Biomass is apotential sustainable source of energy. Approximately one-third of the energy available from
sugarcane is contained in the topsand leaves(trash), which are generally either burnt prior to harvesting
or are not recovered from the field. Based on results reported in the literature and assuming a 50% trash
recovery efficiency,it is estimated that 1.353 million tons of trash is available annually for cogeneration in
South Africa,which could potentially produce180.1MW over a200 day milling season.Studies in Brazil
and Australia have shown that the most efficient way of recovering the top sand leaves for cogeneration
of power at sugar mills is to use a chopper harvester with the separation of cane stalk sandtrash on the
harvester either fully or partially turned off.In South Africa more than 90% of the sugarcane crop is burnt
and manually harvested and hence new systems are proposed to recover the trash and to transport the
material to the mill.