Is raw sugar produced from sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum L.) carbon positive or negative?
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Abstract
Carbon footprint calculations for raw sugar manufacture was conducted with the aim of determining if the industry is carbon neutral or net contributory to carbon emission. A detailed procedure for the production of raw sugar from sugarcane was designed to account all the sources of carbon emission. The factory design was based on a capacity of 4000 tons per day, operating for 270 days per year, 24 hours per day. The total carbon footprint accounted all the emissions and savings from plantation, factory operations, and products end-use. A total of 53,099.59 kg CO2 per hectare was computed or 643.63 kg CO2 per ton cane or 6.31 kg CO2 per kg sugar.
The embedded emissions of the materials during construction (pre-operational period) was also included, which served as the industry’s “carbon debt.” But this“carbon debt” was computed to be offset within 0.26 years.
With the co-generated electricity from bagasse fueling of 26.97MW and daily exported to the grid , the calculated carbon savings (compared to the Philippine electricity carbon intensity) was 2,089 tons CO2 per ha per year. At the field level of cane production, no cane burning/trash farming practice could shift sugarcane production from carbon emitting into carbon sequestering (carbon negative). Hence, raw sugar produced from the sugarcane plant can be carbon negative rather than positive. This means that instead of contributing to the emission, the whole system fixes in more carbon dioxide.
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