Sustainable Valorization of Waste and By-Products from Sugarcane Processing

Abstract

Sugarcane is a lignocellulosic crop and the juice extracted from its stalks provides the raw material for 86% of sugar production. Globally, sugarcane processing to obtain sugar and/or ethanol generates more than 279 million tons of solid and liquid waste annually, as well as by-products; namely, straws, bagasse, press mud, wastewater, ash from bagasse incineration, vinasse from ethanol distillation, and molasses. If not properly managed, this waste will pose risks to both environmental factors and human health. Lately, valorization of waste has gained momentum, having an important contribution to the fulfillment of policies and objectives related to sustainable development and circular bioeconomy. Various technologies are well-established and implemented for the valorization of waste and by-products from sugarcane processing, while other innovative technologies are still in the research and development stage, with encouraging prospects. We propose a sustainable sugarcane processing flow and present an analysis of the physico-chemical characteristics of generated wastes and by-products. We emphasize the available possibilities of valorizing each waste and by-product, considering that they are important biomass resources for obtaining biofuels and a wide range of other products with added value, which will contribute to the sustainability of the environment, agriculture, and human health worldwide.

Waste to resource: Utilization of waste bagasse as an alternative adsorbent to remove heavy metals from wastewaters in sub-Saharan Africa: A review

“…Thus, a twofold problem in developing countries will be solved by integrated approaches of converting bagasse waste to value-added adsorbent for heavy metal removal from wastewater. This brings many advantages to bagasse waste management and provides low-cost, locally available alternative adsorbents (Anastopoulos et al 2017;Sarker et al 2017;Ungureanu et al 2022).…”

Co-Carbonized Waste Polythene/Sugarcane Bagasse Nanocomposite for Aqueous Environmental Remediation Applications

“…Sugarcane bagasse (SB) is one of the largest solid industrial waste residues, which can invariably pose a serious environmental concern if not attended to. Annually, more than 279 million tons of SB waste have been generated as by-products, posing potential waste management and disposal issues [ 14 ]. According to Rocha et al [ 15 ], the average composition of cellulose, lignin, and hemicellulose in 60 bagasse samples was 42.19, 21.56, and 27.6%, respectively.…”

Enhancement of gluconic acid production by Aspergillus niger from by‐products as glucose source using pressurized air conditions

“…The findings in this study can be employed to develop a new bioprocess to improve GA productivity from cheap substrates with high sugar content. In this context, the microbial valorization of by‐products from the sugar and winery sectors will contribute to better management of these by‐products (reducing their environmental footprint), and is an opportunity to implement the guidelines of the circular bioeconomy, contributing to the unification of production and consumption activities 11 …”

“…Owing to their high organic matter content, the disposal of ScM into the environment without appropriate treatments represents a critical issue. 11 ScM is a sugar-rich by-product, containing mostly sucrose (50-60% of total sugars) and other sugars such as glucose (5%), fructose (8%), raffinose, galactose, arabinose and xylose (lower than 1%). ScM also contains minerals, proteins and residual vitamins [12][13][14] that can be of interest for microbial cell proliferation.…”

“…In the sugarcane‐processing industries, about 5 tons of molasses 10 are generated as a by‐product from 100 tons of cane biomass, and is estimated that 4 800 000 tons per year of sugarcane molasses (ScM) are obtained worldwide. Owing to their high organic matter content, the disposal of ScM into the environment without appropriate treatments represents a critical issue 11 . ScM is a sugar‐rich by‐product, containing mostly sucrose (50–60% of total sugars) and other sugars such as glucose (5%), fructose (8%), raffinose, galactose, arabinose and xylose (lower than 1%).…”