Simultaneous Production of Sugar and Ethanol from Sugarcane in China, the Development, Research and Prospect Aspects

Abstract

With the ever growing concern on the speed at which fossil fuel reserves are being used upand the damage that burning them does to the environment, the development of sustainablefuels has become an increasingly attractive topic (Wyman & Hinman, 1990; Lynd & Wang,2004; Herrera, 2004; Tanaka, 2006; Chandel et al., 2007; Dien et al., 2006; Marèlne Cot, et al.,2007). The interest partially caused by environment concern, especially global warming dueto emission of Greenhouse Gas (GHG). Other factors include the rise of oil prices due to itsunrenewability, interest in diversifying the energy matrix, security of energy supply and, insome cases, rural development (Walter et al., 2008). The bioethanol such as sugarcaneethanol is an important part of energy substitutes (Wheals et al., 1999). This chapter wasfocused on the development and trends of the sugarcane ethanol in China. Based on theanalysis of the challenge and the chance during the development of the sugarcane ethanol inChina, it introduced a novel process which is suitable for China, and mainly talked aboutsimultaneous production of sugar and ethanol from sugarcane, the development ofsugarcane varieties ,ethanol production technology, and prospect aspects. We hope it willprovide references for evaluation the feasibility of sugarcane ethanol in China, and will behelpful to the fuel ethanol development in China.