Potentials for Energy Saving in Cane Sugar Industry

Abstract

This work investigates the possibilities of saving energy (heat and electrical) in the cane sugar factories in order to save bagasse for cogeneration. Co-generation is a recent trend in the cane sugar industry, which can generate huge income for the sugar factory. Many possibilities for energy saving have been considered in this work. Emphasis was made on two fields, namely the application of pressure evaporation, the configuration of heat circuit with intensive vapor bleeding, stage-wise heating of the juice and utilization of condensate. Three cases were considered with the current heat circuit of Alguneid Sugar Factory as a base case. The configuration implies the use of steam at 124ºC and pressure 2.2 bar with vapor bleeding from all effects, the condensate is utilized for juice heaters, with the 2nd vapor bleeding for the vacuum pans that has resulted in a lowest steam consumption of 23.988 kg/100kg cane with a difference of 6.863 kg/100kg cane compared to the base case. This configuration requires no addition of new equipment so it can be applied without incurring any extra costs. According to the investigation carried out in this work, it is possible to save an amount of bagasse in the range of 2.6 kg /100kg cane. Applying these calculations to the data obtained from Alguneid Sugar Factory, it is possible to generate an extra amount of electricity of 0.55 kWh /100kg cane which if it is sold will produce annual revenue of 106,260,000 SD, without incurring any extra costs for new equipment.