APPCB INFORMATION

BULLETIN

PUBLICATION 118 APRIL, 2004

BENEFITS OF ENERGY AUDIT AND CONSERVATION
IN SUGAR AND DISTILLERY UNITS

has been only marginally tapped in our country.

BACKGROUND
The available potential yet to be tapped is nearly
3000 MW. The utilization of the extra power
Sugar Industry is one of the oldest industrial
generation capability of the sugar industries, can aid
sector of our country. The Indian sugar industry is
in partly mitigating the situation.
the second largest producer of sugar in the world,
manufacturing nearly 15 million tones of sugar
The associated auxiliary Distillery Industry
from cane. With the recent liberalization of sugar
has also seen equal if not higher growth over the
industry and the increasing demand for sugar, the
periods. However, as the industry has grown over
sugar industry is poised for tremendous growth. The
the years, there have been peculiar problems
state of Andhra Pradesh is blessed with highly
confronting the sugar and distillery units ranging
fertile lands and sugar cane is one of the key
from, availability and costs of sugar cane,
agricultural outputs. The availability of sugar cane
increasing energy cost, decrease in sugar prices,
has propelled individuals as well as institutions to
increasing cost towards pollution control etc. The
venture out into sugar manufacturing as early as
industries have been adopting different strategies to
1920’s. This has gradually led to establishment of
overcome these problems, like going in for energy
Sugar industries through out Andhra Pradesh and at
cost optimization, installation of co-generation
present there are about 40 units. The earlier vintage
plants, use of alternative fuels, lower dependence on
plants have also seen gradual expansions with a
grid, etc.
shift from conventional to modern technologies.

Hence, the present and future focus of the

The sugar industry by its inherent nature can
Governments and the Indian sugar and Distillery
generate surplus energy through in contrast to the
industries will be, towards developing infrastructure
other industries, which are only consumers of
for generating and utilizing this extra power
energy. With liberalization and increased
generation capabilities and energy savings. This
competition, the generation and selling of excess
bulletin highlights how to incorporate energy
power to the electricity board, offers an excellent
efficiency aspects at the design / project stage itself.
source of revenue generation to the sugar plants.
This is referred to as commercial cogeneration and

CLEANER PRODUCTION CELL, A.P.POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, HYDERABAD

Sugar Units :
The sugar industry is a unique industry with the
following characteristics:
• Highly energy intensive
• The by-product baggasse, is used as a
fuel for generation of steam and power.
• Depending on the system, excess power
can be generated and sold to the grid.
The sugar industry consumes both steam and
power. Hence, the plant should take-up steam and
electricity saving projects together, to achieve
maximum benefits.
Distillery Units:
The distillery units have a good opportunity
with the availability of methane gas as a by-product
in the digesters. Methane gas is used as fuel in the
boiler substituting commercial fuels. In some of the
units, micro-turbines are used for meeting the power
and process steam requirements.
ISSUES OF ENERGY SAVING IN SUGAR /
DISTILLERY INDUSTRY
Following are some of the Energy saving options:
Steam Generation: Typically, most of the sugar
industries are installed with a battery of boilers of
different ratings. The boilers are characteristically
designed to operate at 21 Kg/Cm2 & 300° C, 42
Kg/Cm2 & 400°C, 65 Kg/Cm2 & 480°C. The recent
sugar plants boilers are designed for even higher
pressure & temperature ratings i.e. 65 Kg/Cm2 &
480°C to take advantage of the higher heat content
in the steam, which can be effectively used in the
turbo generator / turbine drives. The following
CLEANER PRODUCTION CELL, A.P.POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, HYDERABAD
example illustrates the facts:
• Heat content in steam at 42 Kg/cm2 &
400°C – 768 Kcal/Kg
• Heat content in steam at 65 Kg/cm2 &
480°C – 805 Kcal/Kg
With the exhaust steam conditions in the
turbo generates/turbine drives being the same, a
greater amount of power can be drawn with the
same amount of steam quantity however, with a
marginal increase in the fuel consumption.
The boilers are also now a days being
designed to operate on other agricultural by
products like rice husk, cane agricultural waste etc
so that the precious baggasse can be put into
alternative value addition processes like paper
manufacturing.
Apart from these there are many other
opportunities available in the boilers viz. better
operational practices, excess air optimization,
radiation losses control, blow down control etc. by
which good savings can be affected, which in turn
promotes release of fuel (baggasse) for alternative
uses or stock piling of baggasse for the off-season
period.
Turbo Generator/Turbine Drive: The erstwhile
turbo-generator’s/turbine drives have been designed
with lower input steam rating (i.e.) 21Kg/cm2 &
300°C with a high specific steam requirement for
generating unit power, 15-16 Kg/ KW (in extraction
mode). Whereas, the present day turbines compare
exceedingly well at 6-8 Kg/KW (extraction mode)
for a input steam rating of 65Kg/cm2 & 480°C.
Driven by this advantage, many of the sugar plants
are looking into installing new turbo generator’s so
as to overcome their in-plant power shortages and
also to export power to grid. In the off-season, when
the process steam requirement is negligible, these
turbines can be operated on condensing mode to
generate power for probable supply to grid or sister
concerns.
PROCESS RELATED ISSUES
Installing Fiberizer: By installing a fiberizer
before the mills the sugar plants have an
opportunity to reduce the maceration water added in
the fourth or fifth stages of mill, as higher
percentage of juice is extracted in the first stage of
mill. For example
• Juice extraction at 1st mill without fiberizer
– 43-44%
• Juice extraction at 1st mill with fiberizer –
49-50%
Any reduction in the maceration water leads
to an equal reduction of the steam required to
evaporate it later.
Installing Tandem (Series) Mills: Few of sugar
plants have 6 mills in tandem instead of the 5 mills
earlier. The advantage being extraction of
maximum amount of juice from the sugar cane. The
other benefit would be reduction in moisture
content in the baggasse that would be subsequently
fired in the boiler; this leads to improving the
evaporation ratio of the boiler.
Froth Suppression: As the juice is extracted
sequentially in the mills, froth is formed for
suppression of which water is added. At present
CLEANER PRODUCTION CELL, A.P.POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, HYDERABAD
systems have been designed to suppress froth using
very low quantities of water, which in turn helps
reduce the steam requirement in the process.
Juice Heaters: Two types of heaters are normally
found in the sugar plants, horizontal & vertical. The
horizontal juice heater has a high heat transfer
coefficient whereas in the case of vertical juice
heater maintenance is easier. The type of juice
heater used is unit specific.
Multiple Effect Evaporators: The juice
concentration is gradually increased in multiple
effect evaporators. Now a days multiple effect
evaporators (quadruple and higher as well) are
available, which consume lower quantities of steam
for evaporating the same amount of water in juice.
Sulphurous Acid Preparation: For sulphitation of
the juice/syrup the sugar units are installed with
sulphurous acid preparation section wherein sulphur
is melted & burnt to emit sulphur dioxide gases and
subsequently form sulphurous acid. There exists
potential for improvement by adopting new
technologies.
Steam Supply to Equipment: Many of the process
equipments have duplicate/triplicate connections i.e.
the same equipment is connected with
• Exhaust steam lines
• Vapour from Vapour Cell
• Live Steam lines
These multiple steam source provisions lead
to excessive steam lines & steam leaders etc,
causing higher heat losses, additional steam traps
which require frequent maintenance. To the extent
possible, equipments should be connected with only
one source of steam supply. • Increased Profits

Loading of Turbines: As sugar plant have a battery For the Nation:

of steam turbines, the number of turbines put into
operation depends upon the electrical load & • Reduced Energy Imports
process steam requirement. It would be a good
practice to operate the turbines at optimum loads, as
• Avoided costs which can in turn be used for
the specific steam consumption per unit power
poverty reduction
increases with decrease in load.

Thermal Insulation: The steam and condensate • Conservation of limited resources

distribution network should be properly insulated
and it has to be ensured that all the flanges & valves • Improved energy security
are insulated using collapsible form of material to
facilitate inspection & maintenance. For the Globe:

Ethanol manufacture: As ethanol is being allowed • Reduced GHG and other emissions
to be blended with petroleum products, sugar plants
are exploring the possibility of producing sugar/ • Maintain in a sustainable environment
ethanol based on the market conditions. As and
when the sugar prices are lower, they would Workshop on Energy Audit and Conservation in
produce ethanol and vice-versa. This gives them an Sugar and Distilleries
opportunity to control the market prices of sugar.
A workshop on “Energy Audit and
BENEFITS OF ENERGY AUDIT AND Conservation in Sugar and Distillery units” was
CONSERVATION IN SUGAR AND conducted by APPCB through National
DISTILLERIES Productivity Council, Hyderabad on 09.01.2004 at
Eluru, W.G.Dist. during the workshop, energy audit
For Industries: methodology and steps required for energy
conservation in Sugar & Distillery Units were
• Reduced Energy Bills discussed. At the end of the Workshop it was
opined that the energy efficiency is going to play a
• Increased Competitiveness key role in the survival of the sugar and distillery
units in the existing scenario and hence energy
conservation studies and demonstration projects
• Increased Productivity shall be encouraged.

• Improved Quality

For further information and assistance contact :

Mr. B.Madhusudhana Rao or

Mr. K.Ravi Kumar or Smt.Geeta Sapare.
Cleaner Production Cell, A.P.Pollution Control Board,
II Floor, HUDA Complex, Maitrivanam, S.R.Nagar Post, Hyderabad – 500 038.
Phone: 23752729, 23734043, 23731120,
23732132, 23731126 Fax: 040 23733261.

CLEANER PRODUCTION CELL, A.P.POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD, HYDERABAD