Residual sugarcane bagasse conversion in India: current status, technologies, and policies

Abstract

The Indian sugar industry’s growth and residual lignocellulosic sugarcane bagasse (RSB) generation rate are complementary to each other. It is estimated that over 75–90 million tonnes of wet RSB are produced annually from 600 operational sugar mills in India. Therefore, the efficient utilization of residual bagasse needs immediate attention from sugar industries and the scientific community worldwide. Albeit recently developed technologies have shown promising prospects for the sustainable conversion of RSB into fuels and value-added chemicals, there is an apparent lack of consensus among the scientific community on technical understanding and commercial applicability of current RSB conversion technologies. This review discusses applications of RSB in Indian industries for electricity generation, concrete manufacturing from RSB ash, nanocomposite production, as well as pulp and paper, furfural, furfuryl alcohol, bioethanol, and value-added chemical production. Besides, the conversion of RSB major component lignin to fuel and high-value specialty chemicals has been discussed. Moreover, the government of India policies and subsequent revisions in 2018 to promote biomass and RSB conversion technologies has been presented. Subsequently, major challenges associated with the implementation of different conversion technologies have been explored. Overall, it is observed that there is a huge opportunity in India to utilize the RSB for value-added chemicals production, pulp, and paper production, electricity generation, and other applications. Nevertheless, the Government of India current policies directed towards promoting the RSB uses primarily for electricity production via cogenerations.