Sugar growers are convinced that sugar cane pulp is the future of the business. Depressed international sugar prices and the United States’ reduced sugar quota have prompted cane growers to look elsewhere. Their hopes are now focused on a project to use sugar cane pulp to produce alcohol which could then be mixed with gasoline to generate electricity. The Dominican Federation of Sugar Cane Growers says the government could save US$150 million a year by mixing gasoline with 10% sugar cane alcohol. The Federation also says there would be benefits to the environment – mixing alcohol with gasoline reduces CO2 emissions by 28%. Listín Diario reports that in Brazil, four million vehicles run on pure alcohol from sugar cane and six million vehicles use a gasoline/alcohol mixture. As well, 15% of Brazil’s electricity comes from sugar cane pulp. Juan Antonio Japa, president of the Dominican Sugar Cane Growers Federation, says “countries that don’t produce petroleum products have even more reason to follow this line and to consider incorporating the production of alcohol in our sugar processing plants.”
