Cogeneration and Bio-Oil Production Starting from Sugarcane Biomass Residues: Barriers, Challenges and Opportunities

There are more than 70 sugar producer countries around the world. Most of them are underdeveloped and poor. Especially for the underdeveloped, 3 rd world, the sugarcane residues disposal has first order priority. The lack of an alternative energy carrier to electricity with storage capability for use in off-season has to date been an unsolvable question for the sugar agro-industry. The improvement of cogeneration capacity via implementation of more efficient cogeneration systems and the barriers for their implementation were analyzed. A techno-economic assessment was carried out regarding the three most probable scenarios of sugar producer countries today. The biomass availability and high investment costs continue to be the main barriers to overcome in order to produce Bio-oil starting from sugarcane biomass solid residues.