8th GBEP Bioenergy Week GBEP

17th March 2021 Copyright © IRENA 2021Unless otherwise indicated, material in this slide deck may be used freely, shared or reprinted, so long as IRENA is acknowledged as the source.

Sugarcane bioenergy potentials in

Southern Africa

Seungwoo Kang, Associate Programme Officer – Bioenergy, IRENA Innovation and Technology Centre (IITC)

2020

By 2050 bioenergy needs to become a critical component ofour energy mix

Electricity would be the

main carrier, 90%

sourced from

renewable energy

And as part of this

transformation, modern

bioenergy use needs to

grow from 3% of energy

mix in 2018 to 18% by

2050.

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3

Countries with biofuel obligations for transport, 2019

Total 70 countries implemented blending mandates- Some countries with advanced biofuels

Advantage of bioenergy from sugarcane

• Cultivated in most of tropical countries

• One of the most efficient solar energy

converter to biomass.

• A semi-perennial crop, planted once and

harvested annually for 5 to 6 years

• Ethanol from sugarcane can reduce GHG

emissions by up to 80% compared to gasoline

• One tonne of sugarcane typically contains

about the same amount of energy as 1.2

barrels of petroleum.

4

Previous projects of bioethanol in Southern Africa

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BIOCOM

Angola

ETHCO and PRESSCANE

Malawi

CleanStar

Mozambique

Since 1982 Malawi cars are fuelled with E10 blends, using ethanol from sugarcane molasses produced in local mills. Malawi is moving towards E20.

The CleanStar Project was implemented in 2012 to reduce deforestation and promote ethanol from cassava as cooking fuels.

The BIOCOM Project, an Angolan-

Brazilian joint venture (MUS$ 750) has 42

kha (partially irrigated) planted with

sugarcane to produce 260 kton of sugar,

30 ML of ethanol per year and 28 MW in

cogeneration. Operation started in 2014,

adopting:

•precision agriculture techniques

•optimized varietal management (25

cane varieties)

•mechanized harvesting guided by

GPS

•state of art industrial plant

Sugarcane industry in Southern Africa

• Sugarcane has been produced for centuries

• Over half a million hectares devoted to sugarcane in 7 sugar producing countries

(Eswatini, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe)

• Approx. 35 Mt of sugarcane annually at 70.6 t/ha yield

• Only 4.1 ML of ethanol produced

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Suga

r p

rod

uct

ion

bal

ance

Suitable land for sugarcane production

• GIS based assessment with a set of successive sustainability constraints

• Biodiversity : protected areas, closed canopy forests and wetlands

• Food security : food and/or cash crop production area

• Climate : annual rainfall lower than 800 millimetres [mm] and others

• Terrain slope less than 16%, soil quality

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Sugarcane productivity model

• Agro-climate yield model

• Climate effect was modelled as function of thermal time [degree.days] and hydric

deficiency [mm], the lack of water in the plant root.

• Nitrogen application is adopted as a proxy for soil fertility.

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Sugarcane bioenergy technology• 1G ethanol process from sugarcane

• Sugar + Ethanol from molasse or Ethanol from direct juice via fermentation

• Full ethanol production plant can yield up to 80-90 L of ethanol per ton of

sugarcane

• Bagasse for heat and power generation

• 1G/2G integrated process from sugarcane

• Ethanol from sugar and lignocellulosic feedstock (straw and bagasse)

• Increase the yield of ethanol by 20-30% (78% from conventional, 22%

from 2G)

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2G technology involves more investment cost but yields more energy

*Conversion cost without feedstock cost

Sugarcane bioenergy potential results (1)

• Brownfield sugar mill can produced 380 ML of ethanol from molasse based on sugar production in 2015

• At an average cost of USD 0.55 per L of gasoline equivalent

• With increased sugarcane yield, an extra 1.4 billion L of ethanol could be produced by conventional processes at an

average cost of USD 0.71 per L

• Around 70 ML is economically attractive at a crude oil price of USD 50 per barrel and gasoline price of USD 0.43/L)

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Sugarcane bioenergy potential results (2)

• Enhanced farming technic can deliver both food and ethanol by 2030

• Without land expansion, improved sugarcane productivity can produce 1.3 BL of surplus ethanol

• With land expansion, it can reach 41 BL (Rainfed) and 72 BL (Rainfed + Irrigation)

• 1G/2G integrated technology can provide additional 20 BL of ethanol (straw)

• 58 to 156 TWh of electricity can be generated from bagasse cogeneration

111G

Eth

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pro

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yie

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and

lan

d e

xpan

sio

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y 2

03

0

1G

/2G

Eth

ano

l wit

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pro

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yie

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and

lan

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by

20

30

Conclusions

• Biofuels can provide readily available solutions for decarbonizing the transport sector complementing the enhanced role of

electrification and other urban measures

• Significant sugarcane expansion potential exists in the 7 studied countries in Southern Africa

• Advanced technology (1G/2G, energy cane) enhances energy yield and economics (ethanol and electricity)

• Ethanol from sugarcane has a wide application for the energy transition

• For road transport (blended with Gasoline, ethanol engine, ethanol fuel cell)

• For aviation sector (Alcohol to Jet technology)

• For chemical sector (further converted into bio-ethylene)

• For residential sector (ethanol cookstoves)

• Barriers such as technology, cost-competitiveness, finance, infrastructure, end-use applications (blend limits), sustainability

need to be addressed, but solutions are at hand.

• Policies play a more crucial role in supporting and providing longer term predictability for market expansion

• Regulatory changes with positive signals for the market e.g. the removal of the ethanol ban in Indonesia, Ethanol blending

mandates in African countries

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