Bio2Foam - Bagasse

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Sugarcane

Sugarcane is the second most produced agricultural commodity in the world after cereals. It serves as a renewable bio-resource and is mainly cultivated in tropical and subtropical regions. In 2022, Brazil and India were the top two producers with 724.43 million tonnes and 439.42 million tonnes of sugarcane, respectively, while Australia was the tenth largest producer with 28.67 million tonnes. Global sugarcane production reached 1.92 billion tonnes in 2022, and is forecast to increase to 2.2 billion tonnes by 2026.

The primary product extracted from sugarcane is sugar, which accounts for 10-15 % of the initial mass of the plant. In addition, sugarcane processing also produces a number of co-products, including sugarcane tops and leaves, press-mud, bagasse and molasses. Bagasse is the dry, pulpy residue left after extracting the juice from sugarcane. It accounts for about 30 % of the sugarcane harvested, with global production expected to be around 545 million tonnes in 2018.

Bagasse – an abundant 2nd generation biomass-feedstock

Bagasse has a wide range of applications, from combined heat and power generation (cogeneration) to the production of alcohol, pulp and paper, particle board, polymer composites and as a heavy metal adsorbent for waste water treatment. In addition to energy production, bagasse has significant potential for valorisation into numerous value-added chemicals and products, which is currently being explored. While other plants such as cassava, agave and guayule also produce bagasse that can be used in composite materials, the production from sugarcane is significantly higher. This makes sugarcane bagasse a valuable resource with a wide range of applications and opportunities for sustainable product development.

Sugarcane bagasse can be used to produce polyols for bio-based polyurethane using hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL), a process that breaks down high molecular weight components in biomass into smaller molecules under high pressure (50-200 atm) and moderate temperatures (below 400 °C) using glycerol as a solvent.