Sugarcane

Sugarcane: Agricultural Production, Bioenergy and Ethanol explores this vital source for "green" biofuel from the breeding and care of the plant all the way through to its effective and efficient transformation into bioenergy. The book explores sugarcane's 40 year history as a fuel for cars, along with its impressive leaps in production and productivity that have created a robust global market. In addition, new prospects for the future are discussed as promising applications in agroenergy, whether for biofuels or bioelectricity, or for bagasse pellets as an alternative to firewood for home heating purposes are explored. Experts from around the world address these topics in this timely book as global warming continues to represent a major concern for both crop and green energy production. Focuses on sugarcane production and processing for bioenergy Provides a holistic approach to sugarcane’s potential – from the successful growth and harvest of the plant to the end-use product Presents important information for "green energy" options

"Shanti is a heroine that the reader will not easily forget. The story that is told here is worth not only knowing but also remembering." – Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, author, filmmaker and academic Vividly set against the backdrop of 19th century India and the British-owned sugarcane plantations of Natal, written with great tenderness and lyricism, Children of Sugarcane paints an intimate and wrenching picture of indenture told from a woman's perspective. Shanti, a bright teenager stifled by life in rural India and facing an arranged marriage, dreams that South Africa is an opportunity to start afresh. The Colony of Natal is where Shanti believes she can escape the poverty, caste, and troubling fate of young girls in her village. Months later, after a harrowing sea voyage, she arrives in Natal only to discover the profound hardship and slave labour that await her. Spanning four decades and two continents, Children of Sugarcane demonstrates the lifegiving power of love, heartache, and the indestructible bonds between family and friends. These bonds prompt heroism and sacrifice, the final act of which leads to Shanti's redemption.

While the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico may conjure up images of vacation getaways and cocktails by the sea, these easy stereotypes hide a story filled with sweat and toil. The story of sugarcane and rum production in the Caribbean has been told many times. But few know the bittersweet story of sugar and rum in the jungles of the Yucatán Peninsula during the nineteenth century. This is much more than a history of coveted commodities. The unique story that unfolds in John R. Gust and Jennifer P. Mathews’s new history Sugarcane and Rum is told through the lens of Maya laborers who worked under brutal conditions on small haciendas to harvest sugarcane and produce rum. Gust and Mathews weave together ethnographic interviews and historical archives with archaeological evidence to bring the daily lives of Maya workers into focus. They lived in a cycle of debt, forced to buy all of their supplies from the company store and take loans from the hacienda owners. And yet they had a certain autonomy because the owners were so dependent on their labor at harvest time. We also see how the rise of cantinas and distilled alcohol in the nineteenth century affected traditional Maya culture and that the economies of Cancún and the Mérida area are predicated on the rum-influenced local social systems of the past. Sugarcane and Rum brings this bittersweet story to the present and explains how rum continues to impact the Yucatán and the people who have lived there for millennia.

Advances in Sugarcane Biorefinery: Technologies, Commercialization, Policy Issues and Paradigm Shift for Bioethanol and By-Products, by Chandel and Tomé, compiles the basic and applied information covering cane and biomass processing for sugar and ethanol production, as well as by-products utilization for improving the economy of sugarcane biorefineries. In this unique collection of 14 chapters, specialists in their field provide critical insights into several topics, review the current research, and discuss future progress in this research area. The book presents the most current advances in sugarcane biorefinery, including sugarcane crop cultivation, new sugarcane varieties, soil health, mechanization of crop, technical aspects of first and second generation ethanol production, economic analysis, life cycle assessment, biomass logistics and storage, co-generation of heat and electricity, process intensification and alternative by-products utilization. The book also explores the business ecosystem of sugarcane biorefineries, marketing analysis of ethanol demand and price dwindling patterns, aiming for a futuristic scenario. This book will be especially useful for scientists, researchers and technicians who are working in the area of biomass based biorefineries, as well as professionals in the sugar and alcohol industry. It also brings relevant content for policy makers, market analysts, agriculture scientists and managers. Presents technological updates on biomass processing, system biology, microbial fermentation, catalysis, regeneration and monitoring of renewable energy and recovery processes Includes topics on techno-economic analysis, life cycle assessment, sustainability, markets and policy Explores the future potential of biorefineries with zero or near zero waste, and the potential of valorization of all by-products, including alternatives to current applications and the management of a large amount of residues

Physiology of Sugarcane looks at the development of a suite of well-established and developing biofuels derived from sugarcane and cane-based co-products, such as bagasse. Chapters provide broad-ranging coverage of sugarcane biology, biotechnological advances, and breakthroughs in production and processing techniques. This single volume resource brings together essential information to researchers and industry personnel interested in utilizing and developing new fuels and bioproducts derived from cane crops.

Sugarcane grows in all tropical and subtropical countries. Sucrose as a commercial product is produced in many forms worldwide. Sugar was first manufactured from sugarcane in India, and its manufacture has spread from there throughout the world. The manufacture of sugar for human consumption has been characterized from time immemorial by the transformation of the collected juice of sugar bearing plants, after some kind of purification of the juice, to a concentrated solid or semi solid product that could be packed, kept in containers and which had a high degree of keep ability. The efficiency with which juice can be extracted from the cane is limited by the technology used. Sugarcane processing is focused on the production of cane sugar (sucrose) from sugarcane. The yield of sugar & Jaggery from sugar cane depends mostly on the quality of the cane and the efficiency of the extraction of juice. Other products of the processing include bagasse, molasses, and filter cake. Sugarcane is known to be a heavy consumer of synthetic fertilizers, irrigation water, micronutrients and organic carbon. Molasses is produced in two forms: inedible for humans (blackstrap) or as edible syrup. Blackstrap molasses is used primarily as an animal feed additive but also is used to produce ethanol, compressed yeast, citric acid, and rum. Edible molasses syrups are often blended with maple syrup, invert sugars, or corn syrup. Cleanliness is vital to the whole process of sugar manufacturing. The biological software is an important biotechnical input in sugarcane cultivation. The use of these products will encourage organic farming and sustainable agriculture. The book comprehensively deals with the manufacture of sugar from sugarcane and its by-products (Ethyl Alcohol, Ethyl Acetate, Acetic Anhydride, By Product of Alcohol, Press mud and Sugar Alcohols), together with the description of machinery, analysis of sugar syrup, molasses and many more. Some of the fundamentals of the book are improvement of sugar cane cultivation, manufacture of Gur (Jaggery), cane sugar refining: decolourization with absorbent, crystallization of juice, exhaustibility of molasses, colour of sugar cane juice, analysis of the syrup, massecuites and molasses bagasse and its uses, microprocessor based electronic instrumentation and control system for modernisation of the sugar industry, etc. Research scholars, professional students, scientists, new entrepreneurs, sugar technologists and present manufacturers will find valuable educational material and wider knowledge of the subject in this book. Comprehensive in scope, the book provides solutions that are directly applicable to the manufacturing technology of sugar from sugarcane plant.

Sugarcane exhibits all the major characteristics of a promising bioenergy crop including high biomass yield, C4 photosynthetic system, perennial nature, and ratooning ability. Being the largest agricultural commodity of the world with respect to total production, sugarcane biomass is abundantly available. Brazil has already become a sugarcane biofuels centered economy while Thailand, Colombia, and South Africa are also significantly exploiting this energy source. Other major cane producers include India, China, Pakistan, Mexico, Australia, Indonesia, and the United States. It has been projected that sugarcane biofuels will be playing extremely important role in world’s energy matrix in recent future. This book analyzes the significance, applications, achievements, and future avenues of biofuels and bioenergy production from sugarcane, in top cane growing countries around the globe. Moreover, we also evaluate the barriers and areas of improvement for targeting efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective biofuels from sugarcane to meet the world’s energy needs and combat the climate change.