Md. Abul Kalam Azad, Md. Saiful Islam, and Latifah Amin

Contents

16.1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 276

16.2 Sugarcane Straw Availability and Quality……………………………………………………………….. 277

16.3 Straw Recovery………………………………………………………………………………………………. 278

16.3.1 Straw Recovery Way 1…………………………………………………………………………. 278

16.3.2 Straw Recovery Way II………………………………………………………………………… 278

16.3.3 Straw Recovery Way III……………………………………………………………………….. 279

16.4 Improvement of Soil Properties Through Sugarcane Straw……………………………………………. 279

16.4.1 Erosion of Soil………………………………………………………………………………….. 279

16.4.2 Moisture Content……………………………………………………………………………….. 280

16.4.3 Soil Carbon Stock……………………………………………………………………………… 280

16.5 Ethanol Production from Sugarcane Straw………………………………………………………………. 281

16.5.1 Pretreatment of Biomass……………………………………………………………………….. 281

16.5.2 Enzymatic Hydrolysis of Cellulose…………………………………………………………. 282

16.5.3 Detoxification of Hemicellulosic Hydrolysate………………………………………………. 283

16.5.4 Fermentation of Biomass into Ethanol Production……………………………………… 283

16.5.5 Distillation of Ethanol………………………………………………………………………… 283

16.6 Bio-Oil Production from Sugarcane Straws……………………………………………………………… 284

16.7 Sugarcane Straw as Textile Fiber Production…………………………………………………………… 284

16.8 Sugarcane Straw for Bioelectricity……………………………………………………………………….. 285

16.9 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 285

References …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 285

Md. A.K. Azad (*)

Centre for General Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,

Bangi, Selangor 43600 , Malaysia

Department of Agricultural Extension, Khamarbari, Farmgate, Dhaka 1215, Bangladesh e-mail: azad. dae@gmail. com

Md. S. Islam

Faculty of Science, Department of Chemistry, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Mala; L. Amin

Centre for General Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,

Bangi, Selangor 43600 , Malaysia

K. R. Hakeem et al. (eds.), Biomass and Bioenergy: Processing and Properties,

DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-07641-6_16, © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2014

Abstract Sugarcane straw is destroyed through burning before harvest or left on the ground for decomposition. Sugarcane straw is composed of cellulose (33.30-36.10 %), hemicelluloses (18.40-28.90 %), lignin (25.80-40.70 %), ashes (2.10-11.70 %), and extractives (5.30-11.50 %). Sugarcane straw availability depends on the sugar­cane variety and age of harvesting. It can be used for alternative energy production and improvement of soil properties such as soil erosion, moisture content, and soil carbon stock. The biomass of sugarcane straw can be converted into biofuel through pyrolysis. The sugarcane straw has potentiality that could produce textile fibers. Bioelectricity is environmentally friendly produced from sugarcane straw which contributes to economic development.

Keywords Sugarcane straw • Biofuel • Bioelectricity • Ethanol

16.1 Introduction

Sugarcane is the main source of sugar in the world. It is native to Southeastern Asia (Daniels and Roach 1987). Brazil is the largest sugarcane-producing country through­out the world. In 1532, it was first introduced in Brazil. Brazil has favorable climate and soil conditions for sugarcane cultivation and is considered an important sugarcane exporting country to European Union (Dinardo-Miranda et al. 2008). It may be adapted in different parts in Brazil and 85 % of sugarcane currently cultivated at Sao Paulo and adjacent states in Brazil (Goldemberg 2007). Sugarcane can accumulate vigorous bio­mass due to C4 photosynthesis in nature. Sugarcane is a highly productive C4 photo­synthesis plant, which bestows higher light, water, and efficient nitrogen use compared to C3 pathway of plant (DeSouza and Buckeridge 2010). It is clonally propagated by stem cutting and semi-perennial with life cycle. Sugarcane takes 12-18 months for maturity from planting to harvest during cultivation. Sugarcane has been used as ratoon crops that can allow up to five harvests. About 70 % raw table sugar has been produced from sugarcane in the world (Contreras et al. 2009). Generally, sugarcane stalks are used during dry season for cattle when pastures are unavailable for grazing. The sugar­cane is consisted of two parts such as stem and straw. The sugar and ethanol has been processed from stem while energy is obtained from burning the straw in industry. According to Saad et al. (2008) and Moriya et al. (2007), the thing which is removed from sugarcane is considered as straw. Sugarcane straw is composed of dried and fresh leaves as well as top of the plant, and 150 kg straw can be obtained from one ton of cultivated sugarcane (Saad et al. 2008).

The sugarcane straw is generally burnt before harvesting. The practice of burning the sugarcane residues to facilitate harvest and transport operation of straw has been wide­spread in the world for reducing the harvesting cost in nonmechanical area. Andrade et al. (2010) reported that sugarcane field is burnt to facilitate the manual harvesting for increasing the content of sugar content by weight. Sugarcane straw is burnt by the indus­try to generate local energy for producing sugar and alcohol (Costa et al. 2013).

Now the manual operation has been replaced by mechanical operation gradually for maintaining the straw on the ground under green cane management. Franga et al.

(2012) reported that burning practice is being reduced day by day for preventing major health problems which have been created from the cloud of smoke and ash released during sugarcane straw burning.

The collection of sugarcane straw is being improved technically that would increase the amount of sugarcane straw. Sugarcane straw can be considered as alter­native energy production in the world. Carrier et al. (2011) reported that sugarcane straw can be used for energy production through pyrolysis and vacuum. On the other hand, Brazil has introduced a law to avoid the burning of sugarcane residues. Other countries like South Africa are trying to consider the application of sugarcane straw in energy production. The straw of sugarcane is composed of three main mac­romolecules such as cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Cellulose-based fibers have mechanical and physical properties that are widely used as biodegradable filler (Toriz et al. 2005; Sun et al. 2004). Pyrolysis is an alternative way of burning in order to produce ashes, bio-oil, biogas, and charcoal by using the sugarcane straw. The sugarcane straw is used for energy production which is environmentally friendly (Cortez and Lora 2006). Biodiesel and petrochemicals can be produced through pyrolysis of sugarcane straw.