Advances in Sugarcane Biorefinery: Technologies, Commercialization, Policy Issues and Paradigm Shift for Bioethanol and By-Products

Brazil

Preface

Sugarcane is among the principal agricultural crops cultivated in world, particularly in South America and Asia. In 2016, the annual world production of sugarcane was ~1.6 billion tons, generating 165.8 million metric tons of sugar, 27.5 million liters of ethanol from sugarcane juice and ~279 million metric tons (MMT) of biomass residues in form of bagasse and straw. Brazil has the primary share in sugarcane production of 40%, followed by India (18%) and China (6.7%) in the world. Sugarcane plays a pivotal role in employment in the agricultural sector of these countries.

Sugarcane biorefinery integrates sustainable processing of total sugarcane (cane juice processing into sugars, ethanol, and by-products), lignocellulosic biomass (bagasse and straw) into a myriad of bioproducts (food, feed, chemicals, materials), and bioenergy (biofuels, power, and/or heat). Biorefinery is considered as an analogue to today’s petroleum refinery, and it seems that the role of biorefinery is inevitable in the sustainable supply of fuels, chemicals, and materials in the future. Sugarcane biorefinery has a decisive role in the holistic development of a biobased economy. The highest potential to valorize the fullest potential of sugarcane is not only in ethanol or sugars, but also through the conversion of by-products (vinasse, molasses, yeast cream, among others), and bagasse and straw into renewable chemical commodities generating zero- or near-zero waste. While the sugar and first-generation ethanol production process is well established, cellulosic ethanol or so called second-generation (2G) ethanol and biochemicals still needs to be evolved. For the holistic development of sugarcane biorefinery, sugarcane biomass (bagasse and straw) should be explored for both biotechnological and nonbiotechnological applications following a biorefinery concept. In the last 20–30 years, sugarcane biomass has been investigated for biofuel and chemical production at a laboratory scale. There are still several technoeconomical hurdles which need to be addressed at a commercial scale to realize the success of sugarcane biorefinery as a whole.

Commercially, sugars (1G + 2G) from sugarcane, could lead to more cost-effective production of fuel ethanol, food, and bulk chemicals. These methodologies would open new markets and create new applications in the transitioning of petroleum products to renewable or green products. This book was written keeping in mind the fundamental aspects of sugarcane cultivation, sugar and ethanol markets, biomass collection, and processing and environmental issues.

This book has a total of 14 chapters. Chapter 1, Sugarcane Cultivation: Soil Mapping, Environmental Effect, and New Sugarcane Varieties, presents the challenges in sugarcane cultivation, with a particular emphasis on soil mapping, restoration of soil health, and environmental effects. Chapter 2, Sugarcane Trash as Feedstock for Biorefineries: Agricultural and Logistics Issues, comprehensively presents the logistic, storage, transportation, and sugarcane biomass supply issues from farm to factory. Chapter 3, The Use of Synthetic Biology Tools in Biorefineries to Increase the Building Blocks Diversification, summarizes the role of synthetic biology in biomass hydrolysis for 2G sugar production, and eventually for ethanol production. Recent technological advancements in 1G ethanol production are described in Chapter 4, Technological Advancements in 1G Ethanol Production and Recovery of By-Products Based on the Biorefinery Concept. Hemicellulose is a very important carbohydrate constituent in sugarcane biomass, and bioconversion of hemicellulose into ethanol and other biochemicals poses a big challenge in biorefinery. Chapter 5, Bioconversion of Hemicellulose Into Ethanol and Value-Added Products: Commercialization, Trends, and Future Opportunities, provides the details of hemicellulose hydrolysis, fermentation of helicellulose sugars into various bioactive compounds, and molecular biology-based developments in microorganisms for assimilation of hemicellulose sugars and commercialization of the status of hemicellulose bioconversion. Chapter 6, Second Generation Ethanol Production: Potential Biomass Feedstock, Biomass Deconstruction, and Chemical Platforms for Process Valorization, shows the potential of biomass feedstock and their chemical composition, coupled with biomass processing for cellulosic ethanol and other biochemical production. New and emerging products from lignocellulosic biomass and their commercialization status is also presented in this chapter. Chapter 7, Sugarcane Vinasse, Molasses, Yeast Cream: Agricultural, Environmental, and Industrial Aspects, summarizes the technical vision of Praj Industries, Pune-India, for the management of sugarcane vinasse, molasses, and yeast cream in terms of agricultural, environmental, and industrial aspects. Valorization of by-products derived from biorefinery and their commercial aspects is presented in Chapter 8, Valorization of By-Products Following the Biorefinery Concept: Commercial Aspects of By-Products of Lignocellulosic Biomass. Nanocellulose is getting significant attention because of its unique and inherent characterstics. Nanocellulose production from sugarcane bagasse is described in Chapter 9, Nanocelluloses From Sugarcane Biomass. Chapter 10, Techno-Economic Analysis of Cogeneration of Heat and Electricity and Second-Generation Ethanol Production from Sugarcane, critically describes the technoeconomic analysis of 2G ethanol and bioelectricity production from sugarcane biomass. Various key aspects of the life cycle assessment of sugarcane biorefinery, encompassing energy use and environmental assessment, are discussed in Chapter 11, Life Cycle Assessment of Sugarcane Biorefinery: Energy Use, Environmental Assessment, and Other Sustainability Indicators. Chapter 12, Comparative Account of Carbon Footprints of Burning Gasoline and Ethanol, provides a comparative account on the carbon footprints of burning gasoline and ethanol. Chapter 13, Global Ethanol Market: Commercialization Trends, Regulations, and Key Drivers, is concerned with the global ethanol market linked with commercialization trends, price regulation, and associated business elements. Chapter 14, Evolution in Public Policies Designed to Develop the Sugar–Energy Industry in Brazil, provides a historical evolution of the sugar–alcohol sector and public policies.

We sincerely believe that this book should cater to the needs of a broad range of readers, particularly graduate and postgraduate students and researchers in agricultural engineering, economics, biobusiness management, biochemistry, microbiology, biotechnology, biochemical engineering, for scientists and engineers both in academia and industry and business entrepreneurs. We would like to thank Mr. Michael L. Cook from Braskem Ltd. São Paulo, Brazil, Prof. Silvio S. da Silva. and Dr. Felipe A.F. Antunes from the Department of Biotechnology, USP-Lorena for their constant encouragement to edit this book.

We are also thankful to editorial staff—Raquel Zanol, Mariana L. Kuhl, and Anita M.M. Vethakkan of Elsevier Press, São Paulo for their timely support, help, and cooperation. Editors are grateful to all of the contributing authors who wrote quality chapters in this book.

Anuj would like to express sincere thanks to his wife, Meenakshi, and son, Abhay, for their patience and immense support during the editing of this book. Marcos is also thankful to Suelen for her understanding, care, cooperation, and support while editing this book.

Anuj is grateful to the USP-CAPES, for awarding the Visiting Researcher award and the financial assistance to carry out the research work on various aspects of lignocellulose biotechnology at USP-Lorena. Anuj is also thankful to EEL/USP for providing the necessary facilities and basic infrastructure. Marcos is thankful to Fibria Celulose S.A. Jacarei-SP, Brazil, for allowing him to work on this book. Last, but not least, we welcome the reader’s opinions and suggestions to improve future editions. Readers’ benefits will be the best reward for the authors.

Anuj K. Chandel Dr. ¹ and Marcos H.L. Silveira Dr. ², ¹1Department of Biotechnology, Engineering School of Lorena (EEL), University of Sao Paulo-Lorena, SP, Brazil, ²2Researcher of Biorefinery and Process, Technology Center, Fibria Celulose S.A., Jacareí, SP, Brazil

Chapter 1

Sugarcane Cultivation

Soil Mapping, Environmental Effects, and New Sugarcane Varieties

Jorge L. Donzelli¹, Fernando C. Bertolani² and Natalia de Campos Trombeta³,    ¹Lidera Consulting and Projects, Campinas, SP, Brazil,    ²CSolos Mapping and Consulting, Campinas, SP, Brazil,    ³Sugar Cane Technology Center, Piracicaba, SP, Brazil

Abstract

In the last two or three decades, various researchers and specialized market analysts have been discussing the yield plateau of sugarcane cultivation. The Brazilian sugarcane industry is evolved, but still far from the fullest utilization of available sugarcane cultivation resources. Breakthrough innovation is a primary cause, but what is happening to the Brazilian sugar industry is also lack of application of the known technology. Following this idea, two important technologies which were developed years ago have not been properly applied to the sugarcane sector to obtain the maximum benefits.

One of them is the assessment of edaphic climatic environments of production. A case study is presented showing the inadequacy of a low detailed soil map to be adapted for the Environments of Production technology. Important differences are noted when the map of environments of production is derived from detailed soil maps, and the impact on sugarcane clone selection is also reported.

The second technology is called Soil Groups for Agricultural Management where the soils with the same physical and chemical characteristic were grouped. This technology is dedicated to offer series of technical recommendations for soil preparation and furrowing, erosion control (soil conservation), sugarcane cultivation, planting and harvesting zones and fertilizer, lime and gypsum application. A second study case is presented showing how the technology can be used as a tool for calculate vertical distance (VD) on soil conservation projects.

In relation to technological advancements in new sugarcane varieties in Brazil, significant work has been developed by CTC-Piracicaba, IAC-Campinas, and RIDESA breeding programs for the development of new sugarcane varieties according to Brazilian climatic and soil conditions.

Keywords

Sugarcane; clone; soil map; environments of production; agronomic management; sugarcane varieties

1.1 Introduction

In the last 45 years the success of the agronomic management of sugarcane in Brazil is mainly a result of research and development that happened in institutions like Agronomic Institute of Campinas (IAC), Sugarcane Technology Center (CTC), Federal and State Universities (UFSCar; ESALQ; UNESP, among others), but also the technological development inside sugar mills, cane grower’s associations, multinational companies, and agronomic consultants. As a result of this large task force capacity, the yield per hectare has increased from around 45 t/ha in 1975 to an average of 75 t/ha in the last decade, with peaks of 80 t/ha in recent years (Nyko et al., 2012).

During this period, a lot of technologies were developed, amongst them: the launch of a series of varieties adapted to different soil and climate conditions; the technology of soil mapping and production environments dedicated to planting the right variety in the right place; plant nutrition and soil remediation; plant protection; large improvements of mechanization in sugarcane cutting, loading, and transportation; and geoprocessing information systems. As an example of this range of technologies, today more than 200 commercial varieties from three main Brazilian sugarcane breeding programs are planted in the cane fields.

Following this huge growing yield period, the Brazilian sugar industry is facing today a yield problem. In the last harvest seasons between 2010 and 2017 the productivity per hectare has experienced ups and downs, with a tendency to reach a lower plateau. During this period successive crop seasons have experienced low yields, not only because of adverse climate conditions, but also economic and technology adoption.

Concerning technology adoption, various researchers and specialized market analysts have been discussing this yield plateau resulting from a lack of innovation (Nyko et al., 2012). Of course innovation is a cause, but what is happening to the Brazilian sugar industry is also what is called lack of application of the known technology. The industry is paying a penalty for the impact of the huge and fast increase in the planting area in the mid-2000 decade (2005). Several sugar mills were set in areas with adverse soil and climate conditions, using an inadequate source of nurseries, and worse, applying technologies in a nonappropriate manner. The objective in this chapter is to review some of these agronomic technologies, and show the way to use them.

1.2 Soil Mapping and Sugarcane Cultivation Environment

Soil mapping systems were widely used in the Brazilian sugar industry in the late 1970s as a base for the Proalcool Program to choose places to install sugar mills and alcohol distilleries. These maps were derived from soil maps produced by National Center of Agronomic Research and Teaching, i.e., the São Paulo State soil survey (CNEPA/SNPA, 1960) and National Service of Soil Survey and Conservation (Serviço Nacional de Levantamento e Conservação de Solos—SNLCS) later absorbed by EMBRAPA. Later, the Agronomic Institute of Campinas (IAC), São Paulo State has produced soil maps with the same purpose. These maps were presented in a scale of 1:100,000 to 1:250,000, where only a few details of the soil types could be properly evaluated, but for the final purpose they were used in an appropriate manner. After this large use, the sugar industry felt that was necessary to use the soil maps in their daily operations. Soil scientists from universities and research institutes were hired by the companies to produce soil maps according to the old EMBRAPA soil key. At that time (1980s) the sugar mill agronomists had no idea of the soil scale map that would be adequate for daily field operations. As a result of this, several soil maps were produced using an inadequate scale. It was common to find no correlation i.e., soil types and tonnes of cane per hectare, when cross-referencing these two basic parameters.

Based on this fact in 1992, the Copersucar Technology Center (CTC—presently the Sugarcane Technology Center) decided initiate a research program dedicated to studying soil types and their correlation with yields of different sugarcane varieties. As a result of this large data bank study, in 1994 a system was launched called Environments of Production for sugarcane crops (Joaquim et al., 1994), where the different soil types were grouped in five classes A, B, C, D, and E (where A equaled high yield potential and E low yield potential). Later, with the inclusion of climate zones, this system became called Edaphic Climatic Environments of Production when the final concept was presented (Joaquim et al., 1997; Bertolani et al., 2009; Donzelli et al., 2010; Joaquim et al., 2010; Bertolani et al., 2015). The final system is based on detailed soil maps grouped in soil classes (A, B, C, D, and E), and several climate zones existing in the sugarcane regions in Brazil (climate zones I, II, III, IV, and V for Center South Brazil, where I equals the best climate zone, and V is the worst climate zone) (Table 1.1).

Table 1.1

Expected Yield Potential for Different Edaphic Climatic Environments of Production

aYield average (5 cuts).

Source: Joaquim, A.C., Donzelli, J.L., Quadros, A.C., Sarto, L.F., 1997. Potencial de Produção de cana-de-açúcar. In: VII Seminário Copersucar De Tecnologia Agronômica. Centro de Tecnologia Copersucar, Anais, Piracicaba/SP, pp. 68–76; Bertolani, F.C., Joaquim, A.C., Donzelli, J.L., 2015. Sistema de Classificação Edafoclimática para a Cultura de Cana-de-açúcar. In: Sistema de Produção Mecanizada da Cana-de-Açúcar Integrada à Produção de Energia e Alimentos, Brasília, EMBRAPA, p. 362.

Today, almost 23 years after the technology environments of production became available and several other derived systems were created (Demattê, 1999; Dinardo-Miranda et al., 2008), this base technology needs to be more understood by the Brazilian sugar mill agronomists and technicians. Frequently, soil maps on an inappropriate scale are still used to derive environments of production to be used in making detailed planting plans, or to build soil conservation systems that later will prove in the field that they were not adequate. Failures of variety performance or soil erosion are reported in several cases, due to these inadequate uses of the technology of soil mapping and environments of production.

A well-known case revealed by Bertolani et al. (2006) is what happened in a farm located in the northwest of Sao Paulo State, Brazil. The farm was intended to be used as an experimental station, and the research manager decided to review the soil map provided by the sugar mill management. The idea was to plant sugarcane clones to observe their behavior in different soil types. An initial visit to the place revealed a problem with the base soil map produced by the company; it was created on a nondetailed scale. This is meant that the soil scientist hired by the company was advised to supply a soil map without an adequate scale specification (Fig. 1.1). The scale of the map would be 1:10,000 or a detailed mapping with a minimum soil sample each 20 ha and one sample per soil mapping unity. The new map, produced according the adequate specification, showed a large difference between the original soil map and the new soil map (Fig. 1.2). Also, the environment of the production map derived from the original soil map was wrong (Fig. 1.3). If the experimental farm manager had selected the sugarcane clones in this situation, most of them would be not useful for variety planning. In the original map of environments of production (Fig. 1.3) a large area of environment B does not exist in the new map (Fig. 1.4) based on detailed soil mapping. If this inadequate recommendation reached the system, a problem of confidence would be created for the breeding program. So the problem was not the clone’s selection, but the way that one technology (soil mapping/environments of production) was used. Due to the correct decision of the manager of the experimental station, large amounts of money were saved and the new varieties are planted in the right place using the right map of environments of production (Fig. 1.4).

Figure 1.1 Original soil map—low detail—supplied by sugar mill.

Figure 1.2 New soil map reorganized according to adequate technical specifications (detailed).

Figure 1.3 Environment of production map derived from the original soil map.

Figure 1.4 New environment of production map reorganized according to an adequate soil survey.

1.3 Soil Groups for Agricultural Management: Base for Applying Agronomic Technologies

Since the creation of the environments of production in 1994, the Brazilian sugarcane growers have experienced a new order in terms of variety recommendation and planning. But this is not enough to ensure the final yield, because other factors can affect the crop. An example of this is soil compaction and land preparation. These two factors are interdependent, and this means that the sugarcane growers prepare the land to alleviate soil compaction, recovering initial soil physical properties, i.e., aeration and water flow through decreasing soil density.

Land preparation is an expensive mechanical operation, and needs to be efficient and effective. It cannot be used without a careful evaluation of the soil types, and what level of disturbance this operation will cause to the soil. Higher levels of soil manipulation using subsoilers or/and plows could accelerate soil erosion processes. Today, there are several methods to evaluate soil physics properties and correlate them with soil compaction. One of these methods was adapted and developed by Brazilian researchers of The Copersucar Technology Center (CTC—present SugarCane Technology Center). The method called trench method for evaluating soil compaction is simple and consists of an open trench crossing two sugarcane lines (Fig. 1.5), and searching for zones of high soil density. Inside these zones it is advised to take soil samples (core samples) to quantify soil density to prove that the soil zone is compacted (Barbieri et al., 1984; Bellinaso et al., 1994). Of course, there are many other sophisticated methods to evaluate soil compaction, but this one has the advantage of showing mechanical operators (tractor and harvester drivers) in a simple manner how important it is to not cause damage to sugarcane ratoons i.e., passing over them and causing soil compaction in the root zone of the plant (Fig.