Ethanol Production from Sugarcane: An Overview

Abstract

Sugarcane is grown in about 26 million ha globally, mostly in tropical to subtropical zones, including the Indian sub-continent. India is a leading producer and consumer of sugar in the world, with annual 25-32 million tons of production and contributes nearly 15-17% of global sugar production. Its cultivation is an excellent sucrose source, commonly referred to as table sugar or granulated sugar. Molasses, a byproduct of sugar processing, are currently being used for bioenergy production, especially ethanol, because of economically viable resource. During extraction of juice from sugarcane, vast amounts of bagasse are also generated and burned in plant boilers, which are uneconomical and sources of air pollutants. Various physical, chemical, biological pretreatment, and enzymatic hydrolysis/saccharification and fermentation are applied to produce ethanol from sugarcane bagasse. Scientists are trying to use this bagasse as an economically viable option to produce ethanol and develop inexpensive technologies that practically apply pretreatment, saccharification, and ethanol fermentation at an industrial scale. In future, utilization of these innovative bioconversion technologies, especially simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF), will give a new alternative bioeconomy. It would also provide sustainable use of sugarcane bagasse to produce bioethanol to manage environmental and socioeconomic issues, including dependence on nonrenewable fossil fuel resources. � The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021.