New Sugarcanes Developed for Ethanol
2 October 2008 Raw-sugar processors now burn the fiber to generate heat that powers stalk-crushing and sugar-crystallization processes, explains Edward Richard, who leads the ARS Sugarcane Research Unit in Houma, Louisiana, US. Currently, the extracted sucrose sugar is converted into ethanol, but Richard anticipates that once technologies for converting cellulose into ethanol become economically feasible, biorefineries will use the fiber as well. According to Richard, an acre planted to an energy sugarcane could yield nearly 1,240 gallons of ethanol using both the sugar and fiber.
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