Green Glossary: Bagasse

Green Glossary: Bagasse
By Mickey Z.
Astoria, NY, USA | Tue Jun 30 15:20:00 EDT 2009

Michael Pettigrew

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Alternative Fuels | Green Glossary

Sugarcane, according to HowStuffWorks is "the source of a number of other products in addition to sugar. Among these products are molasses, which is made by boiling sugarcane juice; and rum, which is distilled from fermented molasses or fermented sugarcane juice. Other products are made from bagasse, the woody residue left after the juice is extracted from the cane."

The gang at GreenEcoServices call bagasse a "sweet find" and explain that it's a "byproduct of sugarcane processing is a type of biomass, an organic, non-petroleum fuel source." Bagasse, they say, is "the fibrous material left over after sugarcane stalks are pressed to release their juice. Rather than tossing this material away, workers can burn it, providing the fuel to run the mill itself, or creating energy to sell to a local utility company. It's a clean, efficient process, and entirely free of waste, since the ash left over after burning can then be used in the sugarcane fields to enrich the soil. Alternatively, bagasse fiber can be used as a sturdy, substitute for cardboard or polystyrene—in food containers, for example. It's yet another reason to feel good about your sugar fix."

Bagasse is "often used as a primary fuel source for sugar mills; when burned in quantity, it produces sufficient heat energy to supply all the needs of a typical sugar mill, with energy to spare. To this end, a secondary use for this waste product is in cogeneration, the use of a fuel source to provide both heat energy, used in the mill, and electricity, which is typically sold on to the consumer electricity grid. The resulting CO2 emissions are equal to the amount of CO2 that the sugarcane plant absorbed from the atmosphere during its growing phase, which makes the process of cogeneration greenhouse gas-neutral."