Japanese Firm Plans to Build One of the World's Largest Bagasse Processing Plants

Toray Industries, a Japanese synthetic fibres company, is aiming to procure sugarcane waste from Thailand to produce biofuels. The company plans to construct one of the world's largest plants for processing bagasse, the fibrous residue from crushing sugarcane for sugar production.

Thailand is Asia's largest sugarcane grower and the fourth largest in the world. Furthermore, the Thai government is subsidizing bioethanol-blended gasoline as part of a policy to promote the use of plant-derived fuels and reduce oil imports.

The pilot plant will use Toray's water treatment membranes to produce high quality cellulosic sugar, a raw material for producing various biochemical products, such as ethanol. The plant will also manufacture raw materials for livestock feed. The project would create a new supply chain from surplus bagasse to biochemical products.