The sugar-ethanol industry has a strong economic impact worldwide, always with the bias of mass production of ethanol and sugar, in addition to other by-products that are either reused or commercialized. Despite its global presence, it has different sources of raw materials, which change according to the abundance of resources and weather conditions favorable to certain plantations.
This document aims to describe the processes of a sugarcane mill that uses sugarcane as a raw material, which are very similar to those of mills that process corn, beet, and others.
Brazil is responsible for 40% of all sugarcane produced globally and is, by a considerable margin, the largest producer of this raw material. It is estimated that, in the 2021/2022 harvest season, the country produced 24.82 billion liters of ethanol and 32.1 million tonnes of sugar and generated 20.2 GWh of energy by burning sugarcane bagasse.
As in any industry, the processes of the sugar-ethanol sector described herein may vary according to the technological level of each plant. After all, new technologies are implemented at all times.