INTHEBLACK October/November 2024 - Magazine - Page 48
F E AT U R E
A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
Irrespective of debates over the merits of
sugar versus non-sugar substitutes, Sugar
Research Australia – the nation’s specialist
sugarcane research organisation – is
committed to the evolution of sugarcane
production and uses.
This is an important point, Viljoen says.
“Diversification of use is key.”
Hywel Cook, general manager of Industry
Services at Sugar Research Australia, believes
the sugar conversation will increasingly move
on from diet-related issues to an emphasis
on long-term product innovations.
“Of course, as an industry we don’t want
people over-eating our product,” he says.
“We want people to use common sense in
how much they eat. Sugar can be used for
a whole heap of other products rather than
just as a raw food material.”
To this end, Sugar Research Australia is
engaged in collaborative research projects
that include breeding sugarcane plants for
biofuels, enhancing genetic gains in cane
variety breeding and tackling biosecurity
risks to sugarcane production.
Cook says the beauty of sugarcane as a
biomass crop is its versatility – apart from
being used for sugar, the molasses and cane
juice can be turned into ethanol, while
mills can burn the fibre to make electricity
as an energy source for the mills and to
put excess energy back into the grid. “The
big opportunity is to make that energy
generation even more efficient.”
Cook says the development of greener
products such as biofuels, as part of a
broader bio-precinct approach, clearly
presents an important opportunity for
sugarcane producers. “To go from a
traditional sugar mill to one of these
bio-precincts requires a lot of investment,”
he says. “The mills, the growers, new
investors, they’re all interested. These
investments are in multiples of hundreds
of millions of dollars.”
48 INTHEBLACK October/November 2024
© Photo by ricka_kinamoto via Adobe Stock
used to control body weight, with its
research concluding that the use of
non-sugar artificial sweeteners “does not
confer any long-term benefit in reducing
body fat in adults or children”.
Allulose
There is already a technical pathway to
make ethanol and use it as the feedstock to
produce biofuels. “However, to maximise
the amount of ethanol and to make enough
sustainable aviation fuel, you need to invest
in second-generation ethanol generation,”
Cook says. “That’s new technology.”
Viljoen suggests that ethanol conversion
could be a viable option. “The bigger picture
issue is that this would need to go hand in
glove with the aviation industry driving hard
on efficient use of fuel. In the absence of this, it
would be shifting the issue elsewhere,” he says.
Galligan is also excited at the prospect
of biofuel innovations, noting that sugar
producers stand to gain if, in the future,
biofuels are required in similar volumes to the
conventional aviation fuel loads of today. “If
you did it all from sugarcane, you’d need a lot
more sugarcane. The industry would need to
expand significantly to service that demand.”
