Simultaneous Production of Sugar and Ethanol from Sugarcane in China, the Development, Research and Prospect Aspects

Abstract

With the ever growing concern on the speed at which fossil fuel reserves are being used up and the damage that burning them does to the environment, the development of sustainable fuels has become an increasingly attractive topic (Wyman & Hinman, 1990; Lynd & Wang, 2004; Herrera, 2004; Tanaka, 2006; Chandel et al., 2007; Dien et al., 2006; Marelne Cot, et al., 2007). The interest partially caused by environment concern, especially global warming due to emission of Greenhouse Gas (GHG). Other factors include the rise of oil prices due to its unrenewability, interest in diversifying the energy matrix, security of energy supply and, in some cases, rural development (Walter et al., 2008). The bioethanol such as sugarcane ethanol is an important part of energy substitutes (Wheals et al., 1999). This chapter was focused on the development and trends of the sugarcane ethanol in China. Based on the analysis of the challenge and the chance during the development of the sugarcane ethanol in China, it introduced a novel process which is suitable for China, and mainly talked about simultaneous production of sugar and ethanol from sugarcane, the development of sugarcane varieties ,ethanol production technology, and prospect aspects. We hope it will provide references for evaluation the feasibility of sugarcane ethanol in China, and will be helpful to the fuel ethanol development in China.