ABSTRACT
Sugar cane is a renewable resource that can sustain highly diverse multifunctional roles, going far beyond its main economic use for sugar production. The biomass potential of the crop can transform the sugar industry into a more versatile and competitive one, with a broader product portfolio that can generate valuable energy products and services. In this chapter, we present a review of cane utilization focused on the structure of sugar production processes and power generation from fibre resources. The resource requirements, technology use, performance indicators, benchmarks, best practices and opportunities for higher productivity are given with emphasis on operations in Southern Africa but also draw comparisons to the largest cane producers, namely Brazil and India.
