Sugarcane industary waste for ethanol production -A review

This paper presents a general review on sugarcane indusby waste to ethanol production, analysis of conversion pathways from technical, economic and environmental points of view in the Indian context. The “bioethanol” represent opportunities to respond to uncertainties about our energy security and the future health of our environment. Ethanol production process consists of three main stages: conversion of biomass to fermentable sugars; fermentation of sugars to ethanol; and separation and purification of the ethanol. Ethanol may be produced using sugarcane bagasse as raw material through the Organosolv (to solubilise lignin and hemicellulose) process with dilute acid hydrolysis, thus increasing ethanol production with the same cultivated sugarcane area. A three-step hydrolysis process (pre-hydrolysis of hemicellulose, Organosolv deligniucation and cellulose hydrolysis) of surplus sugarcane bagasse is considered. This review revealed that there is abundant opportunity for the wider use of bagasse-based cogeneration in sugarcane-producing countries and to contribute substantially to high efficient energy production.