Bioprocessing Requirements for Bioethanol: Sugarcane vs. Sugarcane Bagasse

Sources and Applications

The main sources of biomass to produce bioethanol are conventionally sugarcane and corn feedstock, but as discussed above, these sources are barely sufficient to meet the demand (Vohra et al., 2014). Lignocellulosic biomass, also known as agrowaste, is a non-food alternative to this. The possible sources include crop residues, grasses, sawdust and woodchips. More recent research has also explored other possible feedstocks – Byadgi and Kalburgi (2016) considered the use of waste newspapers due to lower feedstock costs and to minimise the newspaper load on municipal waste. Others include bioethanol production form waste potatoes and waste money bills (Sheikh et al., 2013; Ali & Jiyad, 2015)

However, there are four major sources of agrowaste that are widely studied and are most favourable due to their abundant availability. These sources are rice straw, wheat straw, corn straw and bagasse (the dry pulpy residue left after the extraction of juice from sugar cane). As well as the production of bioethanol, a small amount of these feedstocks are also used for animal feed and bedding or fuel for heating and electricity (Sarkar et al., 2012).

(Sarkar et al., 2012)