Bryan Lavarack1, Jenny Wu-Tiu-Yen2 and Giovanna Aita3
1Mackay Sugar Limited, Racecourse Mill, Mackay, Queensland ,Australia
2eRcane, 97494 Sainte-Clotilde Cedex, Réunion, France
3 Audubon Sugar Institute, Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, St. Gabriel, LA, USA
The ISSCT Co-Products Workshop was held in Saint-Paul, Réunion from 16 to 20 September 2024 and attended by 27 delegates from Australia, Colombia, France/Réunion, Ivory Coast, Mauritius, South Africa, Thailand, United States of America, and Zimbabwe. The theme of the Workshop was The Smart Sugarcane Biorefinery: Full Valorization of Co-Products for a Sustainable Future. The Workshop reviewed and discussed the production and development of a range of renewable and sustainable co-products derived from sugarcane and provided the opportunity for an effective international dialogue amongst the participants with multidisciplinary backgrounds. The Workshop was comprised of eight sessions: Opening; Sugarcane to Energy; New Valorization for Co-Products; The Future of Co-Products; Opportunities of Sugarcane Co-Products; Co-Products from the Distillery; Use of Sugarcane Co-Products and their Effluents; Biobased Products; and two panel discussions on the future of co-products and potential value-added products from co-products effluents. Visits were undertaken to the eRcane research centre, the Rivière du Mât distillery (rum/ethanol production), the Isautier farm (filter cake and vinasse distribution as biofertilizers), Albioma combustion turbine at Saint-Pierre, Albioma power plant at the Bois Rouge factory and the Tereos Gol factory. The exceptional value-adding and potential of sugarcane co-products was demonstrated at the Réunion workshop.