Diversifying biomass uses through new cropping systems
2017
Goebel, François-Régis | Chopart, Jean-Louis | Poser, Christophe | Braconnier, Serge | Martiné, Jean-François | Gérardeaux, Edward
Global demand for renewable energy from plant biomass is growing steadily as a result of policy choices, demographics, and rising per capita energy needs. This energy requirement is turning out to be a major obstacle to economic development on tropical islands and remote landlocked areas. Thus, sugarcane is no longer cultivated exclusively for sugar but also for its biomass which, when burnt, helps produce electricity. In Guadeloupe, there are plans to generate electricity from almost total sugarcane combustion. It has also become possible to produce second-generation ethanol from aboveground plant parts. To this end, CIRAD selected sugarcane and sorghum as model plants to conduct several projects in partnership that helped identify suitable planting material and agricultural practices producing 67–85 T/ha/year of sugarcane dry matter (DM) and 30–50 T/ha/year of sorghum DM. Various cultivation models were calibrated to extend the scope of the results to other areas or climatic conditions. In projects on sugarcane, biomass is used to generate electricity through combustion, while the Sweetfuel project uses sorghum biomass to produce bioethanol. The diversification of products in sugarcane and sorghum chains can offer producers and industrial actors new outlets in an environmental context that is not only increasingly constrained (pesticide reduction, climate change) but is also becoming increasingly competitive due to the liberalization of the sugar market. (Résumé d'auteur)
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