Sugar is produced by the evaporation of the juice that is extracted from the crushed cane. This is widely used as a sweetener in food and beverages. Interestingly, in a country like India, sugar is also emerging as an index of upward mobility. For instance, as income rise in rural India , consumers migrate from the consumption of alternative sweeteners, towards sugar. The principal portion of sugar sold within India is loose and packaged.
Molasses is a delicious by-product which is extracted during the sugar cane refining process used to make sugar crystals. The sugar cane is crushed to remove the juice which is then boiled vigorously. Machines utilize centrifugal force to extract the sugar crystals from the syrup. The remaining syrup becomes molasses.
Bagasse, generated as a by-product, can be used profitably in two ways - for making paper and for the generation of electricity. The manufacture of paper from Bagasse is an environment-friendly alternative over the conventional route of extracting pulp from trees.
The quantity of bagasse is 30% of the total sugar production. Thus, a 6,000 TCD plant produces 1,800 tons of bagasse per day.
Molasses, a by-product of sugar production, is distilled to produce rectified spirit, extra neutral alcohol, denatured spirit, and ethanol which find applications in the alcohol, pharmaceuticals and chemicals industries. Ethanol is also a valuable alternative fuel.
Since bagasse has a high heat factor, it is also used in the generation of electricity, which substitutes the conventional thermal alternative and eliminates the emission of greenhouse gases. Presently, sugar mills generate their power requirements from bagasse-fired boilers.
The government of India has begun to encourage the co-generation of power from bagasse. This is expected to achieve two things: an improved return for sugar mills and the generation of a resource - electricity - which is in short supply in India.
