Biomass ethanol production from sugarcane for energy generation to support sugar production

Abstract

Competition for raw materials between sugar and ethanol usually occurs when biomass ethanol is produced from sugarcane. In order to overcome this critical problem, numerous studies have investigated the production of ethanol from two by-products of sugarcane: molasses and bagasse. However, there have been no previous attempts to improve the relevant properties of sugarcane, such as its growth rate, sugar content or fiber content. The objective of the current work was to develop a novel system for high-yield biomass ethanol production to support existing methods of sugar production. A system for the simultaneous production of sugar and biomass ethanol was designed by employing selected sugarcane strains that were developed specifically for this process, including 95GA-24, 95GA-27 and NiTn18. We ran productivity simulations using data from the novel sugarcane strains and compared the performance of the new process with that of conventional methods. Our results confirmed that sugar production could be maintained at present levels while three-times more biomass ethanol could be generated compared with the conventional processes. In addition, we demonstrated that a carbon-neutral process could be achieved using the new system.