Artículos de revistas
Feasibility Assessment Of Converting Sugar Mills To Bioenergy Production In Africa
Registro en:
Agriculture-basel. Mdpi Ag, v. 6, p. , 2016.
2077-0472
WOS:000385520100019
10.3390/agriculture6030045
Autor
Lima Verde Leal
Manoel Regis; Dal Belo Leite
Joao Guilherme; Chagas
Mateus Ferreira; da Maia
Rui; Barbosa Cortez
Luis Augusto
Institución
Resumen
World sugar production has consistently overrun demand in the past five years. Moreover, in 2017 the European Sugar Regime will expire, ending the quota system and preferential sugar prices, largely affecting small producers, particularly in Africa. Diversification emerges as an option for sugar-oriented mills. Two evident alternatives are ethanol and electricity production that allow better use of molasses and cane fibers, respectively. Molasses is the cheapest feedstock for ethanol production, while the cane fibersin the form of bagasseare readily available at the mill. The transition from sugar to sugar, ethanol and electricity may require substantial investment capital, yet our results show that significant progress can start at relatively small cost. In this work, we use simulations to explore the impact of ethanol and electricity production in an existing sugar mill in Mozambique. In spite of the large amounts of energy obtained from ambitious scenarios, such as Ethanol-2 and Ethanol/EE, molasses-based ethanol (Ethanol-1 scenario) seems more attractive in economical and infrastructural terms. High opportunity costs for molasses, low oil prices and enabling institutional conditions, such as mandatory blending mandates, to promote bioenergy remain a challenge. 6 3