Sugarcane: Agricultural Production, Bioenergy and Ethanol explores this vital source for "green" biofuel from the breeding and care of the plant all the way through to its effective and efficient transformation into bioenergy. The book explores sugarcane's 40 year history as a fuel for cars, along with its impressive leaps in production and productivity that have created a robust global market. In addition, new prospects for the future are discussed as promising applications in agroenergy, whether for biofuels or bioelectricity, or for bagasse pellets as an alternative to firewood for home heating purposes are explored. Experts from around the world address these topics in this timely book as global warming continues to represent a major concern for both crop and green energy production. - Focuses on sugarcane production and processing for bioenergy - Provides a holistic approach to sugarcane's potential – from the successful growth and harvest of the plant to the end-use product - Presents important information for "green energy" options

While the Yucatán Peninsula of Mexico may conjure up images of vacation getaways and cocktails by the sea, these easy stereotypes hide a story filled with sweat and toil. The story of sugarcane and rum production in the Caribbean has been told many times. But few know the bittersweet story of sugar and rum in the jungles of the Yucatán Peninsula during the nineteenth century. This is much more than a history of coveted commodities. The unique story that unfolds in John R. Gust and Jennifer P. Mathews’s new history Sugarcane and Rum is told through the lens of Maya laborers who worked under brutal conditions on small haciendas to harvest sugarcane and produce rum. Gust and Mathews weave together ethnographic interviews and historical archives with archaeological evidence to bring the daily lives of Maya workers into focus. They lived in a cycle of debt, forced to buy all of their supplies from the company store and take loans from the hacienda owners. And yet they had a certain autonomy because the owners were so dependent on their labor at harvest time. We also see how the rise of cantinas and distilled alcohol in the nineteenth century affected traditional Maya culture and that the economies of Cancún and the Mérida area are predicated on the rum-influenced local social systems of the past. Sugarcane and Rum brings this bittersweet story to the present and explains how rum continues to impact the Yucatán and the people who have lived there for millennia.

Physiology of Sugarcane looks at the development of a suite of well-established and developing biofuels derived from sugarcane and cane-based co-products, such as bagasse. Chapters provide broad-ranging coverage of sugarcane biology, biotechnological advances, and breakthroughs in production and processing techniques. This single volume resource brings together essential information to researchers and industry personnel interested in utilizing and developing new fuels and bioproducts derived from cane crops.

The enormous impact of sugarcane plantations in Hawai‘i has overshadowed the fact that Native Hawaiians introduced sugarcane to the islands nearly a millennium before Europeans arrived. In fact, Hawaiians cultivated sugarcane extensively in a broad range of ecosystems using diverse agricultural systems and developed dozens of native varieties of kō (Hawaiian sugarcane). Sugarcane played a vital role in the culture and livelihood of Native Hawaiians, as it did for many other Indigenous peoples across the Pacific. This long-awaited volume presents an overview of more than one hundred varieties of native and heirloom kō as well as detailed varietal descriptions of cultivars that are held in collections today. The culmination of a decade of Noa Lincoln’s fieldwork and historical research, Kō: An Ethnobotanical Guide to Hawaiian Sugarcane Cultivars includes information on all known native canes developed by Hawaiian agriculturalists before European contact, canes introduced to Hawai‘i from elsewhere in the Pacific, and a handful of early commercial hybrids. Generously illustrated with over 370 color photographs, the book includes the ethnobotany of kō in Hawaiian culture, outlining its uses for food, medicine, cultural practices, and ways of knowing. In light of growing environmental and social issues associated with conventional agriculture, many people are acknowledging the multiple benefits derived from traditional, sustainable farming. Knowledge of heirloom plants, such as kō, is necessary in the development of new crops that can thrive in diversified, place-specific agricultural systems. This essential guide provides common ground for discussion and a foundation upon which to build collective knowledge of indigenous Hawaiian sugarcane.

"Shanti is a heroine that the reader will not easily forget. The story that is told here is worth not only knowing but also remembering." – Siphiwe Gloria Ndlovu, author, filmmaker and academic Vividly set against the backdrop of 19th century India and the British-owned sugarcane plantations of Natal, written with great tenderness and lyricism, Children of Sugarcane paints an intimate and wrenching picture of indenture told from a woman's perspective. Shanti, a bright teenager stifled by life in rural India and facing an arranged marriage, dreams that South Africa is an opportunity to start afresh. The Colony of Natal is where Shanti believes she can escape the poverty, caste, and troubling fate of young girls in her village. Months later, after a harrowing sea voyage, she arrives in Natal only to discover the profound hardship and slave labour that await her. Spanning four decades and two continents, Children of Sugarcane demonstrates the lifegiving power of love, heartache, and the indestructible bonds between family and friends. These bonds prompt heroism and sacrifice, the final act of which leads to Shanti's redemption.

Advances in Sugarcane Biorefinery: Technologies, Commercialization, Policy Issues and Paradigm Shift for Bioethanol and By-Products, by Chandel and Silveira, compiles the basic and applied information covering cane and biomass processing for sugar and ethanol production, as well as by-products utilization for improving the economy of sugarcane biorefineries. In this unique collection of 14 chapters, specialists in their field provide critical insights into several topics, review the current research, and discuss future progress in this research area. The book presents the most current advances in sugarcane biorefinery, including sugarcane crop cultivation, new sugarcane varieties, soil health, mechanization of crop, technical aspects of first and second generation ethanol production, economic analysis, life cycle assessment, biomass logistics and storage, co-generation of heat and electricity, process intensification and alternative by-products utilization. The book also explores the business ecosystem of sugarcane biorefineries, marketing analysis of ethanol demand and price dwindling patterns, aiming for a futuristic scenario. This book will be especially useful for scientists, researchers and technicians who are working in the area of biomass based biorefineries, as well as professionals in the sugar and alcohol industry. It also brings relevant content for policy makers, market analysts, agriculture scientists and managers. - Presents technological updates on biomass processing, system biology, microbial fermentation, catalysis, regeneration and monitoring of renewable energy and recovery processes - Includes topics on techno-economic analysis, life cycle assessment, sustainability, markets and policy - Explores the future potential of biorefineries with zero or near zero waste, and the potential of valorization of all by-products, including alternatives to current applications and the management of a large amount of residues

The House That Sugarcane Built tells the saga of Jules M. Burguières Sr. and five generations of Louisianans who, after the Civil War, established a sugar empire that has survived into the present. When twenty-seven-year-old Parisian immigrant Eugène D. Burguières landed at the Port of New Orleans in 1831, one of the oldest Louisiana dynasties began. Seen through the lens of one family, this book traces the Burguières from seventeenth-century France, to nineteenth- century New Orleans and rural south Louisiana and into the twenty-first century. It is also a rich portrait of an American region that has retained its vibrant French culture. As the sweeping narrative of the clan unfolds, so does the story of their family-owned sugar business, the J. M. Burguières Company, as it plays a pivotal role in the expansion of the sugar industry in Louisiana, Florida, and Cuba. The French Burguières were visionaries who knew the value of land and its bountiful resources. The fertile soil along the bayous and wetlands of south Louisiana bestowed on them an abundance of sugarcane above its surface, and salt, oil, and gas beneath. Ever in pursuit of land, the Burguières expanded their holdings to include the vast swamps of the Florida Everglades; then, in 2004, they turned their sights to cattle ranches on the great frontier of west Texas. Finally, integral to the story are the complex dynamics and tensions inherent in this family-owned company, revealing both failures and victories in its history of more than 135 years. The J. M. Burguières Company's survival has depended upon each generation safeguarding and nourishing a legacy for the next.

Sugarcane Biorefinery, Technology and Perspectives provides the reader with a current view of the global scenario of sugarcane biorefinery, launching a new expectation on this important crop from a chemical, energy and sustainability point-of-view. The book explores the existing biorefinery platforms that can be used to convert sugarcane to new high value added products. It also addresses one of today's most controversial issues involving energy cane, in addition to the dilemma "sugar cane vs. food vs. the environment", adding even more value in a culture that is already a symbol of case study around the world. Focusing on the chemical composition of sugarcane, and the production and processes that optimize it for either agricultural or energy use, the book is designed to provide practical insights for current application and inspire the further exploration of options for balancing food and fuel demands. - Presents the productive chain of sugarcane and its implications on food production and the environment - Includes discussions on the evolution of the sustainable development of the sugar-energy sector - Contextualizes and premises for the technological road mapping of energy-cane - Provides information on new technologies in the sugar-energy sector

Sugarcane exhibits all the major characteristics of a promising bioenergy crop including high biomass yield, C4 photosynthetic system, perennial nature, and ratooning ability. Being the largest agricultural commodity of the world with respect to total production, sugarcane biomass is abundantly available. Brazil has already become a sugarcane biofuels centered economy while Thailand, Colombia, and South Africa are also significantly exploiting this energy source. Other major cane producers include India, China, Pakistan, Mexico, Australia, Indonesia, and the United States. It has been projected that sugarcane biofuels will be playing extremely important role in world’s energy matrix in recent future. This book analyzes the significance, applications, achievements, and future avenues of biofuels and bioenergy production from sugarcane, in top cane growing countries around the globe. Moreover, we also evaluate the barriers and areas of improvement for targeting efficient, sustainable, and cost-effective biofuels from sugarcane to meet the world’s energy needs and combat the climate change.