Page 300 - Refining Biomass Residues for Sustainable Energy and Bioproducts

268 Refining Biomass Residues for Sustainable Energy and Bioproducts

formulation of cosmetics (Nazato et al., 2012) and pharma industries for production
of value-added chemicals such as policosanol, D-003, and octasanol (Arul
Gnanaraj, 2012).

12.4 Techno-economic assessment

Challenges mainly involved in the bioprocessing industries are scaling up of pro-
cess from the labs to industrial levels. Improvements have to be made in technical
level mainly in separation of products and their optimized conditions for the recov-
ery of bioproducts. Therefore in order to develop such well-designed R&D setup
with proper technical support, the government has to allocate funds for this
research. Crop-residue tools are used to assess the amount of residues produced for
the respective crop, which will be further utilized for the production of energy. The
choice of resources should be of sustainable varieties, so that it avoids the competi-
tion among others, which is used for other purposes. Some quantity should be left
on the soil in order to maintain the fertility; therefore some residues should be
excluded from using for energy production. The tool approximately analyzed across
different countries for about 30 crop-residue varieties, out of which the amount of
residues available for energy production for a particular residue/hectare has been
elucidated by means of important steps: (1) selecting the crop-residue type, (2)
defining the location of crop residues, (3) defining crop production, (4) producing
crop residues—residue-to-crop ratio, (5) defining the residues left in the field, (6)
estimation of the residues burnt in the field, and (7) defining the current use of crop
residues. This techno-economic modeling enables us to understand the implications
involved in the production of cost-competitive products from the agricultural resi-
dues. The process technology will be designed based on the techno-economic analy-
sis, and it is useful to direct the research toward the commercial deployment. In this
biochemical conversion process, integration pathways for catalytic conversion of
biomass to product were designed through TEA modeling. This modeling will give
idea about budget planning, which is an important factor for renewable compound
production and its commercialization. Sugarcane biorefinery provides favorable
economic environment for the production of green chemicals to meet the existing
demand in the market.

12.5 Conclusion and future prospectus

Sugarcane trash comprises variable nutrient composition such as sugars, minerals,
and proteins that are considered as key ingredients for the production of industrial
chemicals. Farmers will gain benefit by utilizing these residues for bioenergy pro-
duction. In turn, this will initiate new technological practices and policies that will
ensure the increase in employment opportunities across the country. This will fur-
ther protect the community environmentally by curbing the global warming
emissions.