EINTENSIFICATION OF POWER GENERATION IN SUGAR MILLS THROUGH MODERNIZATION

Abstract

Biomass-based cogeneration in the sugar industry is a useful alternative to meet the shortfall of energy by using sugarcane residue, an environment friendly fuel available with sugarcane mills across the globe. The energy obtained from biomass is renewable energy or green energy. This paper presents data collected from cogeneration plants in Indian sugar mills and its analysis. The observations and findings of this study will be helpful in improving technical parameters in other sugar mills. Power generation, captive power consumption and power export to grid per tonne of cane crushed are the key factors used for comparison. Power export depends on steam flow cycle, energy conservation in terms of process steam and captive/in house power consumption. Power generation and power export to grid increases with the installation of high-pressure boilers with pressures of 67 bar, 87 bar, 110 bar and 125 bar and temperatures of 520-560°C. Modernization related to cogeneration in existing and new sugar mills can be implemented to reduce the in-house power and process steam consumption. Energy efficiency in cogeneration plants can be achieved by installation of high-efficiency modern equipment, reactive power management, optimum steam pressure and temperatures, and appropriate loading on turbo generator sets. Hence, economically, bagasse based co-generation is a viable alternative to meet the ever increasing energy demand in India. By improving machinery performance, power generation is increased and in-house power consumption is reduced, which results in higher power export to grid. Installation of cogeneration plants in sugar mills increases the revenue of sugar mill and subsequently improves the rural and national economy. The capital investment is about INR 50 million per megawatt with a payback period of around 5 years.