Jiayao Zhou

Cuixi Academy of Biotechnology, Zhuji, 311800, Zhejiang, China
Author    Correspondence author
Journal of Energy Bioscience, 2025, Vol. 16, No. 5   
Received: 02 Sep., 2025    Accepted: 11 Oct., 2025    Published: 24 Oct., 2025

This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

This study explores how sweet potatoes can be used to produce bioethanol and biogas, making them clean and renewable energy sources. Sweet potatoes have a high starch content, are adaptable to various types of soil, and have weak competitiveness with food crops. These characteristics make it an excellent raw material for the production of biofuels. This study reviewed the agronomic and biochemical characteristics of sweet potatoes and how these characteristics affect fuel production and energy efficiency. In addition, this study also explored the main production methods, such as low-temperature enzymatic hydrolysis and anaerobic digestion, which are conducive to converting sweet potatoes and their waste into ethanol and methane. Several cases from China, Africa and Brazil have demonstrated how sweet potato bioenergy can function in real life. In China, rural factories use simple fermentation systems to produce ethanol. In Africa, families use sweet potato waste to produce biogas for cooking. In Brazil, large farms operate integrated biorefineries that simultaneously produce ethanol, biogas, animal feed and fertilizers. These cases demonstrate that sweet potato energy projects can increase farm income, create job opportunities and reduce pollution. This article also points out related challenges, such as the high cost of enzymes, storage issues, and limited policy support. Even so, with the improvement of breeding levels, technological innovation and the application of digital tools, the prospects for sweet potato bioenergy are very bright. The development of this industry helps reduce the use of fossil fuels and supports green and low-carbon growth.

Sweet potato; bioethanol; biogas; renewable energy; sustainable development