eRcane, the host institution of the ISST Co-Products workshop, is a Research Center on Sugarcane located in Reunion Island (Indian Ocean), focuses on cane breeding, crop improvement, industrial and Research & Development innovations.

 

Since 2006 eRcane has been carrying out a program on Biorefinery valorisations and thus is equipped with a laboratory and small-scale biorefinery pilot.

The Industrial Processes and Innovations Department of eRcane conducts various R&D programmes, which are drivers of innovation in the sector. These programmes concern the adaptation or development of analytical methods tailored to all sugarcane products and the creation of new tools.

Another innovation aspect featured in the department is the search for new market outlets for sugarcane alongside current ones. Sugarcane is an ideal crop for the biorefinery process. In addition to producing sugar (a food outlet), it also generates electricity via bagasse, organic amendments with filter cake, and alcohol with molasses. Hence, just like crude oil which is broken down into many products (fuel, plastics, chemicals, etc.), biorefineries use processes to separate the various plant components while offering ways to tap their full potential.

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eRcane has been involved in many sugarcane development projects, such as extraction and development organic molecules from sugarcane to produce bioplastic products, or the identification of antioxidant molecules present in sugar co-products and the extraction of sugars from different types of biomass and their separation into five carbons.