BAGASSE (bti-gas'), the name given to the fibrous residue resulting from the crushing of sugar-cane and the expression of its juices. Originally the term was applied in Provence, France, to refuse from olive-oil mills, hence anything worthless. The word was also used to describe a disreputable woman, and it appears in English as "baggage." The root of bagasse is the Anglo-Saxon baeg, referring to the olive skin as a bag.
Sugar-cane bagasse, known also as pumice, megasse and cane straw, comprising refuse of the milling and extracting operations, averages about 12% by weight of insoluble matter. Bagasse is not returned to the soil for in the extraction of the cane juices sub stantially all of the soluble minerals are carried off in solution leaving only the tough fibres which are very resistant to decay. Experiments to develop the use of bagasse as ensilage, as direct food or as a carrier for molasses, have been unsuccessful. Its use for a fuel, however, was worked out by developing special types of furnaces, and in most sugar-producing countries it furnishes the fuel for the sugar grinding.
Many attempts have been made to produce from bagasse a fibre suitable for paper making but hitherto the processes have been too costly or did not produce an entirely satisfactory paper, though in Hawaii small quantities of mulch paper are manufactured from it.
In 1921 the manufacture was begun in Louisiana of a bagasse fibre insulating board.