Accepted Manuscript

A circular framework for the valorisation of sugar industry wastes: Review on the
industrial symbiosis between sugar, construction and energy industries

Athira Gopinath, A. Bahurudeen, Srinivas Appari, Prakash Nanthagopalan

PII: S0959-6526(18)32603-9
DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.08.252
Reference: JCLP 14036

To appear in: Journal of Cleaner Production

Received Date: 9 April 2018

Revised Date: 22 August 2018
Accepted Date: 23 August 2018

Please cite this article as: Gopinath A, Bahurudeen A, Appari S, Nanthagopalan P, A circular
framework for the valorisation of sugar industry wastes: Review on the industrial symbiosis between
sugar, construction and energy industries, Journal of Cleaner Production (2018), doi: 10.1016/
j.jclepro.2018.08.252.

This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to
our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo
copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final form. Please
note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all
legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
A Circular Framework for the Valorisation of Sugar Industry Wastes: Review
on the Industrial Symbiosis between Sugar, Construction and Energy Industries

Athira Gopinath1, Bahurudeen A1*, Srinivas Appari2 and Prakash Nanthagopalan3

1
Department of Civil Engineering, BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus, Hyderabad, India - 500078
2

PT
Department of Civil Engineering, BITS Pilani, Pilani Campus, India - 333031
3
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India - 400076

RI
U SC
AN
M
D
TE
C EP
AC

Full contact details of corresponding author*:

Dr. Bahurudeen A
Department of Civil Engineering, BITS Pilani Hyderabad Campus, Hyderabad, India - 500078
Phone: +91 9983091322
E-mail: bahurudeen.civil@gmail.com
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Soil Energy Sector

Sugarcane amendment
Bio-char

PT
cultivation Bio-fuels

Secondary Products
Primary by-products

RI
Bagasse & Syngas & H2

SC
Cane Trash
Sugar

U
Industry Electricity

AN
Primary Products Molasses
Secondary by-products

M
Co-processing
Sugar Ethanol

D
TE Bagasse Ash Bio-char

Food &
EP

Beverage Construction Industry

Flex fuel Cement, Bricks, Tiles
C

Bio-digester Paver/Hollow blocks

AC

LWC, SCC, AAB

Replaces Fossil Fuel
Bio-gas
Reduces CO2 emissions

Framework for a circular economy

 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
A Circular Framework for the Sustainable Valorisation of Sugar Industry Waste:
Review on the Industrial Symbiosis between Sugar, Construction and Energy Industries

Abstract
This paper provides a comprehensive review of literature on the properties of sugar industry waste, their varied
uses in energy and construction sector, performance and limitations. An efficient upcycling of sugar industry
waste in energy production would help the energy sector to reduce its dependency on non-renewable fossil fuels.
Literature demonstrates that in the recent years there has been an increased research interest in thermochemical

PT
conversion of sugarcane bagasse to produce cleaner energy, rather than its landfilling or combustion. On the
other hand, utilization of secondary by-products from sugar industry in the production of cement, bricks, paver
blocks, activated binder and other construction products helps to cut down the carbon footprint of the
construction industry, while improving the properties of the final products. From the perspective of the sugar

RI
industry, such an arrangement eliminates disposal problems and creates additional revenue. Although
independent research studies investigating the use of sugar industry by-products exist, few studies consider these
valorisation options together to minimise waste and to create an efficient material flow chain. This study

SC
identifies various material and energy recovery pathways from published literature and connects the materials
and processes to form a continuous material supply chain with minimum wastage. From the findings, a
symbiotic framework has been developed with primary and secondary by-products from the sugar industry
serving as source materials for energy production and sustainable construction products.

U
Keywords: Sugarcane Bagasse; Cogeneration; Pyrolysis; Sustainability; Blended cements; Cleaner
AN
production; Circular economy

1. Introduction
M

Industrial systems across the world have been trying to attain sustainability through various adaptations and
reformations, be it resource optimization at the input stage or efficient waste management at the output stage.
With the availability of diverse technologies to choose from and the mounting pressure to be sustainable in
operation, industries are moving towards the concept of a circular economy. Although ‘circular economy’ and
D

‘sustainability’ are two different concepts, both integrate non-economic aspects into the development model
with a system change/design at their core (Geissdoerfer et al., 2017). Almost all the industrial shifts towards a
TE

circular economy tend to be sustainable by virtue of its resource re-utilization feature. These terms have become
especially important for developing economies such as China, India, and Brazil since the success of the clean
development mechanism (CDM) defined in the Kyoto protocol for sustainable development would largely hinge
on the active involvement of these fast growing countries (Dechezleprêtre et al., 2009)
EP

Energy industry is the primary target of the CDM agenda as it is one of the most polluting industry in terms of
greenhouse gas emissions (World Energy Outlook-IEA, 2016). Research on emission reduction from energy
sector is divergent in its approach - dealing with material replacement, process improvement, and waste
C

utilization. Similarly, the construction industry in developing economies has also come under thorough scrutiny
because of its high carbon footprint. It is estimated that developing economies contribute 60% of the total
AC

carbon dioxide emissions from construction (Huang et al., 2018). The increased infrastructural growth in the last
two decades has necessitated increased production of Portland cement. Cement production is an energy
intensive process and releases huge quantities of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere (Benhelal et al., 2013). The
amplified consumption of cement has led to severe environmental issues, forcing the scientific community to
search for better alternatives that does not harm the environment or create a taxing demand on natural minerals.
Currently, research efforts in this respect are shifting from simply exploring alternative sources to finding out
recyclable waste materials from existing industries, as it combines both energy and material recovery. Sugar
industry is one such industry that generates huge quantities of different waste materials. It is also one of the
most prominent industry sectors in intensely developing countries such as Brazil, India and China (Barros,
2016). Therefore, extracting materials from sugar industries for energy production and construction could bring
about a huge reduction in GHG emissions - especially in these developing countries. In this respect, it is
imperative that the recent research on sugar industry wastes and their reutilization are identified, compiled and
reviewed systematically towards a better understanding of the various possibilities of sustainable valorisation.
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Previous research studies on the potential use of sugar industry residues in energy production and construction
have mostly been stand-alone in nature. However, for attaining a zero-waste and maximum resource utilisation
scenario, these valorisation options should be considered together and compared amongst themselves. For this
purpose, the following questions must be addressed:

(i) Can there be a potentially viable symbiotic relationship between the concerned industries?

(ii) Is the synergistic operation of these industries beneficial in terms of economy and environment?

(iii) Apart from the apparent benefits of waste reutilisation, is the use of sugar industry by products as
construction raw materials effective in terms of physical, mechanical and durability properties of the final

PT
products?

To answer these questions, this study undertook a comprehensive review of the existing literature on various
sugar industry waste valorisation methods. After a rigorous analysis and normalisation of the data collected

RI
from the literature on the diverse choices of using sugar industry wastes in energy and construction, the paper
was able to make the following contributions:

• From the comparative analysis of the sugar industry waste reutilisation options, several symbiotic material

SC
flow pathways between sugar, energy and construction industries have been identified and described in the
paper.

• The status of various sugarcane biomass based energy production methods are investigated in detail and

U
scope of improvement in each method has been described. This could offer insights to the policy makers in
their decision-making process while moving towards sustainable operations.
AN
• Data from previous research studies were compiled and normalised in this paper to study the effect of
secondary by-products from sugar industry on the mechanical and durability properties of construction
materials. As the by-products tend to vary in properties based on their source of collection, the results from
M

the analysis in this study could aid in better understanding of the material and their applications in the
construction sector.

• A detailed circular framework inclusive of each sugar industry waste valorisation pathway has been
D

developed in this study for attaining a circular economy between sugar, energy and construction industries.

• This review has identified knowledge gaps that exist in the current literature, and outlined the scope for
TE

further research in this field for achieving effective utilisation of sugar industry by-products in energy and
construction sector.

Moreover, this study paves the way for future research studies on optimisation of the sugar industry waste
EP

valorisation pathways in terms of economic, environmental and social benefits.

This paper is structured in seven sections. Section 2 presents the methods adopted in finding and screening the
literature for review. Section 3 introduces the primary by-products from sugar industry and their properties as
C

reported in research studies globally. This section also includes the trends in electricity production from sugar
waste in major sugar producing countries and presents the details of newer research and development in other
AC

forms of energy production from sugar waste (bio-oils, biogas, ethanol and hydrogen). The sugar industry by-
products used in the construction sector, their applications, performance and limitations are detailed in Section
4. Based on the findings from section 3 and 4, a circular framework including all the primary and secondary by-
products of the sugar industry, their valorisation route and possible products is illustrated in section 5. Section 6
includes a discussion on the study findings, the trends and gaps in the current research and further research
priorities. Section 7 presents the concluding remarks.

2. Method adopted for the review

2.1 Formulation of research questions

The primary aim of this paper is to provide a comprehensive review on the effective utilisation of sugar industry
by-products as valuable source materials in energy and construction sector. Therefore, this study attempts to
address the following research questions:
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
(i) What are the various approaches for the utilisation of primary and secondary by-products from sugar
industries? How do these waste materials alter/enhance the properties of the end-products/processes?
(ii) Can a sustainable material flow process be defined with each of the by-products (from different stages
of sugar production) serving as potential raw material for the construction and energy sector?
(iii) What are the directions for future research to ensure sustainable operation of sugar, construction and
energy industries through efficient waste reutilisation and resource management?

2.2 Identifying and screening of literature

Being diversified in applications and processes, a conservative direct snowballing technique could not be

PT
adopted for selecting peer-reviewed articles for this review. To maintain the coherence and flow of the paper, an
initial structure was designed, up on which subsequent findings were added. ScienceDirect, Scopus and Google
Scholar databases were used to find the relevant journals published on the topic. A broad search with the
keyword ‘sugarcane bagasse’ yielded many results, which was refined by subject areas ‘materials science’,

RI
‘agriculture’, ‘energy’, ‘environmental science’, and ‘chemical engineering’.

300

SC
160
(a) Biofuels and energy 280 (b) Total No. of Papers 70
In construction 260 Pyrolysis
140 240 Construction 60
Number of published papers

Number of published papers

220 Bio-fuels
120 200 50

U
Total No. of Papers

180
100
160 40
AN
140
80
120 30
60 100
80 20
40 60
M

40 10
20 20
0 0
0 -20
D
China
India

Japan
Taiwan
Thailand
Colombia
Malaysia
South Africa
Australia
Cuba
Spain
Pakistan
Mexico
Canada
United States
Brazil

1998

2000

2002
2004
2006

2008

2010
2012

2014

2016
2018
TE
EP

(c)
Journal Of Cleaner Production
C

Construction And Building Materials Sugar mill waste & Sustainability

AC

Sugar mill waste & Cleaner Energy

Sugar mill waste & Construction

Bioresource Technology

Renewable And Sustainable Energy Reviews

0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
No. of published papers per year

Figure 1: Published research articles on the topic - (a) by country, (b) by year, (c) by journal
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Only peer-reviewed and published articles (including review papers and original articles in press) were
considered for the literature review- excluding conference papers. However, for expressing some relevant
statistics, some reports from Government agencies were also considered, such as the Ministry of New and
Renewable Energy (MNRE) website hosted by the Government of India and Ministry of Agriculture website
hosted by the Government of Brazil. This limited the results to 1752 published documents.

The search was further narrowed down in three stages by selecting those containing keywords- (i) pyrolysis, (ii)
bio fuels, and (iii) construction. Other possible combinations of keywords (energy, cement, bagasse ash etc.)
were tried and any missing articles in the initial search were added to the list of documents. However, it was
found that most of these journal articles had already surfaced while searching for ‘construction’ and ‘bio fuels’,

PT
for the exception of a very few. This can be seen from figure 1(b) where the number of articles for the keyword
‘pyrolysis’ and ‘biofuels’ were almost similar throughout the time period. Finally, the articles were classified in
to two main sections: those that deal with sugar waste valorisation in the (i) energy sector (based on keywords
bio fuels, energy and pyrolysis) and (ii) construction sector (based on keywords cement, construction and

RI
bagasse ash). Time-frame constraints were not given at this stage and papers from as early as 1998 were selected
for the initial sampling, as it helped in studying the evolution of the subject over time. Research articles on the
topic were observed to shift from chemical engineering journals to environmental science journals, indicating an

SC
increased emphasis on environmental benefits derived from the valorisation of sugar industry waste. It was
interesting to note that most of the journal papers in this area were from Brazil, India, China, Thailand, United
States, Malaysia, Australia, and Mexico, consistent with the amount of sugarcane production in these countries,
as can be seen from Figure 1(a). Figure 1(b) shows an exponential increase in the number of research

U
publications on the topic from 1998. When an intersection of the topics (sustainability, cleaner energy and
construction) were considered, it was observed that journal of cleaner production has the highest number of
AN
publications per year on sugar industry wastes, as shown in Figure 1(c).

The initial sample of articles in each sub areas were further refined by excluding research papers that do not
answer the formulated research questions. The abstracts of these articles were carefully examined and those
documents that did not fit in to the scope of the review were excluded. After verification of their relevance and
M

contribution to the field of study, 153 papers were selected for further in-depth analysis. A subsequent
snowballing analysis gave insights to the evolution of the research field over time and the associations between
the selected articles. For instance, most of the journal papers in utilisation of boiler ash from sugarcane
D

cogeneration were found to cite back to a journal paper published in 1998 from Cuba. It also allowed reviewing
papers that were missed in the initial sampling but were of great significance in the field.
TE

3. Energy Production from Sugar Industry By-products

There are various methods of energy production from sugarcane biomass - from combustion to fermentation.
EP

Even though published research on the individual methods of cleaner energy production from bagasse is
available, few studies compile and analyse the various processes and their applicability. For a complete
understanding of the methods, their advantages, and limitations, these processes are to be studied and compared
amongst themselves. This section provides an overview of the primary by-products from the sugar industry,
C

their properties for use as an energy source and various methods of energy production from sugarcane biomass.
The proximate and ultimate analyses data of sugar industry by-products from various major sugar producing
AC

countries are collected and tabulated for comparison of biomass derived from different cultivars of sugarcane.
As only direct bagasse cogeneration is carried out currently in an industrial scale, the status and development of
cogeneration technology in the major emerging economies are discussed. The research trends in other
thermochemical conversion methods, their potential and applications are also presented.

3.1 Primary by-products from the sugar industry: sugarcane bagasse and sugarcane straw
Sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) contains sucrose in its internodes, which is extracted through milling or
distillation for sugar and ethanol production. In India, Sugarcane is generally harvested in the dry periods (June
to December) when the cane stalks contain the maximum amount of sucrose (Verheye, 2000). Mechanized
harvest of sugarcane results in the piling up of cane tops, stubble, and leaves in the field, which are collectively
called as sugarcane straw or cane trash (Guzmán and Valdés, 2000).
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Table 1: Proximate and ultimate analysis, and gross calorific values of sugarcane bagasse, as reported in literature

Proximate Analysis (%) GCV/ Elemental Analysis (%)

Reference Fixed Volatile HHV

PT
Moisture Ash (MJ/kg) C H N S Cl O
Carbon Matter

Deepchand, 1986 (Mauritius) CTL Dry-basis - - 5.4 16 - - - - - -

RI
Garcia-Perez et al., 2002
Bagasse Dry-basis 16.3 82.1 1.6 - 49.6 6 0.5 < 0.1 - 43.8*
(Canada)

SC
Tsai et al., 2006 (Taiwan) Bagasse 16.07 - 79.59 4.34 18.61 58.14 6.05 0.69 0.19 0.36 34.57*

Asadullah et al., 2007

U
Bagasse 4 29.7 69 1.26 19.2 48.58 5.97 0.2 0.05 0.05 38.94
(Bangladesh)

AN
Manyà and Arauzo, 2008
Bagasse 2.2 17.80* 74.98 5.02 - 43.6 5.52 0.25 0.07 - 50.63*
(Spain)

Islam et al., 2010 (Bangladesh) Bagasse Dry-basis 20.01 75.85 4.14 16.81 48.67 6.7 0.45 0.08 - 44.1

M
Carrier et al., 2011 (South
Bagasse 15.41 - - 3.12 18.5 50.2 5.6 1.1 - - 40*
Africa)

D
Leal et al., 2013 (Brazil) Bagasse Dry-basis 18 79.9 2.2 18.1 44.6 5.8 0.6 0.1 0.002 44.5

Antonio Bizzo et al., 2014

Bagasse Dry-basis
TE
6.93 90.03 2.93 17.72 42.61 5.92 0.63 0.12 0.1 50.9
EP
(Brazil)
CTL Dry-basis 10.1 82.25 7.5 `17.1 42.5 6.02 0.6 0.24 0.44 50.2

Cordeiro et al., 2017 (Brazil) SCS Dry-basis 12.5 81.4 6.1 - - - - - - -

C

Varma and Mondal, 2017

AC

Bagasse 5.4 11.3 80.2 3.1 18 44.86 5.87 0.24 0.06 - 48.97*
(India)

Sohaib et al., 2017 (Pakistan) Bagasse 6.21 8.47 82.38 2.94 - 45.39 7.92 0.15 - - 46.67

Gonçalves et al., 2017 (Brazil) Bagasse 9.02 10.24 76.88 3.86 17.27 38.84 6.85 0.02 0.39 - 53.9

CTL: Cane, Tops and Leaves; SCS: Sugarcane Straw; GCV: Gross Calorific Value; HHV: Higher Heating Value; * by difference
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

PT
RI
SC
Figure 2: Sugarcane plant, stalk, cane trash, bagasse and bagasse ash (Bizzo et al., 2014)

U
The mechanical harvesting machine cuts the cane stalk and chops them in to ‘billets’ of smaller lengths, which
AN
is immediately shipped to the sugar mills to prevent reduction in sugar content. The cane is then subjected to
either milling or diffusion to extract the cane juice. In both the processes, water is added to the sugarcane for
better extraction of the juice. The fibrous residue remaining after the juice is extracted from the sugarcane is
called bagasse. Bagasse obtained after milling process contain about 48-52% of moisture; however, bagasse
M

obtained after diffusion process tend to have higher moisture content than milling (Bizzo et al., 2014). Figure 2
shows the various stages in sugarcane processing.

Before the advent of cogeneration systems in sugar industries, bagasse used to be disposed to the adjacent fertile
D

lands. The fibrous bagasse mainly contains cellulose, hemi-cellulose and lignin in varying proportions.
Chemically, bagasse contains about 2.4% ash which is composed of inorganic compounds such as silica,
TE

alumina and calcium (Parameswaran, 2009). The type of milling adopted (diffusion/ imbibition) also has a
bearing on the final quality of the bagasse obtained. The finer irregular shaped bagasse particles from the mill
form clusters of varying sizes, making it difficult to measure the exact dimensions of the particles (Bizzo et al.,
2014).
EP

The composition of the biomass affects their combustion characteristics and energy yield. Table 1 shows the
proximate and ultimate analysis of bagasse and cane trash as reported in various research studies in various
locations. The volatile matter, fixed carbon and ash percentages of sugarcane bagasse from various cultivars are
C

found to be similar. The ash contents are found to range from 1.26% to 7.5%, with most studies reporting
around 3-5%. It can be seen that the higher heating value of cane trash is comparable to that of bagasse. The
AC

gross calorific values of sugarcane bagasse reported for biomass from various sources and locations are found to
be similar, averaging at 17.64 MJ/kg. This value is comparable to that of lignite coal and wood.

3.2 Electricity from cogeneration of sugarcane bagasse

Cogeneration is the process of generating electricity and useful heat simultaneously from a single source of fuel.
This process has also been referred to as combined heat and power cycle. Cogeneration boilers installed in
modern sugar industries generate electricity and heat using the conventional Rankine cycle. The useful heat is
utilized in processing the cane juice to produce sugar. After meeting the internal energy requirements of the
sugar plant, the surplus electricity is exported to the national power grid for external consumer’s use. This would
offset a share of the electricity produced from thermal power plants, thus reducing carbon emissions from
burning fossil fuels. Moreover, the disposal problems related to the huge volume of crushed bagasse in sugar
industries are effectively remedied by this arrangement.
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Brazilian sugar plants began to attain self-sufficiency in the ‘90s by generating surplus electricity. Since
Brazilian sugar industry investors started benefitting from the long-term energy contracts, the cogeneration
technology used for electricity production has also become advanced, resulting in surplus electricity. In 2008,
during the sugarcane harvest season, Brazil’s cogeneration sugar industry produced more than 3000 MW power
(Granville et al., 2009). In addition, bioelectricity complements the electricity production in Brazil since the
sugarcane harvest occurs in the dry season where the electricity production from hydroelectric power projects
fall (E.A.Seabra et al., 2011).

China produces about 21Mt of bagasse per year from 326 sugar mills. However, most of these sugar mills are
small-scale with cane crushing capacities lesser than 2000 tonnes/day. They function with old, low efficiency

PT
cogeneration boilers, barely meeting their internal power requirements (Jingjing et al., 2001). The State
Economic and Trade Commission in China estimated that if all the existing boilers were to be replaced by
modern high pressure CEST, 690 to 870 MW of excess power could be generated and exported to the power
grid.

RI
Sugar factories in Cuba generate just enough electricity to power their own requirements with no excess to be
supplied to the national power grid. The existing cogeneration plants use low-efficiency steam turbines (at 19
bar and 320°C) generating 20-25 kWh per tonne of sugarcane. On the other hand, it has been estimated that a

SC
condensing-extraction steam turbine (CEST) operating at 63 bar can produce 130 kWh per tonne of cane
(Alonso Pippo et al., 2007). Assuming 25 kWh/tonne to be used for the internal milling requirements, it will still
leave an excess supply of 105 kWh/tonne to be exported to the National Electricity Energy System (NEES) grid.

U
Thailand is one of the major sugar producing countries and the second largest sugar exporter in the world. In
2014, about 104 Million Tonne (MT) of cane were produced from a total planted area of 1.7 M ha. Owing to the
AN
promotion of Small Power Producers (SPP) and Independent Power Producers (IPP) schemes introduced in
Thailand, the bagasse cogeneration sector has been revived. The electricity production in a cogeneration sugar
plant in Thailand per tonne of bagasse is reported to be about 124 kWh (Silalertruksa et al., 2017). If the internal
energy requirements of about 15-20kWh/tonne is accounted for, a minimum of 104kWh/tonne is still available
M

to be exported to the national grid.

Biomass cogeneration in India attained pace after the ‘National programme on promotion of biomass power /
bagasse based cogeneration’ implemented by the Government of India in 1992. As it leads to environmental and
D

economic sustainability, the Government of India has formulated many promotional policies for setting up more
CHP plants, which further encourages such sugar plants to adopt cogeneration technology (MNRE, 2012). A
TE

potential of about 7000 MW electricity from 650 sugar mills is estimated to be available in India, of which 2250
MW was achieved from 200 sugar mills (MNRE, 2012). Lately, cogeneration boilers with higher temperature (>
520°C ) and pressure settings (105 bar) have been adopted in the sugar plants, increasing the power generation
efficiency (Mishra et al., 2014).
EP

It can be observed that Brazil and Thailand are well ahead of the other sugar growing countries in terms of
bagasse based electricity production. Indian sugar sector is currently under the process of installing more
number of highly efficient CHP systems, and will likely be more sustainable in the future. However, Cuba and
C

China still have huge local untapped resources in terms of unused bagasse in sugar mills. This could be a source
of extra rural revenue if proper steps are taken to register the plant under United Nations Framework Convention
AC

on Climate Change (UNFCC) for certified emission reduction units, otherwise known as ‘carbon credits’.

Governmental initiatives or promotions for the initial investments for a higher efficiency boiler system could go
a long way in assuring better resource management and sustainability. If high efficiency boilers are provided,
most of the existing sugar plants in the developing economies could potentially be an energy supplier to a
decentralized energy grid. Not only does this solve the problem of higher investments in the machinery, but also
results in reasonable profit over time. Moreover, since sugar plants are more scattered geographically, supply of
electricity becomes easier and more economical than when it is distributed from centralised facilities such as
thermal power plants or hydroelectric power plants.

3.3 Thermochemical conversion of sugarcane bagasse

According to the IEA estimates, India’s crude oil imports for energy production will rise to 550 Mt by 2040. To
reduce the dependency on imported fossil fuels, India has targeted to generate 40% of its total electrical energy
production from renewable energy sources by 2030 (Ghosh, 2016). Hence, extensive researches are going on to
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
replace conventional fuels with renewable and sustainable alternatives. Bio based materials have become
attractive sources for production of biofuels (bio-oils, non-condensable gasses (methane, hydrogen) and solid
product (charcoal)) using biomass conversion to replace petroleum feedstock (Carpenter et al., 2014). The
research interest in bagasse pyrolysis for cleaner energy production has increased significantly in the recent
years. There has been a steady increase in the number of research publications on bagasse pyrolysis from 2009
(~ 6 peer-reviewed articles per year) to 2017 (~54 articles per year). Apart from the conventional pyrolysis
studies, research studies on fast pyrolysis of bagasse is also gaining momentum, with approximately 19 articles
published in 2017 alone. However, biomass conversion is a complex technology and requires extensive research
efforts to generate biofuels and bioenergy. The biomass conversion technologies are broadly classified into two
categories: biological and thermochemical processes. The biological conversion of biomass is a time consuming

PT
process compared to thermochemical process. Thermochemical processes such as pyrolysis, gasification or
combustion can be used to achieve useful products from biomass. Pyrolysis is a more efficient method to
produce gas, char and bio-oil due to the raw material decomposition and intermediates interactions.

RI
3.3.1 Hydrogen generation from sugarcane bagasse
Hydrogen can be produced from thermochemical techniques such as gasification, high pressure aqueous phase
reforming and pyrolysis methods. Biomass gasification is carried out at high temperature with steam, oxygen,

SC
and/or air, while pyrolysis is carried out in the absence of oxygen. In the first stage of gasification, the biomass
undergoes pyrolysis and produce char, tar and gasses. Biomass tar is considered a problematic compound for
power generation applications. Tar components include benzene and other polycyclic hydrocarbons, which
condense at normal conditions resulting in blockage and fouling of upstream processing equipment. The tar

U
components are further converted in to hydrogen with steam or oxygen in the presence of natural, alkaline and
metal-based catalysts. (Alauddin et al., 2010). Further, gasification is coupled with water gas-shift reaction to
AN
produce rich hydrogen streams.

One kilogram of bagasse can produce about 60-100 g of hydrogen (Ahmed and Gupta, 2009). Hydrogen yield
depends on the type of biomass used, operating conditions, type of catalyst used and reactor design. In a study,
M

pyrolysis of sugarcane hemicellulose was carried out in N2 atmosphere at 550-850°C. The main products from
the pyrolysis were reported to be H2, CO, CO2, and CH4. It was found that higher H2 and CH4 yields were
observed with increasing temperature (Peng and Wu, 2011). Pyrolysis of a mixture of raw and ground bagasse
D

in a horizontal fixed bed reactor also yielded similar compounds and low molecular weight hydrocarbons.
Addition of water was found to decrease the amount of syngas (CO + H2) produced. A maximum of 1551.48
cm3 hydrogen was obtained from 30 gm of bagasse (Al Arni et al., 2010). Similar product distributions were
TE

reported in a study from Taiwan, where the bagasse sample was sieved through a 60-mesh screen and pyrolysed
in a microwave under N2 atmosphere (Kuan et al., 2013).

Super critical gasification of sugarcane bagasse was investigated in batch reactor at high pressure and in the
EP

presence of various catalysts to maximize the production of hydrogen. Five different alkali salts, Raney nickel,
and activated carbon were tested. Among the tested catalysts, KOH produces 75.6 moles of hydrogen per kg of
sugarcane bagasse (Ebrahimi-Nik, 2012). Hydrogen gas thus produced could be used in internal combustion
engines for the development of Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) or as anodic fuel for Proton Exchange
C

Membrane (PEM) fuel cells (Amendola et al., 2000; Schlapbach and Züttel, 2001). Since the by-products of
hydrogen combustion are water and water vapour, it is a better fuel option than conventional hydrocarbons.
AC

Demand for continuous supply of raw materials for uninterrupted operation of the gasification systems and the
variable nature of the materials can present difficulties for successful industrial scale applications. Moreover,
care should be taken to obtain uniform size of input biomass, to ensure complete carbon burning, and to prepare
appropriate types of biomass input (briquettes/pellets etc. in case of a downdraft fixed bed gasifier). Further
research studies should be carried out to optimise the key parameters and to select the suitable catalysts for
production of hydrogen and value-added chemicals.

3.3.2 Production of bio-oil and value added chemicals from sugarcane bagasse
Pyrolysis is the process of breaking down of organic matter in the absence of oxygen to produce numerous
chemical compounds, many of which may be used as alternatives to conventional fossil fuels. Slow, fast and
flash pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse have been carried out to produce bio-oils, non-condensable gases and bio-
char. The yield of these compounds can be controlled by regulating the operating conditions such as temperature
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
and heating rates. It was observed that fast and flash pyrolysis processes were suitable to produce more liquid
product yields than slow pyrolysis (Parihar et al., 2007; Xu et al., 2011).

Fast heating rates, higher temperature (400-3000 °C), and less residence time are required for fast pyrolysis.
Fast pyrolysis products contain large amount of liquid fraction (about 75% based on biomass) called as bio-oil.
Fast pyrolysis studies on sugarcane bagasse at a temperature of 400-800°C (100-500°C/min) showed that the
total yield of liquid products increased significantly when the temperature was increased to 500°C (Tsai et al.,
2006). Heating rate of 300°C/min yielded the maximum bio-oil, for a constant holding time of one minute. The
holding time at the final temperature was found to affect the product yield significantly. The liquid product from
bagasse was higher than rice straw or coconut shells treated in similar method (Tsai et al., 2006). Fast pyrolysis

PT
experiments using fluidized bed reactor in an inert N2 atmosphere at a heating rate of 100°C/min. confirmed the
higher liquid yield for sugarcane bagasse compared to coconut shell and rice straw. A maximum of 48% bio-oil
yield was observed at a temperature of 450°C while pyrolysis at 500°C yielded higher percentage of syngas.
Interestingly, bio-oil yield was better for large particle sizes of the feedstock, which reduces the energy to be

RI
spent in grinding the raw bagasse (with an optimum reported at 420-600µm). Pyrolysis of bagasse at a heating
rate of 50°C/min in a fixed bed reactor yielded a maximum of 66% bio-oil at a temperature of 500°C (Asadullah
et al., 2007). A gas yield of 24.9% was also reported. The bio-oil thus produced had almost comparable

SC
viscosity (3.9-2.25) and pH (3.5-4.5) to that of diesel (Asadullah et al., 2007). Bagasse fast pyrolysis in a bench
scale reactor yielded 60.4% bio-oil at a temperature of 500°C (Sohaib et al., 2017). An increase in temperature
from 25°C to 75°C reduced the viscosity by about 44%. Density of the bio-oil was reported to be 1.162 g/cc,
which is about 38% higher than that of diesel (Sohaib et al., 2017).

U
It has been reported that bio-oils may contain large amounts of oxygen and water than petroleum based oils
(Rezaei et al., 2014). Bio-oil contains more than 300 compounds which includes large fraction of unsaturated
AN
compounds causing instability under storage conditions (Carlson et al., 2008). In addition, the high water
solubility of pyrolysis bio-oils render them vulnerable to microorganisms, which can result in sediment
deposition in oil storage containers. However, a recent research study has observed that hydro treatment of the
bio-oils to increase its solubility in bio-diesel can somewhat improve its oxidation stability (Botella et al., 2018).
M

Addition of antioxidant additives were also considered to improve the chemical stability of the bio-oil (Cataluña
et al., 2013). Upgradation methods are necessary for bio-oils to meet the standards of petroleum-based fuels.
The bio-oil can be upgraded by two techniques namely hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) and catalytic cracking using
D

solid acid catalysts. HDO involves the removal of oxygen at high H2 pressure in the presence of sulphide, CoMo
and NiMo based catalysts (Bozell et al., 2007; Huber et al., 2006; Huber, 2013). In-situ catalytic reforming of
TE

volatiles derived from the fast pyrolysis of biomass has been investigated under various zeolite based catalysts
and found suitable for production of top value added chemicals such as aromatics (Uemura et al., 2015). It has
been proven that pyrolysis using zeolite based catalysts such as HZSM-5 results in bio-oils with lesser acidic
groups and more desirable phenolic compounds (Rabiu et al., 2018). Significant research efforts are still
EP

required to maximize the yield of bio-oil with suitable upgradation of technologies, so that it could be directly
used in flex-fuel vehicles and industrial boilers and to explore the possibility of economically extracting value
added chemicals from fast pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse.
C

3.3.3 Production of bio-char from sugarcane bagasse

The solid residue after pyrolysis is called bio-char. Bio-char contains elemental carbon, hydrogen and various
AC

inorganic compounds, which make it a suitable replacement for pulverized coal. However, bio-char is found to
be more effective if used for soil amendment, in terms of long-term carbon sequestration and sustainability
benefits (Uzun, 2016). Bio-char acts as an efficient adsorbent for nutrients and organic contaminants, and
improves the water quality in column leaching studies; the same is thus expected for agricultural watersheds
(Laird et al., 2009). Application of bio-char directly to the soil can greatly increase the agricultural productivity
and enable farmers to participate in carbon markets. Moreover, it can further reduce transport costs accrued in
waste disposal, as the bio-char mass is 70–80% less than the original biomass (McHenry, 2009).

Rapid heating and high temperature ranges in biomass pyrolysis result in lesser amounts of bio-char and more
bio-oil and syngas (Jindo et al., 2014). However, slow pyrolysis can result in the production of about 35% bio-
char. It has also been reported than elevated pressure pyrolysis results in slightly improved bio-char production
(Antal and Grønli, 2003). Therefore, while adopting modern CEST for electricity production, or high-pressure
settings for bio-oil production, the fraction of bio-char can also be increased.
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
3.4 Sugarcane ethanol as an alternate fuel
Apart from sugar, ethanol is also produced in large quantities from sugarcane. More than 95% of the sugar mills
in Brazil produce ethanol, either in conjunction with sugar production or as independent distilleries. Ethanol can
also be produced from sugarcane juice, sugarcane bagasse, and molasses by fermentation technologies. The
lignocellulosic bagasse/molasses is hydrolysed and the cellulose hydrolysate undergoes fermentation to produce
ethanol. Varieties of pre-treatment options, fermentation microorganisms and conditions have been used in the
past research to maximize the yield of ethanol from bagasse (Cardona et al., 2010). The bio-ethanol produced
from molasses or bagasse is called ‘second generation bio-ethanol’.

As another step forward to ensure sustainability and reduce fossil fuel consumption, bio-ethanol blended fuel

PT
mixes are being adopted worldwide. Both anhydrous ethanol and hydrous ethanol produced from the sugar
industry can be used as fuel. While hydrous ethanol can be used as a neat fuel in dedicated engines or flex-
vehicles, anhydrous ethanol can be used for blending with gasoline in various percentages in common gasoline
engines. Presently, ethanol blended fuels are commonly used in countries such as Brazil and U.S.A. The Brazil

RI
government has even issued an ordinance in mandating gasoline to be blended with anhydrous ethanol at a
replacement of 25% (E25) (Ministerio da Agricultura, 2007). As per the availability and supply of the biomass,
this percentage varies from a minimum of 20% in off-season to 25% in harvest season (Marcello and Riveras,

SC
2010). The use of anhydrous ethanol at 22% in Brazil is reported to reduce around 80% of gasoline Green
House Gas emissions (E.A.Seabra et al., 2011). Government of India has also targeted to blend the petrol and
diesel with ethanol by 22.5% and 15% respectively. To meet the blending requirements, 31.1 billion litres of
bio-oil is required by 2030.

U
4. Utilisation of Secondary by-products from Sugar Industry in Construction Sector
AN
A recent study observes that the total carbon dioxide emissions from the global construction sector comes to
about 23% CO2 emission of the global economics activity. Moreover, the CO2 intensity from the global
construction sector was calculated to be three times higher than the average emission intensity from global
M

economic activities (Huang et al., 2018). It has been estimated that of the whole life cycle of a building in the
US, construction phase contributes the most to harmful emissions (Ochoa et al., 2002). A large part of the
indirect carbon emissions from the construction sector is found to arise from non-energy use (mostly cement
D

production) (Huang et al., 2018). Emerging economies such as China, India and Brazil rank high in the global
cement production. Since the infrastructure development in these countries are still underway, consumption of
cement and other construction materials are found to increase drastically every year. For instance, China has
TE

seen a steep rise in carbon emission figures from construction and building sector in 2011-2015 (Ma and Cai,
2018). Moreover, the contribution of carbon emissions from the building and construction sector to the overall
nationwide emissions has been found to increase drastically (Ma et al., 2017; Ma and Cai, 2018).
EP

This creates an additional toll on the already dwindling environmental balance in these countries and is against
the CDM objectives. The amplified production and consumption of cement has led to severe environmental
crisis forcing the scientific community to search for better alternatives, which does not harm the environment or
create taxing demands on natural minerals such as limestone. On the other hand, agro-based industrial residues
C

are of huge concern in terms of disposal management. To balance this situation, it would be ideal to use the
potential reactive residues such as burnt cane trash and bagasse ash from cogeneration boilers in producing a
AC

wide variety of construction products. Utilizing these secondary by-products in the construction sector as an
effective replacement to conventional cement would offset a part of the carbon dioxide emissions and aid in
extracting maximum value. Moreover, it narrows the resource loops, nudging the industry towards an efficient
circular economy.

This section identifies various secondary by-products from sugar industry and evaluates their applications in the
construction sector as reported in literature. Properties of the materials reported from various geographic regions
for their use as building raw materials is presented and the uses, limitations and benefits of the materials are
outlined.

4.1 Secondary by-products from sugar Industry: sugarcane bagasse ash and sugarcane straw ash
Sugarcane Bagasse ash (SCBA): Sugarcane bagasse is burnt in the cogeneration boilers to produce steam energy
to spin turbines for electricity generation and to heat up cane juice. The residual ashes from these cogeneration
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
boilers are generally termed as sugarcane bagasse ash. The ash is black in colour and contains high amounts of
silica. It has been reported to have specific gravity from as low as 1.25 (Modani and Vyawahare, 2013) to as
high as 2.47 (Montakarntiwong et al., 2013), however, most of the studies reported a value between 2.0 and 2.2.
The characteristics of bagasse ash will depend up on the process (imbibition or diffusion) adopted for juice
extraction. Most of the sugar mills in India and Brazil use imbibition method while diffusion process is common
in Europe, South Africa, Central America and Egypt (Bizzo et al., 2014). However, studies on the variation of
the composition of bagasse ash with respect to the juice extraction process are not available in the published
literature.

PT
RI
U SC
Figure 3: (a) Sugarcane bagasse (b) Land-filled sugarcane bagasse Ash (Montakarntiwong et al., 2013)
AN
Sugarcane Straw ash: Field burning method has been the conventional practice of sugarcane harvest since it
removes leaves and straw, leaving the sugarcane stalk to be easily harvested. Such extensive field firing releases
huge amounts of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. Moreover, the pre-harvest burning of sugarcane fields has
been reported to cause serious health issues such as cardio-vascular effects (Barbosa et al., 2012) and
M

genotoxicity (Silveira et al., 2013) to the workers exposed to the emanating smoke that contains harmful gases
such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, particulate matter, carbon monoxide etc. Reduced visibility due to
the smoke near highways and airfields is reported to be another major concern (Cordeiro et al., 2017). In this
D

context, many of the countries with higher rate of sugarcane cultivation are mandating mechanical harvest
instead of field burning. The State of Sao Paulo in Brazil has even issued a ‘Green Ethanol’ protocol requiring
the field burning to be stopped (Aguiar et al., 2011). Other Brazilian states are also trying to phase out field-
TE

burning practices by the end of 2021. Mechanical harvesting, however, leaves huge masses of straw in the fields
post-harvest, as about 18% of the dry matter of the sugarcane plant is composed of leaves and cane tops
(Deepchand, 1986). This residue released from the sugarcane harvester is called cane trash or sugarcane straw. It
has also been reported to contain parts of sugarcane stalk and roots. It is estimated that each tonne of stalk
EP

produces around 140 kg of dry cane trash (Bizzo et al., 2014). The average Gross Calorific Value (GCV) of
sugarcane straw (including cane, tops and leaves) is about 16 MJ/kg (Deepchand, 1986), comparable to that of
the calorific value reported for sugarcane bagasse (See Table 1). The high calorific value of sugarcane straw
C

makes it a potential fuel in the cogeneration system, along with sugarcane bagasse. The straw residue remaining
in the boilers after burning is termed as sugarcane straw ash (SCSA). In this manuscript, SCBA and SCSA will
be collectively referred to as “boiler ashes”.
AC

4.2 Boiler ashes as supplementary cementitious materials in concrete

4.2.1 Chemical and mineralogical composition of boiler ashes

The preliminary studies on SCBA and its possible use as a supplementary cementitious material (SCM)
happened towards the end of 1990’s. As pozzolanic properties of a material are highly dependent on the
presence of amorphous silica or alumina, many researchers have examined the chemical composition of boiler
ashes obtained from different sources. Studies on the mineralogical properties of SCBA obtained from a Cuban
sugar plant revealed a high percentage of SiO2 (72.74%). X-ray diffraction analysis showed amorphous silica
phases. Significant crystobalite presence was also noticed in the diffraction pattern, which was attributed to
higher temperatures in the boiler, leading to recrystallization (Martirena Hernández et al., 1998). Studies on as-
received bagasse ash from Columbian cogeneration boilers showed presence of high amounts of inorganic
carbon (15.63%) in the ash indicating incomplete combustion in the boilers (Payá et al., 2002).
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
In line with these findings, nine raw bagasse ash samples collected from three different sugar mills in Pakistan
all showed more than 10% loss on ignition (Ali et al., 2011). Similarly, several research studies have reported
high LOI values for raw bagasse ash (Chusilp et al., 2009a; Cordeiro et al., 2009). The upper bound of LOI
values for natural pozzolanic materials is 10% (ASTM C618 - 15, 2015). It has been reported that higher LOI
values lead to low workability of concrete, vulnerability against sulphate attack and slower strength gain,
underlining the need for further processing and refinement of SCBA in order to use as SCM (Ali et al., 2011).
The silicate and aluminate composition of SCSA and SCBA obtained from different sources, as reported in
previous studies, are listed in Table 2. The higher alumina content in the Columbian SCBA was attributed to the
inclusion of coal in the boiler for better steam generation (Payá et al., 2002). A comparison between the
chemical composition of SCBA and fly ash showed that SCBA has more silica content than Class C fly ash and

PT
almost the same as that of class F fly ash (Suliman and Amola, 2011). All the SCBA samples are seen to have
considerable amounts of silica. However, as to the nature of silica present in SCBA, wide disagreements exist in
the literature. Reactivity of a pozzolan is directly dependent on the amorphous nature of the silica present in it.
The silica content in SCBA is mainly reported to be amorphous with small quantities of crystalline phases such

RI
as quartz and crystobalite (Cordeiro et al., 2009; Ganesan et al., 2007). In a few earlier research studies,
amorphous silica content was reported to be very small and improvement in strength, if any, was attributed to
the filler effect of bagasse ash (Arif et al., 2016). These differences might be arising from the differences in

SC
calcination temperature in cogeneration boilers, presence of sand particles in the collected SCBA, and nature of
the bagasse source.
Table 2: Silica and Alumina composition of boiler ashes reported by various researchers

Reference Boiler ash source

U SiO2 (%) Al2O3 (%)

AN
Martirena Hernández et al., SCBA 72.74 5.26
Villa Clara, Cuba
1998 SCSA 59.06 4.75
Singh et al., 2000 SCBA (Kushinagar, India) 63.16 9.7
M

Payá et al., 2002 SCBA (Ingenio Providencia, Columbia) 59.87 20.69

Cordeiro et al., 2004 SCBA (são joão da barra, Brazil) 78.34 8.55
SCBA; burned at 800°C and mixed with 20%
Villar-Cociña et al., 2003 64.02 11.29
D

clay (Villa Clara, Cuba)

Frías et al., 2007 SCSA; burned at 800°C (Villa Clara, Cuba) 70.20 1.93
TE

Chusilp et al., 2009b Ground SCBA, Thailand 64.88 6.40

SCBA (Madras Sugar Limited, Tamil Nadu,
Bahurudeen et al., 2016 72.95 1.68
India)
EP

De Soares et al., 2016 SCBA (Usina Caeté, Brazil) 72.3 5.52

SCBA ( Khazana SM, Peshawar SM, Frontier
Ali et al., 2011 87.87 2.47
SM, Pakistan)
C

SCBA (Broadwater Sugar Mill Co-Generation

Arif et al., 2016 78.49 7.27
Plant, Australia)
AC

Teixeira et al., 2008 SCBA (Usina Alto Alegre, Brazil) 85.58 5.25
SCBA (Madras Sugar Limited, Tamil Nadu,
Deepika et al., 2017 75.67 1.52
India)

Sugarcane straw ash is found to have variable amounts of silica content, from 36.5% to 73.4% depending on the
source of collection. LOI values were also highly varying, from 3.5% to 15%. However, pre-treatments using
hot deionized water and hydrochloric acid were found to have great effects in reducing loss on ignition of SCSA
and increasing the weight percentage of ashes. The water- washed SCSA samples showed higher percentage of
silica, owing to the dissolution and removal of potassium and sulphur oxides. Interestingly, silica present in the
pre-treated SCSA samples was completely amorphous in nature, in contrast to the considerable amount of
crystalline silica or quartz content usually reported in straw ash samples (Cordeiro et al., 2017).
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
4.2.2 Morphological characteristics of boiler ashes
Many researchers have attempted to define the microstructure of boiler ashes from sugar industry over the years.
Mainly three types of particles have been reported in SCBA: prismatic, spherical and fibrous. The prismatic and
spherical particles were reported to be rich in silica whereas the fibrous fraction was solely constituted of carbon
(Batra et al., 2008).

I (a) I (b) II

PT
RI
I. Batra et al., 2008; II. Deepika et al., 2017

SC
III IV (a) IV (b)

U
AN
M

III. Cordeiro et al., 2009; IV. Bahurudeen and Santhanam, 2015

V (a) V (b) VI
D
TE
EP

V. Moraes et al., 2015; VI. Faria et al., 2012

C

VII VIII IX
AC

VII. Chusilp et al., 2009; VIII. Priya et al., 2017; IX. Paya et al., 2002

Figure 4: Microstructure of boiler ashes as reported by various researchers

 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
The fibrous fraction in raw SCBA was observed to have two different strains of unburnt particles such as coarse
fibrous unburnt particles (CFU) and fine fibrous unburnt particles (FFU) (Bahurudeen et al., 2016). As can be
seen from Figure 4-I (a), the dark coloured carbon particles have a silica rich white covering, which on higher
magnification revealed porous dumbbell-shaped particles. Figure 4-II shows the structure of the fibrous carbon
particles. Figure 4-III depicts the prismatic particles with well-defined edges typical of inorganic matter,
indicating complete burning. Presence of prismatic particles can also be seen in Figure 4-IV, where SCBA was
burned at 900°C. The absence of fibrous particles is noticeable in this figure, indicating recrystallization of the
SCBA particles at higher temperatures. The difference in the microstructure of sugarcane straw ash before and
after grinding is shown in Figure 4-V (a) and (b). It can be seen that the large and irregular particles in SCSA
transformed in to particles that are more regular after 50 minutes of milling.

PT
A microstructural investigation on SCBA obtained from South Eastern Brazil showed high amounts of silica
rich angular particles along with elongated cylindrical porous structures of unburnt bagasse (Figure 4-VI).
Figure 4-VII shows the microstructure of raw bagasse ash containing tubular-shaped particles with irregular

RI
shapes. Figure 4-VIII reveals the fibrous particles in SCBA burned at 600°C suggesting the presence of unburnt
carbon and Figure 4-IX shows the close up of the fibrous particles.

Raw SCBA is generally characterized by higher particle sizes and coarse fibrous carbon particles. However,

SC
bagasse ash after proper processing (with lesser mean particle sizes; D50 <= 19µm) is found to be better in terms
of compressive strength and can be considered a suitable partial substitute for cement (Cordeiro et al., 2008)

4.2.3 Pozzolanic Reactivity of Boiler Ashes

U
Pozzolanic reactivity is the ability of a material, in finely divided form, to react with calcium hydroxide (lime,
AN
CH) in the presence of moisture to produce the binding product calcium-silicate-hydrate (C-S-H) in
cementitious systems, albeit having no binding property of its own (ASTM C595 / C595M-17, 2017).
Pozzolanicity of a material is generally assessed by conducting strength activity index (SAI), Chapelle test,
Frattini test and by monitoring the electrical conductivity of the material during stages of hydration. The results
M

from these experiments as reported in literature are shown in Table 3.

Table 3: Pozzolanic reactivity of bagasse ash reported in literature
Lime
D

Frattini Chapelle SAI Saturation Electrical

Reference Sample
Test Test (%) Test** conductivity
(%)
TE

Raw BA x - 91 - -
Agredo et al., 2014
Ground BA
- 97 - -
EP

Negligible change in
Raw BA x - 72 56
conductivity
Bahurudeen et al., 2016
Gradual decline of
Sieved BA
- 79 76
conductivity
C

Raw BA - 36 49 - -
Cordeiro et al., 2008
AC

Ground BA - 141 89 - -
x: No pozzolanicity- plot point above Frattini curve;
: Pozzolanic; ** CaO consumed

A remarkable increase in pozzolanic reactivity was observed between calcination temperatures of 600°C and
700°C, as can be seen from Figure 5. The increase in reactivity up to 700°C can be attributed to the amorphous
silica and the decline in reactivity thereafter is attributed to the recrystallization of silica, as mentioned earlier.
Loss on ignition values continued to decrease on increasing temperature as all the organic contents are
vaporized. Fineness of a material has a significant role on its reactivity.

Bagasse ash ground in vibratory mill for 120 minutes, when used in the concrete mix at a replacement level of
35% exhibited a pozzolanic activity index of 100%. However, it took only 15 minutes of grinding to attain the
minimum required strength for the same replacement level (Cordeiro et al., 2004).
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

100
Cordeiro et al., 2009 100
Priya et al., 2017

80 80

PAI (%)
LOI (%) 60 60

40 40

PT
20 20

RI
0 0
400 500 600 700 800 900

SC
Temperature (°C)
Figure 5: Effect of calcination temperature on LOI and PAI of SCBA

U
It was observed that sieved and ground SCBA was more reactive than burnt and ground SCBA (Bahurudeen and
Santhanam, 2015). Therefore, to increase the pozzolanicity, it should be enough to grind the as-received ash to
AN
about 15-20 minutes in a vibratory mill rather than further burning it. This minimizes the required energy for
processing. It was found that SCSA calcined at 800°C and 1000°C have similar pozzolanic reactivity. Moreover,
SCSA was found to be a more reactive pozzolan than SCBA when burnt at 800°C (Morales et al., 2009). This
might be due to the recrystallization of crystobalite in SCBA and a higher optimum temperature requirement for
M

SCSA. However, further research is needed to confirm the accurate optimum temperature of straw ash and the
combined effect of sieving, burning and grinding on its pozzolanic reactivity.

4.2.4 Setting times

D

The influence of boiler ashes on setting time of blended cement was a reason for concern since sugar is a known
TE

set-retarder. The variation in setting times of concrete mixtures blended with SCBA as reported in earlier studies
are shown in Figure 6.

800 800
EP

Ganesan et al., 2007

Final Setting Time (Minutes)
Initial setting time (Minutes)

700 Singh et al, 2000 700

Bahurudeen et al., 2015
600 Arif et al., 2016 600
C

500 500
AC

400 400

300 300

200 200

100 100

0 0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35

Replacement Levels (% )
Figure 6: Variation in setting times with addition of sugarcane bagasse ash
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Both initial and final setting times increase with an increase in percentage of SCBA replacement. However, with
the exception of one, all the other studies reported setting times within the limits. Significantly higher setting
times were reported for concrete mixes blended with as-received raw SCBA (Singh et al., 2000). The sugarcane
bagasse that leaves the mill can still contain some juice, either due to capillary action or because of the presence
of sucrose resulting from incomplete rupture of cells in the roll mills (Bizzo et al., 2014). The unburnt sugar
content in the untreated residual ash may have contributed to the delayed setting times. Moreover, the higher
water demand of the raw SCBA due to its cellular structure might also have been another reason for the slower
set.

4.2.5 Workability

PT
Due to increased surface area and the hygroscopic nature of the bagasse ash, flow values were found to decrease
steadily with increasing bagasse ash replacement, resulting in about 33% reduction in flow value at a level of
replacement of 30% (Chi, 2012). Higher super plasticizer dosage was required for bagasse ash blended concrete

RI
mixtures than control concrete to maintain the same slump value, confirming the decrease in workability
(Chusilp et al., 2009b). From earlier studies on conventional concrete and self-compacting concrete with partial
replacement of bagasse ash (Sua-Iam and Makul, 2013), it can be seen that addition of bagasse ash generally
results in loss of workability in the concrete matrix due to its water absorbing nature. A minimum dosage

SC
requirement of 3% superplasticizer (SP) was reported for maintaining the optimum slump value on addition of
bagasse ash in self-compacting concrete (Akram et al., 2009). Greater slump flow values can be expected if
properly processed bagasse ash is used in the mix instead of the raw bagasse used in the studies.

U
4.2.6 Compressive strength
AN
There have been many studies on the effect of boiler ash addition on the compressive strength properties of
concrete. It has been observed that, as-received ashes from the sugar industry exhibited lesser compressive
strength. Maximum compressive strength in all cases was observed to be at a replacement level of 5-10%.
However, properly treated ashes have exhibited more than the minimum requirement ( PAI =75%) even at
M

replacement levels of 35% (Cordeiro et al., 2004; Moraes et al., 2015). From Figure 7, it can be seen that
bagasse ash can be safely used in cementitious systems up to a replacement level of 20%, without compromising
its strength.
D
TE

175
Normalized Compressive Strength (%)

150
Singh et al., 2000
EP

Ganesan et al., 2007

125 Chi et al., 2012
Rukzon et al., 2012
Somna et al., 2012
C

100 Kawee et al., 2012

Bahurudeen et al., 2015
AC

Moraes et al., 2015

75 Arif et al., 2016
Shafiq et al., 2016
Kazmi et al., 2017
50

25
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Level of replacement (%)

Figure 7: Compressive strength of SCBA blended mortar/concrete mixes with respect to control
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
The plot points that lie below the required minimum at 20% level of replacement are mixes that used
unprocessed bagasse ash. It has also been reported that 15- 20% replacement of cement with bagasse ash in self-
compacting concrete resulted in higher compressive strength of SCC than that of control concrete (Akram et al.,
2009).

4.2.7 Splitting tensile strength

The tensile strength of SCBA-blended concrete mixes showed a similar pattern to that of compressive strength-
an initial increase with smaller replacement percentages and a gradual decline in strength at higher replacement
levels.

PT
6.0
Noor-Ul-Amin et al., 2011
5.5 Ganesan et al., 2007
Shafiq et al., 2016

RI
Split Tensile Strength (MPa)

5.0

4.5

SC
4.0

3.5

U
3.0
AN
2.5

2.0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
M

Level of Cement Replacement (%)

Figure 8: Variation of Split tensile strength of concrete (after 28 days of curing) on SCBA addition
D

Figure 8 shows the variation in tensile strength on replacement of cement by bagasse ash as reported in various
studies. Maximum tensile strength was observed at a replacement level of 5-10%. Nevertheless, comparable
tensile strength to that of control specimens were obtained at a replacement level of 20% (Amin, 2011).
TE

4.2.8 Durability parameters of concrete

The longevity of a structure depends on the durability characteristics of its construction materials. Apart from
EP

mechanical properties, concrete should be capable of withstanding aggressive environments to which it might be
subjected during its service lifetime. The internal microstructure of concrete plays an important role on the
durability of a concrete structure, since a denser pore structure will result in reduced permeability to external
aggressive agents. Supplementary cementitious materials such as silica fume, fly ash and slag have been proven
C

highly efficient in this regard. The following section examines the durability parameters of SCBA blended
concrete reported in the existing literature.
AC

4.2.8.1 Effect on water penetration resistance of concrete

SCBA blended concrete specimens generally showed marginally increased water absorption characteristics than
control concrete after 28-days of curing. However, with time, water absorption values decreased, as is apparent
from Figure 9(a). The initial increment in the water absorption values is attributed to the hygroscopic nature of
SCBA whereas the consequent decline in the water absorption values is indicative of pore refinement resulting
from the pozzolanic reaction of bagasse ash. Coefficient of water absorption (m2/s) tends to decrease
significantly with respect to bagasse ash addition. However, wide variation (an order of 105 magnitude) in the
range of coefficient of permeability is reported in the literature, as can be seen from Figure 9(b).
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
2
Coefficient of water permeability (m /s)
-10 -5
1.8x10 3.5x10
28 days 16 Ganesan et al., 2007
90 days -5 28 days 90 days

Water absorption (%)

-10
1.6x10 3.0x10
Ganesan et al., 2007

14

Rukzon et al., 2012

Chi et al., 2012
-5
-10
1.4x10 2.5x10 12 56 days
-5 10
-10 2.0x10
1.2x10
-5 8
-10 1.5x10
1.0x10
6
-5
1.0x10

PT
-11
8.0x10 4
-6
5.0x10 2
-11
6.0x10
0.0 0

RI
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 5 10 15 20 25 30
Replacement level (%) Replacement Level (%)
Figure 9: (a) Variation in coefficient of water permeability and (b) water absorption with SCBA addition

SC
The higher values reported might be the result of the greater carbon content (10.5%) and larger mean size
(45µm) of bagasse ash, compared to the processed bagasse ash (burnt at 650°C for one hour and ground to a
mean size of 5.4µm) used in the other study. Sorptivity values followed a similar trend, with SCBA blended
concrete specimens having lesser values than control concrete at all stages of curing, even up to a replacement

U
of 30% (Ganesan et al., 2007). The water penetration depth of concrete specimens with bagasse ash also showed
significant reduction at higher percentages (25%) of SCBA addition (Bahurudeen et al., 2015). Surface
AN
absorption characteristics of the concrete was found to be considerably improved with the addition of bagasse
ash (Chi, 2012).

4.2.8.2 Effect on resistance of concrete against chloride penetration

M

Chloride penetration resistance of concrete is generally measured by means of accelerated laboratory tests such
as rapid chloride permeability test, chloride conductivity test etc. Low conductivity and low total charge passed
indicate good quality concrete. Concrete specimens with 5% SCBA showed lesser conductivity (charge passed)
D

under an electrical gradient of 60V than control specimen.

TE
Total charge passed (Coloumbs)

8000

7000
EP

6000

5000 Rukzon et al., 2012

4000 Ganesan et al., 2007
C

Mao-Chieh Chi, 2012

3000 Bahurudeen et al., 2015
AC

2000

1000

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Cement replacement level (%)
Figure 10: Total charge passed through SCBA blended concrete at various levels of replacement

However, a drastic reduction (about 74%) in ‘total charge passed’ was observed for further replacements of
bagasse ash up to 25% in almost all the studies (see Figure 10). Similar pattern was observed for chloride
conductivity results with bagasse ash blended specimens - having 49% lesser conductivity than that of control,
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
after 56 days. Reduction in pore solution conductivity and pore refinement are cited as reasons for the increase
in chloride resistance. Chloride diffusion coefficients calculated from conductivity tests supported the results
obtained by RCPT. Another research study showed similar behaviour, but the conductivity values started
increasing after 10%, resulting in a higher value than control for 30% SCBA replacement (Chi, 2012).

4.2.8.3 Effect on resistance of concrete against air permeability

Resistance of reinforced concrete against air borne aggressive deteriorating agents such as chlorides and
sulphates is assessed through gas permeation of concrete. South African Oxygen Permeability Index test (OPI)
and Torrent Air Permeability tests were conducted in earlier research studies to investigate the effect of SCBA
on air permeation resistance of concrete. Torrent air-permeability test results showed that addition of SCBA

PT
reduced the coefficient of air permeability significantly.

10.5
0.18

RI
10.4

Torrent air permeability kT (10 /m )

0.16

2
Oxygen Permeability Index (OPI)

10.3

-16
0.14

SC
10.2
0.12
10.1
0.10

U
10.0
0.08
9.9
AN
9.8 0.06

9.7 0.04
M

9.6 0.02

9.5 0.00
Control Rep-5% Rep-10% Rep- 25%
D

SCBA (Bahurudeen et al., 2015) CSF (Alexander et al., 1999)

TE

SCBA (Bahurudeen et al., 2015)

Figure 11: Gas Permeability Indicators with SCBA and Condensed Silica Fume (CSF) addition

While control concrete was classified “fair” in quality (SIA 162/1-E., 2003), bagasse ash blended specimens
EP

(10-25%) fell in “very good” to “excellent” quality after 56 days of curing.

The negative logarithm of the average coefficient of permeability is considered as Oxygen Permeability Index.
Therefore, a higher OPI indicates lesser permeability. The OPI increases steadily with bagasse ash replacement,
C

as depicted in Figure 11. Even though the concrete blended with condensed silica fume shows lesser
permeability at smaller level of replacements, beyond a replacement of 5%, SCBA shows better resistance
AC

against permeability than the mixes with CSF (Alexander and Magee, 1999; Bahurudeen et al., 2015).
Therefore, it is evident that bagasse ash addition results in better cover quality and decreased pore connectivity.

4.2.8.4 Effect on drying Shrinkage

The drying shrinkage of both control and SCBA blended specimens are found to increase over the curing time.
Although a marginal reduction in shrinkage was observed for SCBA blended specimens in the early curing
stages, there were no considerable differences in shrinkage observations between control specimens and SCBA
blended specimens (Bahurudeen et al., 2015; Chi, 2012). This is in contrast with the shrinkage measurements
reported for fly ash (Sennour and Carrasquillo, 1989) and slag (Shariq et al., 2016), where replacement (by
mass) of cement resulted in a slightly higher shrinkage than conventional concrete.
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
4.2.8.5 Effect on heat of hydration of concrete
Heat of hydration is an important parameter in determining the quality of concrete. Excess evolution of heat
from concrete specimens, especially in mass concreting where heat dissipation is difficult, results in thermal
cracking. The heat evolution of bagasse ash blended concrete was measured using an adiabatic calorimeter and
the total heat liberated was found to be lesser for SCBA bended mixtures than for control concrete mixture. The
peak heat rate was reduced by about 25% and was shifted to the right, indicating delayed setting time than that
of control (Bahurudeen et al., 2015). A replacement of 30% showed a reduction of about 33% in heat evolution,
with a light right shifting of the temperature peak. Semi-adiabatic calorimetry studies also yielded similar results
with a slight delay in reaching peak heat release (Montakarntiwong et al., 2013).

PT
4.3 Boiler ashes as precursors to alkali activated binders
Alkali activated binders (AAB) are popular among researchers in the field since it is a zero Portland cement
technology. Moreover, it uses waste from various industries such as thermal power plants (fly ash) and steel

RI
plants (blast furnace slag-BFS), thus contributing to the environmental sustainability.

S-BA 25

SC
1.6 Pereira et al., 2015 S-BA 33
Deepika et al., 2017 S-BA 50
Puertas et al., 2000 S-BA 25
1.2 S-BA 33

U
SS-BA 50
Strength Ratio

K-BA 25
AN
0.8 S-FA 30
S-FA 50
S-FA 70
M

0.4 S-FA 100

S+SS-BA 10
S+SS-BA 20
D

0.0 K+KS-BA 10
S= Sodium Hydroxide; K=Pottassium Hydroxide; K+KS-BA 20
TE

SS=Sodium Silicate; KS= Pottassium Silicate

0 10 20 90 100
Testing Age (Days)
EP

Figure 12: Strength ratio of various replacement levels of SCBA and Fly Ash (FA) to control mortar (100% slag)

Figure 12 is a compiled plot of normalised compressive strength of SCBA-based AAB using various activators
C

at different dosages. The ordinate represents the ratio of the strength of the blended specimens to control
specimens (100% BFS). It can be seen that almost all the mixes with 25% bagasse ash exhibited a strength ratio
AC

more than 1. SCBA based alkali activated mortar mixes with KOH activator exhibited greater 3rd day
compressive strength than sodium-based activators, suggesting a faster initial activation with KOH. However,
long-term strength was found to be more for specimens activated with NaOH.

Mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) tests performed in the same study showed that samples activated with
sodium silicate solution had lesser pore volume than NaOH activated specimens Samples activated with
potassium-based activators showed the least pore volume; however, this might be due to lower water to binder
ratio. Moreover, as can be seen from Figure 12, strength ratio of the bagasse/slag specimens was greater than
that of fly ash/slag specimens for similar replacement percentages. Higher molarity of activator solution was
found to result in greater strength of the specimens (Deepika et al., 2015).

Similar to bagasse ash, straw ash has also been used as a source material for development of alkali activated
binders, in partial replacement of blast furnace slag (BFS). In a study, sugarcane straw received from a
plantation in Brazil was burned at 700°C to ashes and the residue was sieved and ground to improve its
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
reactivity. It was observed that, unlike SCBA blended mixes or control, heat curing improved SCSA blended
mixtures in terms of compressive strength (Moraes et al., 2016).

4.4 Sugarcane bagasse ash as an alternative for sand in cement concrete

Raw bagasse ash has larger particle size than cement and often contains crystalline silica due to uncontrolled
burning in the boilers. Therefore, raw bagasse needs to be processed to make it suitable as a pozzolanic material.
In such cases where bagasse ash is characterised with high amounts of crystalline silica (quartz), it can be used
as a fine aggregate in concrete mixtures, replacing a part of river sand. SCBA collected from a Brazilian sugar
mill was found to have fineness modulus equal to that of fine sand (0.6 - 1.4) (Sales and Lima, 2010). Specific
gravity values of the samples were also very close to that of natural sand. The compressive strength of mortar

PT
samples were found to be higher than control, even for a sand replacement of 50%. Sand replacement of 20-30%
showed the highest compressive strength for two different bagasse ash sources.

4.5 Sugarcane bagasse ash in the production of unburnt and burnt clay bricks

RI
As stones are expensive and concrete blocks energy intensive, the only viable option for construction in many of
the developing economies is bricks. About 70 billion bricks are produced in India every year. In a comparative
study of embodied energy in various building materials, it was observed that burnt clay bricks surpasses stone,

SC
hollow concrete block and soil-cement block by a very wide margin (Reddy and Jagadish, 2003). Major amount
of this energy is expended during burning of clay in the brick manufacturing process.

10

U
Deepika et al.
Madurwar et al. (2014) 28
(2017)
9
AN
Compressive Strength (MPa)

Water Absorption (%)

8 24
M

7
20
D

6
16
TE

12
4
EP

3 8
m m m nd m L1 L2 L3 L4 L5 L6
-Ce S-Ce S-Ce ay-Sa nd-Ce -QD- -QD- -QD- -QD- -QD- -QD-
C

-RS -C -C l a
BA BA FA C A-s BA BA BA BA BA BA
SC SC F SC SC SC SC SC SC
AC

RS=River Sand; CS=Crushed Sand; FA=Fly Ash; Cem= Cement; QD= Quarry Dust; L= Lime
Figure 13: Compressive strength and water absorption of unburnt bricks made of industrial by-products

It has been observed that the use of alternate materials reduce the embodied energy of building materials,
especially when the raw materials used are by-products from industries (Debnath et al., 1995). In this light,
bagasse ash has been used in conjunction with lime and quarry dust to make unburnt bricks. The density of the
bricks was found to reduce with increased replacements of bagasse ash; with about 72% bagasse ash in the mix,
it shows the same density as that of fly ash bricks (Madurwar et al., 2014). Figure 13 shows the variation in
compressive strength and water absorption characteristics of unburnt bricks as reported in various studies. Water
absorption characteristics of bagasse ash bricks showed a general increase as expected, due to the hygroscopic
nature of the material. SCBA-QD-L mixes (from 1 to 6) had varying percentages of SCBA from 50 to 75%, in
steps of 5% (with a constant lime content of 20%). At 50% replacement (SCBA-QD-L1), the bricks showed
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
better compressive strength than fly ash bricks and burnt clay bricks. However, compressive strength decreased
with further increments. The equivalent energy of the SCBA blended bricks were much lesser than that of burnt
clay bricks (Madurwar et al., 2015).

In another study, bagasse ash based unburnt bricks were produced as per guidelines suggested by National
Thermal Power Corporation of India (NTPC) for fly ash bricks. Compressive strength of the SCBA bricks was
found to be higher than fly ash bricks. However, in line with previous studies, water absorption was higher than
fly ash bricks. Removal of fibrous fraction from raw bagasse ash was suggested as a method to reduce water
absorption of the unburnt clay bricks. The water absorption was brought down below the allowable limit by the
addition of crusher sand in the mix instead of river sand. Compressive strength of the specimens blended with

PT
raw bagasse ash and crushed stone sand was found to be greater than the mixture with bagasse ash and river
sand (See Figure 13). This is an added advantage since river sand mining is highly regulated and unsustainable.
Moreover, SCBA bricks showed no efflorescence problems (Deepika et al., 2017).

RI
The heat exposure from traditional brick kilns and the harmful black carbon emissions affect the health of the
kiln workers (Environmental Protection Agency US, 2012). Production of bagasse ash based unburnt brick
production not only improves the quality of the construction products but also contributes to social sustainability
by providing cleaner and healthier working conditions to the workers, as it does not release dangerous emissions

SC
and eliminates the need of heat exposure.

The effect of SCBA as a filler material in burnt clay bricks was also investigated and it was found that the linear
shrinkage properties of the clay bricks were reduced on addition of SCBA up to 20% by weight (Faria et al.,

U
2012). The water absorption values of the SCBA added mixes were higher than clay bricks, especially beyond
replacements of 10% (Faria et al., 2012). Therefore, it is recommended that SCBA content in burnt clay bricks
AN
be limited to a maximum of 10% to retain reasonable mechanical strength and water absorption properties.

4.6 Sugarcane filter cake in production of lightweight foamed concrete (LFC)

Sugarcane filter cake is the residue available after clarifying and filtering of sugarcane juice. Filter cake from
M

the sugar industries are traditionally used as fertilizer for plants. However, the logistics cost involved in
transporting the filter cake render it difficult to be used in plantation areas located away from the sugar plants.
Further, over-fertilization of nearby regions with this filter cake results in CO2 and CH4 emissions rather than
D

uptake by plants (George et al., 2010). Leaching of chemicals from filter cake is another major concern
associated with filter cake disposal. Incineration of this filter cake or press mud would make for an interesting
material that can be used in the production of foamed concrete. Makul et al. studied the effect of incinerated
TE

sugarcane filter cake (ISF) and it was observed that the addition of ISF as a partial replacement for cement in
LFC results in increased slump flow values than control (Makul and Sua-Iam, 2016). The density of the ISF
blended mixes is reported to be within the limits. As for the mechanical properties, the split tensile strength of
the ISF blended mixes was found to be slightly lesser than the control LFC while total porosity of the LFC was
EP

reduced with ISF addition. Thermal conductivity values were also found to decrease with higher percentage of
ISF replacements, while water absorption characteristics increased (Makul and Sua-Iam, 2016). Therefore, ISF
in smaller replacement percentages are recommended in lightweight-foamed concrete so that its mechanical and
C

durability properties are not compromised.

5. Proposed Framework for Energy and Material Recovery in Sugar Industries and
AC

Identification of a Sustainable Production Pathway

A symbiotic framework including the sugar industry, construction sector and energy sector is presented in this
section (see Figure 14), with the processes and materials identified from the review. When the sugarcane is
harvested mechanically, cane tops and leaves (also called cane trash) are left in the field, and the stalk is
transpored to the sugar mills. These can be used as fodder for cattle or as fertiliser for further sugarcane
cultivation. The cane stalk is then processed in the sugarmills to extract juice and the crushed stalk (bagasse) is
conventionally disposed off. The juice is then clarified and filtered in a filtation unit, and the solids are separated
as filter cake, which has found applications as fertilisers or as a replacement material for cement to make
foamed concrete when incinerated (as described in section 4.6).
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT

Power Grids Electricity Pozzolan

(centralized/ Micro)
Heat Fine Aggregate
Cogeneration

PT
Boiler Ashes Precursor in AAB
(SCBA & SCSA)
Bricks

RI
Fodder Cane Tops Pyrolysis Bio-Oil
and Leaves Cane Trash/ (Fast/ Slow) Bio-char Bio-modifier for
(CTL) Sugarcane Straw asphalt cement
Syngas

SC
Fertilizer
Juice extraction Co-processing in
Bagasse Construction
Cement Kilns
Industry

U
Cane Stalk
Clarification Pyrolysis & Value Added Xylene

AN
Catalytic Reforming Chemicals Toluene
Filtration Filter cake Benzene
Sugarcane

M
Lightweight
Cultivation Incineration
foamed concrete
Crystallization Fermentation

D
Black Treacle

TE
Centrifugation Centrifugation Molasses Cattle Feed Cattle

Sugar Fertilizer
Distillation
EP
Neat Fuel in Dung
Dedicated Engines Ethanol
C

Dehydration
AC

Heat Methane Bio-Digester

Blended with gasoline Anhydrous
in normal Engines Ethanol

Figure 14: Identified Material and Energy Recovery Pathways for Sugar Industries
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Filtered juice can either be used to make sugar via crytstallisation or to make ethanol by fermentation. When the
ethanol production route is chosen, molasses is separated at the centrifugation stage, which can be used as
fertiliser to the soil, cattle feed or to make black treacle. Ethanol so produced may be used as a flex fuel or as
neat fuel in vehicle engines-thus reducing fossil fuel consumption and associtaed emssions. Bagasse, along with
cane trash can also be used as source materials for energy production (through cogeneration or pyrolysis) or
value-added chemical production (through catalytic reforming after pyrolysis). Bagasse can also produce second
generation ethanol by fermentation techniques. Secondary by-products from cogeneration (SCBA and SCSA)
can act as supplementay cementitious materials and cut down lime calcination, which in turn reduces the carbon
footprint of the cement manufacturing industry. Alternatively, they can be used in bricks, along with limestone
and sand/quarry dust. Another option is to use them as precursors in alkali-activated binders along with slag/fly

PT
ash. On the other hand, the bio-oils obtained by pyrolysis can be used in lieu of diesel fuel and the bio-char can
be successfully used for soil amendment and can be returned back to the sugar fields. There are also recent
studies which use bio-char from pyrolysis are used as a bio-modifier for asphalt cements (Zhao et al., 2014).

RI
This framework can be used as the starting point for further analysis and research on valorisation options for
sugar industry waste. Each valorisation pathway shall be compared (in terms of life cycle analysis or triple
bottom line assessment) with other simultaneous production routes so that the most beneficial scenario could be

SC
adopted-subject to local situations/conditions, which are given as constraints. Simplistically, it can be used as a
decision making tool for industry personnel or policy makers.

6. Discussion:

U
This section discusses the various sugar industry waste valorisation routes presented in the framework in section
AN
5 - in terms of their technical and sustainable benefits and its need in the current scenario. Further, analysis of
the current research trends, gaps and scope for future research are also presented.

Sugar industry is a major agro based industry in many of the developing economies. However, it is highly
affected by the volatile pricing and unsteady markets. Most of the sugar plants in developing economies are
M

small scale and located in rural areas (Jingjing et al., 2001). Any downfall in harvest or global sugar prices
affect the lives of the people whose livelihood depends on the industry. Diversification of the sugar industry
sector in to producing energy, fuels, value added chemicals and construction products will reduce the
D

vulnerability of sugar plants to market fluctuations. However, selection of a particular production pathway needs
enormous amount of research since the factors that determine the success of a route are different from one
TE

geographic location to another. The energy requirements of a particular location, quality of the materials, and
seasonal variations in supply should be taken in to consideration while selecting a particular valorisation route.
For instance, if a particular location has a micro-grid energy facility, it would be logical to divert all the excess
biomass in to electricity production via cogeneration. Sugar plants connected to the micro grid networks
EP

eliminate the need for longer supply lines from a centralised power grid. This will help offset a large part of the
centralised electricity from thermal power projects, reducing fossil fuel burning and subsequent carbon
emissions. Similarly, a flex-fuel engine market as in Brazil and USA would require more ethanol production.
The lack of knowledge on the availability of the materials could also be a hindrance to its effective utilisation.
C

Therefore, a regional availability database that details the quantity, quality and geographical distribution can
help in effective valorisation of the materials.
AC

As can be seen from Figure 14, bagasse can also be used as a fuel input for co-processing in the cement
industry. However, use of bagasse for co-processing will be in competition with electricity production from
cogeneration. Diverting the available bagasse from electricity production is not an economically viable option in
the current scenario, primarily due to the logistics cost involved in transporting the bagasse to cement plants.
However, if this is transported to the nearby cement plants for co-processing, the resulting by-product (bagasse
ash) can be used in the cement plant itself as a supplementary cementitious material or as an inert filler, which
would compensate for the logistics cost involved in bagasse transportation to the cement plant. Such an
arrangement would enable proper energy and material recovery with respect to both sugar and cement
industries. Similarly, second-generation ethanol production from bagasse will also lead to competition with the
cogeneration process of electricity production. However, upon using sugarcane trash and better hydrolysis
technologies, it is found to yield comparable internal rate of return to that of electricity production (Dias et al.,
2011).
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Identification of the most sustainable valorisation path requires in-depth knowledge of the various economic and
environmental parameters associated with it. Silalertruska et al. studied four distinct sugar waste valorisation
routes and observed that implementing green cane/mechanised harvesting leaving the cane trash would increase
fossil fuel depletion impact by 21%, while cane trash recovery (by its use in electricity production) would help
offset this increase. By implementing biorefinery options (sugar production + molasses ethanol production +
cane trash recovery), it was found that the impact of sugar production on climate change, photo-oxidant
formation, particulate matter and acidification reduced significantly (Silalertruksa et al., 2017). In the same way,
a life cycle analysis study on bio-production from sugarcane concludes that the most sustainable option with
least trade-offs come from production of ethanol from surplus bagasse, the rest being used for powering the
production process. Using molasses as feedstock for ethanol production was found to have negative implications

PT
since its use as animal feed replaces a material with higher environmental impact (Renouf et al., 2013). Similar
trade-offs after giving thought to the competing processes (such as electricity generation and second generation
ethanol production as mentioned before) could be estimated from various processes of sugarcane residue
consumption including bio-oil production and boiler ash utilisation. An all-inclusive production framework with

RI
a circular material flow could lead to resource efficiency and regional job creation.

Even though the methods to extract energy from bagasse are varied, the most widely used method is observed to

SC
be its combustion in cogeneration boilers. Existing sugar plants could act as local energy suppliers to the
decentralised energy grid and contribute to the energy matrix, if the efficiency of the existing boilers is
increased and maintained (Azzi et al., 2015). However, the trend in literature suggests an increasing amount of
research in bagasse based bio-fuels by pyrolysis - indicating a gradual shift from bioelectricity generation to bio-

U
fuel production.

The residual bagasse ash finds many applications in the construction sector - as can be seen from sections 4.2 to
AN
4.6 - with emphasis on its use as a supplementary cementitious material in cement production. It is found that
the incorporation of bagasse ash in cement enhances the mechanical and durability properties up to a
replacement of 20%. However, in places where cement factories are not proximal to the sugar plants (as in some
states in India), research suggests that it can be effectively used in the production of unburnt bricks, alkali
M

activated binders, as fine aggregate etc. There is limited data available on the durability properties of sugarcane
straw ash blended cements, in spite of its high pozzolanicity. Since cane trash recovery has found to be one of
the most important aspects of sugar waste valorisation, a closer look on the cementitious properties of SCSA
D

would be beneficial.

6.1 Further research

TE

• Expanding the material flow framework to include the use of sugar industry by-products in other industries
such as textiles, pulp and paper industry, agriculture removal etc. can provide further options for product
EP

diversification and sustainable valorisation. It can also act as the starting point (system boundaries) for
detailed life cycle analysis.

• A triple bottom line analysis of each of these valorisation routes with its social, economic and
C

environmental parameters could help in better decision-making process after evaluating their trade-offs.

•
AC

Lack of knowledge on the availability and geographic distribution of bagasse/bagasse ash is found to be one
of the major hindrances for its industrial-scale usage. A regional survey and research for the development of
an extensive sugarcane bagasse/bagasse ash availability database with proper quantification of calorific
properties, seasonal variation, and tonnage is required for their proper utilisation.

• The influence of milling process (imbibition and diffusion) on the characteristics of bagasse ash is not yet
reported in the published literature. Research on this front necessary for its characterization. Even though
most of the durability criteria are met, more research in to the long-term performance of the construction
products (such as creep and shrinkage) containing these materials should be carried out for better
understanding of the materials.

• Co-processing of bagasse in cement kilns has not yet been studied in detail. Research on this front
(including a feasibility study and life cycle analysis) could pave light in to the efficient usage of excess
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
bagasse from sugar plants in cement industry- especially where sugar plants and cement plants are in close
proximity, as in India.

7. Conclusions

A comprehensive review on the various valorisation routes for sugar industry by-products in the energy and
construction sector is presented. The extensive literature review has revealed the existence of a symbiotic
relationship between sugar, cement and energy industries. Bagasse, the primary by-product of sugar industry, is
observed to be a versatile material for use as a fuel source, while the secondary by-product from sugar industry,
‘bagasse ash’ is a useful construction raw material.

PT
• From the literature, it was observed that current research mainly focuses on the use of bagasse in pyrolysis
systems for the production of cleaner energy rather than combustion in cogeneration boilers. The shift in
research focus from cogeneration and gasification to pyrolysis of bagasse can be seen as indicative of its

RI
imminent industrial use, resulting in a more efficient system of energy generation.

• Enhancement in strength and durability properties have been evidently reported for processed SCBA/SCSA

SC
based blended cements. Moreover, these carbon neutral raw materials replace conventional energy
expensive processes such as limestone calcination, thus contributing to environmental sustainability in the
cement industry.

U
• The optimum replacement level of SCBA was observed to be 20% in most cases. However, raw bagasse
ash was found to cause durability problems at a replacement level more than 5%. Therefore, proper
AN
processing of the material is necessary before its use.

• Transition to bagasse ash based unburnt brick production from the conventional burnt clay brick
manufacture reduce carbon emissions, and leads to significant economic benefits in rural brick manufacture
M

as bagasse ash is abundantly available in rural regions.

• A thorough review of literature suggested several valorisation routes for sugar industry wastes- all with
D

various levels of profit, practicability and sustainable benefits. Drawing on the findings, a symbiotic
material flow framework has been proposed. Adopting the optimum valorisation route from the framework
results in waste minimization, resource reutilisation and circular economy. Moreover, this research points
TE

out future pathways and highlights the importance of synergy between sugar mills, cement plants and
energy sector for environmental, societal and economic benefits.

References
EP

Aguiar, D.A., Rudorff, B.F.T., Silva, W.F., Adami, M., Mello, M.P., 2011. Remote sensing images in support of
environmental protocol: Monitoring the sugarcane harvest in Sao Paulo State, Brazil. Remote Sens. 3, 2682–2703.
https://doi.org/10.3390/rs3122682
C

Ahmed, I., Gupta, A.K., 2009. Syngas yield during pyrolysis and steam gasification of paper. Appl. Energy 86, 1813–1821.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2009.01.025
AC

Akram, T., Memon, S.A., Obaid, H., 2009. Production of low cost self compacting concrete using bagasse ash. Constr.
Build. Mater. 23, 703–712. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2008.02.012

Al Arni, S., Bosio, B., Arato, E., 2010. Syngas from sugarcane pyrolysis: An experimental study for fuel cell applications.
Renew. Energy 35, 29–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.renene.2009.07.005

Alauddin, Z.A.B.Z., Lahijani, P., Mohammadi, M., Mohamed, A.R., 2010. Gasification of lignocellulosic biomass in
fluidized beds for renewable energy development: A review. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 14, 2852–2862.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2010.07.026

Alexander, M.G., Magee, B.J., 1999. Durability performance of concrete containing condensed silica fume. Cem. Concr.
Res. 29, 917–922. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0008-8846(99)00064-2

Ali, K., Noor-ul-Amin, Shah, T., Saeed-ur-Rehman, 2011. Physico-chemical Study of Bagasse and Bagasse Ash from the
Sugar Industries of NWFP Pakistan and Remediation of Environmental Problems Caused by Refused Bagasse Ash,
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
in: Gökçekus, H., Türker, U., LaMoreaux, J.W. (Eds.), Survival and Sustainability: Environmental Concerns in the
21st Century. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp. 1225–1235. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-
95991-5_115

Alonso Pippo, W., Garzone, P., Cornacchia, G., 2007. Agro-industry sugarcane residues disposal: The trends of their
conversion into energy carriers in Cuba. Waste Manag. 27, 869–885. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2006.05.001

Amendola, S.C., Sharp-Goldman, S.L., Janjua, M.S., Spencer, N.C., Kelly, M.T., Petillo, P.J., Binder, M., 2000. A Safe,
portable, hydrogen gas generator using aqueous borohydride solution and Ru catalyst. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 25,
969–975. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0360-3199(00)00021-5

Amin, N., 2011. Use of Bagasse Ash in Concrete and Its Impact on the Strength and Chloride Resistivity. J. Mater. Civ. Eng.
23, 717–720. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0000227

PT
Antal, M.J., Grønli, M., 2003. The Art, Science, and Technology of Charcoal Production †. Ind. Eng. Chem. Res. 42, 1619–
1640. https://doi.org/10.1021/ie0207919

Antonio Bizzo, W., Lenço, P.C., Carvalho, D.J., Veiga, J.P.S., 2014. The generation of residual biomass during the

RI
production of bio-ethanol from sugarcane, its characterization and its use in energy production. Renew. Sustain.
Energy Rev. 29, 589–603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.08.056

Arif, E., Clark, M.W., Lake, N., 2016. Sugar cane bagasse ash from a high efficiency co-generation boiler: Applications in

SC
cement and mortar production. Constr. Build. Mater. 128, 287–297.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.10.091

Asadullah, M., Rahman, M.A., Ali, M.M., Rahman, M.S., Motin, M.A., Sultan, M.B., Alam, M.R., 2007. Production of bio-
oil from fixed bed pyrolysis of bagasse. Fuel 86, 2514–2520. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2007.02.007

U
ASTM C595 / C595M-17, 2017. Standard Specification for Blended Hydraulic Cements. West Conshohocken, PA.
AN
ASTM C618 - 15, 2015. Standard Specification for Coal Fly Ash and Raw or Calcined Natural Pozzolan for Use in
Concrete. West Conshohocken, PA,.

Azzi, M., Duc, H., Ha, Q.P., 2015. Toward sustainable energy usage in the power generation and construction sectors - a
case study of Australia. Autom. Constr. 59, 122–127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2015.08.001
M

Bahurudeen, A., Kanraj, D., Gokul Dev, V., Santhanam, M., 2015. Performance evaluation of sugarcane bagasse ash
blended cement in concrete. Cem. Concr. Compos. 59, 77–88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2015.03.004
D

Bahurudeen, A., Santhanam, M., 2015. Influence of different processing methods on the pozzolanic performance of
sugarcane bagasse ash. Cem. Concr. Compos. 56, 32–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2014.11.002
TE

Bahurudeen, A., Wani, K., Basit, M.A., Santhanam, M., 2016. Assesment of Pozzolanic Performance of Sugarcane Bagasse
Ash. J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 28. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001361

Barbosa, C.M.G., Terra-Filho, M., de Albuquerque, A.L.P., Di Giorgi, D., Grupi, C., Negrão, C.E., Rondon, M.U.P.B.,
Martinez, D.G., Marcourakis, T., dos Santos, F.A., Braga, A.L.F., Zanetta, D.M.T., Santos, U. de P., 2012. Burnt
EP

Sugarcane Harvesting - Cardiovascular Effects on a Group of Healthy Workers, Brazil. PLoS One 7, 1–10.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0046142

Barros, S., 2016. Brazil: Sugar Annual Report (USDA).

C

Batra, V., Urbonaite, S., Svensson, G., 2008. Characterization of unburned carbon in bagasse fly ash. Fuel 87, 2972–2976.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2008.04.010
AC

Benhelal, E., Zahedi, G., Shamsaei, E., Bahadori, A., 2013. Global strategies and potentials to curb CO2emissions in cement
industry. J. Clean. Prod. 51, 142–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.10.049

Bizzo, W.A., Lenço, P.C., Carvalho, D.J., Veiga, J.P.S., 2014. The generation of residual biomass during the production of
bio-ethanol from sugarcane, its characterization and its use in energy production. Renew. Sustain. Energy Rev. 29,
589–603. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2013.08.056

Botella, L., Stankovikj, F., Sánchez, J.L., Gonzalo, A., Arauzo, J., Garcia-Pérez, M., 2018. Bio-Oil Hydrotreatment for
Enhancing Solubility in Biodiesel and the Oxydation Stability of Resulting Blends. Front. Chem. 6, 83.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fchem.2018.00083

Bozell, J., Holladay, J., Johnson, D., White, J., 2007. Top Value Added Chemicals from Biomass - Volume II: Results of
Screening for Potential Candidates from Biorefinery Lignin. Pacific Northwest Natl. Lab. II, 87.
https://doi.org/10.2172/921839

Cardona, C.A., Quintero, J.A., Paz, I.C., 2010. Production of bioethanol from sugarcane bagasse: Status and perspectives.
Bioresour. Technol. 101, 4754–4766. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2009.10.097
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Carlson, T.R., Vispute, T.P., Huber, G.W., 2008. Green gasoline by catalytic fast pyrolysis of solid biomass derived
compounds. ChemSusChem 1, 397–400. https://doi.org/10.1002/cssc.200800018

Carpenter, D., Westover, T.L., Czernik, S., Jablonski, W., 2014. Biomass feedstocks for renewable fuel production: a review
of the impacts of feedstock and pretreatment on the yield and product distribution of fast pyrolysis bio-oils and
vapors. Green Chem. 16, 384–406. https://doi.org/10.1039/C3GC41631C

Carrier, M., Hugo, T., Gorgens, J., Knoetze, H., 2011. Comparison of slow and vacuum pyrolysis of sugar cane bagasse. J.
Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 90, 18–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2010.10.001

Cataluña, R., Kuamoto, P.M., Petzhold, C.L., Caramão, E.B., Machado, M.E., Da Silva, R., 2013. Using bio-oil produced by
biomass pyrolysis as diesel fuel. Energy and Fuels 27, 6831–6838. https://doi.org/10.1021/ef401644v

PT
Chi, M.C., 2012. Effects of sugar cane bagasse ash as a cement replacement on properties of mortars. Sci. Eng. Compos.
Mater. 19, 279–285. https://doi.org/10.1515/secm-2012-0014

Chusilp, N., Jaturapitakkul, C., Kiattikomol, K., 2009a. Effects of LOI of ground bagasse ash on the compressive strength
and sulfate resistance of mortars. Constr. Build. Mater. 23, 3523–3531.

RI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2009.06.046

Chusilp, N., Jaturapitakkul, C., Kiattikomol, K., 2009b. Utilization of bagasse ash as a pozzolanic material in concrete.
Constr. Build. Mater. 23, 3352–3358. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2009.06.030

SC
Cordeiro, G.C., Filho, R.D.T., Fairbairn, E.M.R., Tavares, L.M.M., Oliveira, C.H., 2004. Influence of mechanical grinding
on the pozzolanic activity of residual sugarcane bagasse ash, in: Vázquez, E., Hendriks, C.F., Janssen, G.M.T. (Eds.),
International RILEM Conference on Use of Recycled Materials in Building and Structures. Barcelona, Spain, pp.
731–740. https://doi.org/10.1617/2912143756.081

U
Cordeiro, G.C., Toledo Filho, R.D., Fairbairn, E.M.R., 2009. Effect of calcination temperature on the pozzolanic activity of
AN
sugar cane bagasse ash. Constr. Build. Mater. 23, 3301–3303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2009.02.013

Cordeiro, G.C., Toledo Filho, R.D., Tavares, L.M., Fairbairn, E.M.R., 2008. Pozzolanic activity and filler effect of sugar
cane bagasse ash in Portland cement and lime mortars. Cem. Concr. Compos. 30, 410–418.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2008.01.001
M

Cordeiro, G.C., Vieira, A.P., Lopes, E. da S., 2017. Study on the pozzolanic activity of sugar cane straw ash produced using
different pretreatments. Quim. Nova 40, 264–269. https://doi.org/10.21577/0100-4042.20170002

De Soares, M.M.N.S., Garcia, D.C.S., Figueiredo, R.B., Aguilar, M.T.P., Cetlin, P.R., 2016. Comparing the pozzolanic
D

behavior of sugar cane bagasse ash to amorphous and crystalline SiO2. Cem. Concr. Compos. 71, 20–25.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2016.04.005
TE

Debnath, A., Singh, S.V., Singh, Y.P., 1995. Comparative assessment of energy requirements for different types of
residential buildings in India. Energy Build. 23, 141–146. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-7788(95)00939-6

Dechezleprêtre, A., Glachant, M., Ménière, Y., 2009. Technology transfer by CDM projects: A comparison of Brazil, China,
India and Mexico. Energy Policy 37, 703–711. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2008.10.007
EP

Deepchand, K., 1986. Characteristics, present use and potential of sugar cane tops and leaves. Agric. Wastes 15, 139–148.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0141-4607(86)90045-4

Deepika, S., Anand, G., Bahurudeen, A., Santhanam, M., 2017. Construction Products with Sugarcane Bagasse Ash Binder.
C

J. Mater. Civ. Eng. 29, 04017189. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)MT.1943-5533.0001999

Deepika, S., Madhuri, G., Bahurudeen, A., Santhanam, M., 2015. Development of Sugarcane based Bagasse ash blended
AC

geopolymer for use in concrete, in: 27th Biennial National Conference of the Concrete Institute of Australia in
Conjunction with the 69th RILEM Week. Melbourne,Australia, pp. 1070–1079.

Dias, M.O.S., Cunha, M.P., Jesus, C.D.F., Rocha, G.J.M., Pradella, J.G.C., Rossell, C.E.V., Maciel Filho, R., Bonomi, A.,
2011. Second generation ethanol in Brazil: Can it compete with electricity production? Bioresour. Technol. 102,
8964–8971. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2011.06.098

E.A.Seabra, J., C.Macedo, I., L.Chum, H., E.Faroni, C., A.Sarto, C., 2011. Life cycle assessment of Brazilian sugarcane
products: GHG emissions and energy use. Biofuels, Bioprod. Biorefining 6, 519–532. https://doi.org/10.1002/bbb

Ebrahimi-Nik, M., 2012. Effect of Reaction Temperature and Type of Catalyst on Hydrogen Production in Supercritical
Water Gasification of Biomass. Iran. J. Energy Environ. 3, 202–209.
https://doi.org/10.5829/idosi.ijee.2012.03.03.1337

Environmental Protection Agency US, 2012. Reducing Black Carbon Emissions in South Asia - Low Cost Opportunities 1–
83.
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Faria, K.C.P., Gurgel, R.F., Holanda, J.N.F., 2012. Recycling of sugarcane bagasse ash waste in the production of clay
bricks. J. Environ. Manage. 101, 7–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2012.01.032

Frías, M., Villar-Cociña, E., Valencia-Morales, E., 2007. Characterisation of sugar cane straw waste as pozzolanic material
for construction: Calcining temperature and kinetic parameters. Waste Manag. 27, 533–538.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2006.02.017

Ganesan, K., Rajagopal, K., Thangavel, K., 2007. Evaluation of bagasse ash as supplementary cementitious material. Cem.
Concr. Compos. 29, 515–524. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2007.03.001

Garcia-Perez, M., Chaala, A., Roy, C., 2002. Vacuum pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 65, 111–136.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0165-2370(01)00184-X

PT
Geissdoerfer, M., Savaget, P., Bocken, N.M.P., Hultink, E.J., 2017. The Circular Economy – A new sustainability paradigm?
J. Clean. Prod. 143, 757–768. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.048

George, P.A.O., Eras, J.J.C., Gutierrez, A.S., Hens, L., Vandecasteele, C., 2010. Residue from sugarcane juice filtration
(filter cake): Energy use at the sugar factory. Waste and Biomass Valorization 1, 407–413.

RI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-010-9046-2

Ghosh, S.K., 2016. Potential of economic utilization of biomass waste in India - Implications towards SDGs, in: Seventh
Regional 3R Forum in Asia and the Pacific. Adelaide.

SC
Gonçalves, E.V., Seixas, F.L., Rocha, L., Scandiuzzi, D.S., 2017. Economic Trends for Temperature of Sugarcane Bagasse
Pyrolysis. Can. J. Chem. Eng. 95, 1269–1279. https://doi.org/10.1002/cjce.22796

Granville, S., Lino, P., Ralston, F., Barroso, L.A., Pereira, M., 2009. Recent advances of sugarcane biomass cogeneration in

U
Brazil. 2009 IEEE Power Energy Soc. Gen. Meet. PES ’09 1–5. https://doi.org/10.1109/PES.2009.5275659

Guzmán, P.L., Valdés, A., 2000. Heat and power cogeneration at a Cuban sugar mill based on bagasse and trash as fuel: the
AN
“Héctor Molina” project. Energy Sustain. Dev. 4, 90–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0973-0826(08)60257-4

Huang, L., Krigsvoll, G., Johansen, F., Liu, Y., Zhang, X., 2018. Carbon emission of global construction sector. Renew.
Sustain. Energy Rev. 81, 1906–1916. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2017.06.001
M

Huber, G.W., Sara, I., Corma, A., 2006. Synthesis of transportation fuels from biomass: Chemistry, catalysts, and
engineering. Chem. Rev. 106, 4044–4098. https://doi.org/10.1021/cr068360d

Huber, P.G.W., 2013. Catalytic Processes for the Production of Fuels and Chemicals from Lignocellulosic Biomass.
D

Islam, M.R., Haniu, H., Islam, M.N., Uddin, M.S., 2010. Thermochemical Conversion of Sugarcane Bagasse into Bio-Crude
Oils by Fluidized-Bed Pyrolysis Technology. J. Therm. Sci. Technol. 5, 11–23. https://doi.org/10.1299/jtst.5.11
TE

Jindo, K., Mizumoto, H., Sawada, Y., Sanchez-Monedero, M.A., Sonoki, T., 2014. Physical and chemical characterization of
biochars derived from different agricultural residues. Biogeosciences 11, 6613–6621. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-
6613-2014
EP

Jingjing, L., Xing, Z., DeLaquil, P., Larson, E.D., 2001. Biomass energy in China and its potential. Energy Sustain. Dev. 5,
66–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0973-0826(08)60286-0

Kuan, W.-H., Huang, Y.-F., Chang, C.-C., Lo, S.-L., 2013. Catalytic pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse by using microwave
heating. Bioresour. Technol. 146, 324–329. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.07.079
C

Laird, D.A., Brown, R.C., Amonette, J.E., Lehmann, J., 2009. Review of the pyrolysis platform for coproducing bio-oil and
biochar. Biofuels, Bioprod. Biorefining 3, 547–562. https://doi.org/10.1002/bbb.169
AC

Leal, M.R.L. V, Galdos, M. V., Scarpare, F. V., Seabra, J.E.A., Walter, A., Oliveira, C.O.F., 2013. Sugarcane straw
availability, quality, recovery and energy use: A literature review. Biomass and Bioenergy 53, 11–19.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biombioe.2013.03.007

Ma, M., Cai, W., 2018. What drives the carbon mitigation in Chinese commercial building sector? Evidence from
decomposing an extended Kaya identity. Sci. Total Environ. 634, 884–899.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.04.043

Ma, M., Yan, R., Du, Y., Ma, X., Cai, W., Xu, P., 2017. A methodology to assess China’s building energy savings at the
national level: An IPAT–LMDI model approach. J. Clean. Prod. 143, 784–793.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.12.046

Madurwar, M. V., Mandavgane, S.A., Ralegaonkar, R. V., 2014. Use of sugarcane bagasse ash as brick material. Curr. Sci.
107, 1044–1051. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2222.2000.00820.x

Madurwar, M. V, Mandavgane, S.A., Ralegaonkar, R. V, 2015. Development and Feasibility Analysis of Bagasse Ash
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Bricks. J. Archit. Eng. 141, 1–9. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)EY.1943-7897.0000200.

Makul, N., Sua-Iam, G., 2016. Characteristics and utilization of sugarcane filter cake waste in the production of lightweight
foamed concrete, Journal of Cleaner Production. Elsevier Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.02.111

Manyà, J.J., Arauzo, J., 2008. An alternative kinetic approach to describe the isothermal pyrolysis of micro-particles of sugar
cane bagasse. Chem. Eng. J. 139, 549–561. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2007.09.005

Marcello, M.C., Riveras, I., 2010. Brazil cuts ethanol blend in gasoline to 20 pct. Bus. green.

Martirena Hernández, J.F., Middendorf, B., Gehrke, M., Budelmannt, H., 1998. Use of wastes of the sugar industry as
pozzolana in lime-pozzolana binders: Study of the reaction. Cem. Concr. Res. 28, 1525–1536.
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0008-8846(98)00130-6

PT
McHenry, M.P., 2009. Agricultural bio-char production, renewable energy generation and farm carbon sequestration in
Western Australia: Certainty, uncertainty and risk. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 129, 1–7.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2008.08.006

RI
Ministerio da Agricultura, P. e A., 2007. Fixa em vinte e cinco por cento o percentual obrigatório de adição de álcool etílico
anidro combustível à gasolina., Publicado no Diário Oficial da União de 29/06/2007.

Mishra, M. kumar, Khare, N., Agrawal, A.B., 2014. Bagasse Cogeneration in India: Status, Barriers. IOSR J. Mech. Civ.

SC
Eng. 11, 69–78.

MNRE, 2012. Biomass Power and Cogeneration Program [WWW Document]. Minist. New Renew. Energies. URL
http://mnre.gov.in/schemes/grid-connected/biomass-powercogen/ (accessed 5.30.17).

U
Modani, P.O., Vyawahare, M.R., 2013. Utilization of bagasse ash as a partial replacement of fine aggregate in concrete.
Procedia Eng. 51, 25–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.proeng.2013.01.007
AN
Montakarntiwong, K., Chusilp, N., Tangchirapat, W., Jaturapitakkul, C., 2013. Strength and heat evolution of concretes
containing bagasse ash from thermal power plants in sugar industry. Mater. Des. 49, 414–420.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2013.01.031

Moraes, J.C.B., Akasaki, J.L., Melges, J.L.P., Monzó, J., Borrachero, M.V., Soriano, L., Payá, J., Tashima, M.M., 2015.
M

Assessment of sugar cane straw ash (SCSA) as pozzolanic material in blended Portland cement: Microstructural
characterization of pastes and mechanical strength of mortars. Constr. Build. Mater. 94, 670–677.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2015.07.108
D

Moraes, J.C.B., Tashima, M.M., Akasaki, J.L., Melges, J.L.P., Monzó, J., Borrachero, M. V., Soriano, L., Payá, J., 2016.
Increasing the sustainability of alkali-activated binders: The use of sugar cane straw ash (SCSA). Constr. Build.
Mater. 124, 148–154. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2016.07.090
TE

Morales, E. V., Villar-Cociña, E., Frías, M., Santos, S.F., Savastano, H., 2009. Effects of calcining conditions on the
microstructure of sugar cane waste ashes (SCWA): Influence in the pozzolanic activation. Cem. Concr. Compos. 31,
22–28. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2008.10.004
EP

Ochoa, L., Hendrickson, C., Matthews, H.S., 2002. Economic Input-output Life-cycle Assessment of U.S. Residential
Buildings. J. Infrastruct. Syst. 8, 132–138. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1076-0342(2002)8:4(132)

Parameswaran, B., 2009. Sugarcane Bagasse, in: nee’ Nigam, P., Pandey, A. (Eds.), Biotechnology for Agro-Industrial
Residues Utilisation. Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht, pp. 239–252. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-9942-7_12
C

Parihar, M.F., Kamil, M., Goyal, H.B., Gupta, a K., Bhatnagar, a K., 2007. An Experimental Study on Pyrolysis of
Biomass. Process Saf. Environ. Prot. 85, 458–465. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1205/psep07035
AC

Payá, J., Monzó, J., Borrachero, M.V., Díaz-Pinzón, L., Ordóñez, L.M., 2002. Sugar-cane bagasse ash (SCBA): studies on
its properties for reusing in concrete production. J. Chem. Technol. Biotechnol. 77, 321–325.
https://doi.org/10.1002/jctb.549

Peng, Y.Y., Wu, S.B., 2011. Fast Pyrolysis Characteristics of Sugarcane Bagasse Hemicellulose. Cellul. Chem. Technol. 45,
605–612.

Rabiu, S.D., Auta, M., Kovo, A.S., 2018. An upgraded bio-oil produced from sugarcane bagasse via the use of HZSM-5
zeolite catalyst. Egypt. J. Pet. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpe.2017.09.001

Reddy, B.V.V., Jagadish, K.S., 2003. Embodied energy of common and alternative building materials and technologies.
Energy Build. 35, 129–137. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-7788(01)00141-4

Renouf, M.A., Pagan, R.J., Wegener, M.K., 2013. Bio-production from Australian sugarcane: An environmental
investigation of product diversification in an agro-industry. J. Clean. Prod. 39, 87–96.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2012.08.036
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
Rezaei, P.S., Shafaghat, H., Daud, W.M.A.W., 2014. Production of green aromatics and olefins by catalytic cracking of
oxygenate compounds derived from biomass pyrolysis: A review. Appl. Catal. A Gen. 469, 490–511.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apcata.2013.09.036

Sales, A., Lima, S.A., 2010. Use of Brazilian sugarcane bagasse ash in concrete as sand replacement. Waste Manag. 30,
1114–1122. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2010.01.026

Schlapbach, L., Züttel, A., 2001. Hydrogen-storage materials for mobile applications. Nature 414, 353–358.
https://doi.org/10.1038/35104634

Sennour, M.L., Carrasquillo, R.L., 1989. Creep and shrinkage properties in concrete containing fly ash. Austin, Texas.

Shariq, M., Prasad, J., Abbas, H., 2016. Creep and drying shrinkage of concrete containing GGBFS. Cem. Concr. Compos.

PT
68, 35–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cemconcomp.2016.02.004

SIA 162/1-E., 2003. Non-destructive site air-permeability test: Concrete construction complementary specifications.
Switzerland.

RI
Silalertruksa, T., Pongpat, P., Gheewala, S.H., 2017. Life cycle assessment for enhancing environmental sustainability of
sugarcane biorefinery in Thailand. J. Clean. Prod. 140, 906–913. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.06.010

Silveira, H.C.S., Schmidt-Carrijo, M., Seidel, E.H., Scapulatempo-Neto, C., Longatto-Filho, A., Carvalho, A.L., Reis,

SC
R.M.V., Saldiva, P.H.N., 2013. Emissions generated by sugarcane burning promote genotoxicity in rural workers: a
case study in Barretos, Brazil. Environ. Heal. 12, 87. https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-12-87

Singh, N.B., Singh, V.D., Rai, S., 2000. Hydration of bagasse ash-blended portland cement. Cem. Concr. Res. 30, 1485–
1488. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0008-8846(00)00324-0

U
Sohaib, Q., Muhammad, A., Younas, M., 2017. Fast pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse: Effect of pyrolysis conditions on final
product distribution and properties. Energy Sources, Part A Recover. Util. Environ. Eff. 39, 184–190.
AN
https://doi.org/10.1080/15567036.2016.1212292

Sua-Iam, G., Makul, N., 2013. Use of increasing amounts of bagasse ash waste to produce self-compacting concrete by
adding limestone powder waste. J. Clean. Prod. 57, 308–319. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.06.009
M

Suliman, M.E., Amola, S.M.F., 2011. The Use of Sugarcane Bagasse Ash As an Alternative Local Pozzolanic Material :
Study of Chemical Composition. Sci. Vis. 16, 65–70.

Teixeira, S.R., De Souza, A.E., De Almeida Santos, G.T., Peña, A.F.V., Miguel, Á.G., 2008. Sugarcane bagasse ash as a
D

potential quartz replacement in red ceramic. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 91, 1883–1887. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1551-
2916.2007.02212.x
TE

Tsai, W.T., Lee, M.K., Chang, Y.M., 2006. Fast pyrolysis of rice straw, sugarcane bagasse and coconut shell in an induction-
heating reactor. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 76, 230–237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2005.11.007

Uemura, K., Appari, S., Kudo, S., Hayashi, J.I., Einaga, H., Norinaga, K., 2015. In-situ reforming of the volatiles from fast
pyrolysis of ligno-cellulosic biomass over zeolite catalysts for aromatic compound production. Fuel Process. Technol.
EP

136, 73–78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuproc.2014.10.002

Uzun, B.B., 2016. Pyrolysis : A sustainable way from Waste to Energy. 1st Forebiom Work.

Varma, A.K., Mondal, P., 2017. Pyrolysis of sugarcane bagasse in semi batch reactor: Effects of process parameters on
C

product yields and characterization of products. Ind. Crops Prod. 95, 704–717.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indcrop.2016.11.039
AC

Verheye, W., 2000. Soils, Plant Growth and Crop Production – Vol.II - Growth and Production of Sugarcane, Encyclopedia
of Life Support Systems. Belgium.

Villar-Cociña, E., Valencia-Morales, E., González-Rodríguez, R., Hernández-Ruíz, J., 2003. Kinetics of the pozzolanic
reaction between lime and sugar cane straw ash by electrical conductivity measurement: A kinetic-diffusive model.
Cem. Concr. Res. 33, 517–524. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0008-8846(02)00998-5

World Energy Outlook-IEA, 2016. Energy and Air Pollution - World Energy Outlook 2016 Special Report.

Xu, R., Ferrante, L., Briens, C., Berruti, F., 2011. Bio-oil production by flash pyrolysis of sugarcane residues and post
treatments of the aqueous phase. J. Anal. Appl. Pyrolysis 91, 263–272. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaap.2011.03.001

Zhao, S., Huang, B., Ye, X.P., Shu, X., Jia, X., 2014. Utilizing bio-char as a bio-modifier for asphalt cement: A sustainable
application of bio-fuel by-product. Fuel 133, 52–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2014.05.002
 ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT
A Circular Framework for the Valorisation of Sugar Industry Wastes: Review on the
Industrial Symbiosis between Sugar, Construction and Energy Industries

HIGHLIGHTS

PT
1. Utilisation of sugar industry by-products in various construction products is discussed

2. Methods of cleaner energy production from sugar mill by-products are reviewed

RI
3. The symbiotic relationship between sugar, construction and energy industries is described

4. A circular framework is proposed for sustainable valorisation of sugar industry waste

U SC
AN
M
D
TE
C EP
AC