Co-products Commission
Transforming waste into resources: the potential of sugarcane bagasse ash as a sustainable additive in manufacturing ceramic bricks
Last Updated: junio 11, 2025Sugarcane bagasse fly ash (SBFA) generated at Ingenio Pichichí was characterized to determine its potential as an additive in ceramic brick manufacturing and to promote the valorization of this waste. Ashes were characterized through physical, chemical, and mineralogical analysis using XRF and XRD to determine their composition and particle size.
Unveiling microbial diversity with metabarcoding: key to optimizing ethanol production
Last Updated: junio 9, 2025The presence of contaminating microorganisms in ethanol production processes generates negative impacts on efficiency, making it essential to identify the microbial species present, their relevance, and their locations to establish optimal control strategies.
Upscaling the production of potassium sulphate from stillage
Last Updated: junio 9, 2025Stillage contains considerable amounts of potassium, which has attracted its use for fertigation. The infrastructure that is needed for fertigation requires huge capital investment, so that only fields close to the ethanol plant benefit, albeit salinising the soil, and acidifying and destroying the conveyance infrastructure.
Valorization of sugarcane stillage by extraction of aconitic acid
Last Updated: junio 9, 2025Cane stillage or vinasse, a co-product of ethanol distilleries, contains 5-7 g/L of aconitic acid, a valuable trivalent carboxylic acid that is an important building block in organic synthesis. Vinasse also contains a variety of other organic compounds (e.g., organic acids, amino acids, colorants) and minerals (e.g., chlorides, sulphates), which make purification difficult.
Value-added products from vinasse
Last Updated: junio 11, 2025Environmental projects can now generate value-added products using different technologies, utilizing existing vinasse volumes and approaching zero-effluent models. These new technologies can use all the available vinasse or create mixed models that share vinasse with existing use options such as fertigation and composting.