Bioenergy from Filter Cake in Indian Sugar Industry

The most important environmental challenge faced by the world is the waste management which is generated from various agro processing industries and sugar industry is no exception. Thus emphasis is being given on minimization of waste and on increasing revenue generation through utilization of by-products in an innovative manner. With the depleting natural resources, increasing demand for green and clean energy in place of conventional system using from fossil fuel, there is indeed a need to explore alternatives that maintain the ecosystem balance and also the requirements of the society without affecting the natural resources. One such rational approach towards economic and environmental sustainability is adoption of bio-energy systems with a vision to save fossil energy. Converting a conventional sugar mill into a bio-energy process plant would contribute to fossil energy savings via renewable electricity, bio-gas/bio-CNG and ethanol substituting for fossil electricity and gasoline, respectively. One of the advantages of using bio-energy system is their low greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to fossil-energy ones. The present work examines the possibilities of utilizing filter cake from sugar factories for production of bio-gas, compressed bio-gas/bio-CNG, thereby addressing the environmental issues and successful transformation for value addition.