Cogeneration of steam and electric power

This study is concerned with the production of ethanol from sugar cane itself and not from molasses, which, when blended with gasoline, reduces the import bill for gasoline. The bagasse obtained after juice extraction is used as a fuel for the process. Under this scheme, some extra steam economy can be made because alcohol production does not need as much steam as sugar production. The surplus bagasse can be used to generate additional electric power to be fed into the utility grid. This can be termed as the ethanol/cogeneration solution to the tough growing energy problem. A scheme for the processing of sugar cane in to ethanol, electrical energy and other by-product is also given in this article. (orig./A.B.)