibility, solubility, and microstructure during mashing were characterized. Sorghum proteins tended to form highly extended, strong web-like microstructures during mashing. The degree of protein cross-linking differed among samples. Formation of web-like microstructures due to cross-linking reduced conversion efficiency. A rapid method for extracting proteins from mashed and nonmashed sorghum meal using sonication (ultrasound) was developed, with which the relationships between the levels of extractable proteins and ethanol fermentation properties were determined. There was a strong relationship between extractable proteins and fermentation parameters. Ethanol yield increased and conversion efficiency improved significantly as the amount of extractable proteins increased. The Rapid-Visco Analyzer (RVA) was used to characterize pasting properties of sorghum grains. Results showed a strong linear relationship between ethanol yield and final viscosity, as well as setback. A modified RVA procedure (10 min) with an application of α-amylase was developed to simulate the liquefaction step in dry-grind ethanol production. There was a remarkable difference in mashing properties among the sorghum samples with the normal dosage of α-amylase. The modified RVA procedure is applicable not only for characterization of mashing properties but also for prediction of tannin content and for optimization of [alpha]-amylase doses for starch liquefaction. A small-scale mashing (SSM) procedure requiring only 300 mg of samples was investigated as a possible method of predicting ethanol yield of sorghum grain. There was a strong linear correlation between completely hydrolyzed starch (CHS) from SSM and ethanol yields from both traditional and simultaneous saccharification and fermentation procedures. CHS was a better indicator for predicting ethanol yield in fermentation than total starch.

The Masters thesis deals with dependence of quality parameters of malt on the temperature of mashing at sweet wort preparation. The theoretical part focuses on the technology of malt production including description of ingredients, production parts, some kinds of malt and the quality parameters. There is also described the technology of sweet wort preparation and the methods of determination of the malt quality parameters in the sweet wort there. The experimental part focuses on determination of malt extract, viscosity, haze, colour, time of starch cleavage, pH, degree of fermentation and beta-glucans content. Based on temperature dependence of parameters, the individual samples were compared and the effects of temperature were discussed. The biggest extract of light and caramel malts was explored at 70 °C, of coloured malt at 50 °C. The lowest viscosity of light and coloured malts was explored at 65 °C, of caramel malt at 50 °C. The lowest haze of wort was at 65 °C. Ideal colour of all malts was at all mashing temperatures. Ideal pH of all malts was explored at 70 °C. Ideal time of starch cleavage was explored at 70-85 °C. The biggest achievable degree of fermentation and the hugest increase of beta-glucans content were explored at 65 °C.