Sugarcane trash recovery alternatives for power generation

摘要

Several sugar/ethanol mills in Brazil are considering collecting the sugarcane trash left in the field after unburned cane harvesting. Some have already started to recover the trash and use it as a supplementary fuel to bagasse for power generation. The main purpose of such biomass recovery was to sell more power to the grid, making the sugarcane industry more profitable. Problems such as reduction in sugarcane yield and pests, in many sugarcane fields harvested unburned, are nowadays increasing themotivation towards trash recovery. Research has been carried out by the Co-persucar Technology Center (CTC), Brazil, with different recovery systems, such as baling, hay harvesters, trash and sugarcane harvested together and trash collected straight fromthe sugarcane harvester. Equipment is under development, and trials are being carried out to verify operational restrictions of trash recovery alternatives, characteristics of the biomass delivered at the mill, and cost estimates.