Brazilian research team cuts sugarcane ethanol production waste by 50 percent

In Brazil, researchers from Fermentec said that they have cut the volume of vinasse, a by-product of sugarcane ethanol production, by half by increasing the ethanol concentration in fermentation to 16 percent without affecting yield. The research team said that this process could reduce vinasse residues at Brazilian ethanol plants by 43 Mgy and save $2 per tonne of milled sugarcane.

Currently the distillery in Brazil working with alcohol content between 8% and 10%, resulting 10 to 12 litres to vinasse per litre of alcohol produced.

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