Abstract
World sugar production has consistently overrun demand in the past five years. Moreover, in 2017 the European Sugar Regime will expire, ending the quota system and preferential sugar prices, largely affecting small producers, particularly in Africa. Diversification emerges as an option for sugar-oriented mills. Two evident alternatives are ethanol and electricity production that allow better use of molasses and cane fibers, respectively. Molasses is the cheapest feedstock for ethanol production, while the cane fibers—in the form of bagasse—are readily available at the mill. The transition from sugar to sugar, ethanol and electricity may require substantial investment capital, yet our results show that significant progress can start at relatively small cost. In this work, we use simulations to explore the impact of ethanol and electricity production in an existing sugar mill in Mozambique. In spite of the large amounts of energy obtained from ambitious scenarios, such as Ethanol-2 and Ethanol/EE, molasses-based ethanol (Ethanol-1 scenario) seems more attractive in economical and infrastructural terms. High opportunity costs for molasses, low oil prices and enabling institutional conditions, such as mandatory blending mandates, to promote bioenergy remain a challenge.
Highlights
Sugarcane is produced in more than 100 countries [1] and, in some of them, it has been produced for centuries
With an investment of US$ 4.4 million, which is relatively small compared to other scenarios, the greenfield project (Table 4), 16 million liters of ethanol can be produced, which is sufficient to blend roughly 3% ethanol in all gasoline consumed in Mozambique [16] and, at the same time, maintain sugar production unaltered
Our assessment highlights the opportunities for ethanol production in Mozambique with relatively low investment cost and without disturbing sugar production (i.e., Ethanol-1 scenario)
Summary
Sugarcane is produced in more than 100 countries [1] and, in some of them, it has been produced for centuries In many of these countries, it has fostered agroindustrial development, through the production of sugar for domestic and international markets. The expansion of the sugar industry, over the 20th century, occurred under uneven conditions, especially as to the adoption of technology on both agricultural and industrial stages. Such inequalities favored production instability and erratic international prices, which are Agriculture 2016, 6, 45; doi:10.3390/agriculture6030045 www.mdpi.com/journal/agriculture exacerbated by climate conditions (disturbing yield levels) and the institutional environment that affects policies at different scales, from regional to global [3]. Since the sugar triple and stable, reach historic low levels within the same decade
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