Sugar: A potential source of renewable energy

Energy consumption is an index of industrialisation. Energy sources used indicate the level of technical development of the country and the level of pollution reflects sensitivity towards the existence of mankind. At present in Bangladesh, GDP has gone up; per capita income is increasing, more vehicles are running in the road than ever before. But with the increased use of vehicles in the transport sector, pollution level is also increasing. The levels of lead, suspended particulate matter, carbon monooxide, sulphur, nitrogen and other organic compounds have reached alarming proportions.

High oil prices and adverse environmental impact of large scale use of fossil fuels are now matters of great concern all around the world. At the present rates of consumption, it is estimated that the known world sources of crude will be exhausted in the next 10-12 years. In spite of frantic survey, new sources of crude are becoming more and more scarce. In this situation, to get over the expected global energy crisis, the world attention is now directed towards searching for new sources of energy.
Many countries initiated an intensive search for alternative liquid fuels, particularly those obtainable from replenishable resources produced in the country. In this direction, alcohol fuels from the agricultural commodities, particularly from sugarcane and molasses have been considered as most promising fuels, especially for automobiles, which are the consumers of petroleum products in any country.

Sugar industry may be considered as a store house of bio-energy. Every sugar mills has a power house for generating renewable power for its own requirements.
Surplus electricity may be provided to the national grid. Molasses, a bi-product of the industry is the raw material for production of ethanol which is also a potential source of renewable energy. The renewable energy from sugar industry is most environment friendly.

The New Nation