The Australian sugar industry faces lower returns and rising costs, unless it begins producing high-value by-products, says Chris Allen of CSR.

Mr Allen was addressing an international audience at the recent CSIRO Sugar 2000 Symposium in Brisbane.

Although the Australian sugar industry is currently enjoying the benefits of expansion, said Mr Allen, it can't continue to do so indefinitely.

There are however a number of processes which could offset increasing production costs, he said.

"By introducing a cane separator at the front end of a mill, we could have high juice recovery and purity, as well as higher quality uncontaminated by-products," said Mr Allen.

"New technology allows for the separation of the constituent components of the cane prior to processing and may provide expanded opportunities for the utilisation of plant fibre and molasses, while increasing the potential for novel applications of sucrose at the same time."

New extraction processes, molecular biology and innovative fermentation techniques will lead to improved by-products, in turn providing opportunities to add value to the milling process.

Mr Allen highlighted a number of other research areas that may lead to significant changes. These include a liquid separation process that produces very low sugar colour, the evaluation of cane wax and its constituent chemicals, the application of enzymes for improved paper pulp, pretreatment of bagasses (waste fibre) for animal feed, ethanol production through direct microbial conversion, and low joule sucrose sweeteners.

More information from: Yance Jones (07) 3377 0394