Cogeneration:

Cogeneration (also combined heat and power, CHP) is the use of a heat engine or a power station to simultaneously generate both electricity and useful heat. All thermal power plants emit a certain amount of heat during electricity generation. This can be released into the natural environment through cooling towers, flue gas, or by other means. By contrast, CHP captures some or all of the by-product heat for heating purposes, either very close to the plant, or especially in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe, as hot water for district heating with temperatures ranging from approximately 80 to 130 C. This is also called Combined Heat and Power District Heating or CHPDH. Small CHP plants are an example of decentralized energy. Co-generation is the concept of producing two forms of energy from one fuel. One of the forms of energy must always be heat and the other may be electrical or mechanical energy. In a conventional power plant, fuel is burnt in a boiler to generate high-pressure steam which is used to drive a turbine, which in turn drives an alternator through a steam turbine to produce electrical power. The exhaust steam is generally condensed to water which goes back to the boiler. As the low-pressure steam has a large quantum of heat which is lost in the process of condensing, the efficiency of conventional power plants is only around 35%. In a cogeneration plant, very high efficiency levels, in the range of 75%90%, can be reached. This is so, because the low-pressure exhaust steam coming out of the turbine is not condensed, but used for heating purposes in factories or houses. Cogeneration is a thermodynamically efficient use of fuel. In separate production of electricity, some energy must be rejected as waste heat, but in cogeneration this thermal energy is put to good use. Cogeneration is still common in pulp and paper mills, refineries and chemical plants.

Used in:
The heat energy is used for

Absorption refrigeration:
In absorption refrigeration the waste heat is used for heat exchangers and generators to improve the efficiency of refrigerator.

Practical Vapour Absorption System

Processing:
The steam/ heat energy is used in processing for boiling, preheating, blanching, evaporation, etc.

Energy Conservation:
The waste heat is used for economizers, preheaters, etc.

Need for cogeneration in Sugar industry:

India, being a developing country, faces the daunting task of ensuring a decent standard of living for their burgeoning population. Industrialization can provide goods and services and employment opportunities to boost the GDP and per capital income. Rapid industrialization has thrown up new challenges for Indian Industry. Available energy infrastructure is inadequate to meet the growing power demand. Overall Electricity shortage is nine per cent. The peak shortage of electricity at the all-India level is 30%. Fossil fuel reserves are fast

depleting. So further energy infrastructure development is the need of day. Bio-mass is the most promising alternative fuel. Agro-waste and agro industrial products have today been recognized as modern bio-mass material which can be converted directly into useful forms of energy. Bio-mass has the crucial advantage of being environment friendly. Bagasse is a captive bio-mass. Sugar industry is the second largest agro-based industry in India, next only to cotton textiles. Sugar mills in India are either privately owned, public owned or owned by co-operatives. There are 571 installed sugar mills in the country as on 30.11.2005 with installed annual sugar production of 192.64 lakh tonnes. Out of 571 sugar mills, 315 sugar mills are owned by co-operative sectors, 62 sugar mills are owned by public sectors and 194 sugar mills are owned by private sectors. Sugar production in India is highly dependent on the sugar cane production. During 2005-06 sugar seasons, the production of sugar is estimated to be around 180.00 lakh tonnes. The increase in sugar during the current sugar season is due to good monsoon and sugarcane area under cultivation. During the period 30.11.2005, the sugar production was 22.32 lakh tonnes as compared to 14.00 lakh tonnes (provisional) corresponding period in the last sugar season 2004-2005. Apart from sugar, the sugar industry produces certain by-products, which can be used for production of other industrial products. The most important by-product is molasses, which is utilized for production of chemicals and alcohol. The sugar industry has been requesting the Government to allow mixing of ethanol with petrol at least up to 5% for use as a transportation fuel. Three pilot projects have been recently set up in the country in this regard. In addition, the other important by product is bagasse. It is mainly utilised as a captive fuel in the boilers but it is also used as a raw material in the paper industry. In Co-Generation Sugar Mills, Specific Power export to the grid is equal to Specific Power generation minus Specific Power consumption. It can be increased either by reducing the Specific Electric Energy consumption or Specific Energy Generation or both. Profitability increases by about Rs. 12000 per season for every unit increase in Specific Power Export to the grid. So Electrical and Thermal Energy Efficient Equipment enhances the power export

and profitability of the Co-Generation Sugar Mills and reduces the Pay Back Period. The energy requirements in a sugar mill are in the form of steam for process heating/turbo drives and electricity for running various drives. The sugar industry has the unique advantage of utilizing a captive fuel-bagasse, to meet its energy requirements. However, depending upon various factors like fibre content in the cane, quantity of juice, type of clarification process and evaporation effects, type of prime movers (steam driven or electric driven) etc., some sugar mills produce a small quantity of surplus bagasse while others are deficient by a small quantity. These mills, therefore, have to depend in a very limited way on external fuels like fuel oil, LSH, coal etc to supplement their energy requirements. Likewise, some sugar mills during the season can produce a little surplus power while others would be deficient in power by a small margin and hence the dependence on grid power is minimal. Energy consumption in sugar plants depends on various factors such as its capacity, steam generation parameters, vintage, and equipment used etc. Analysis of the energy consumption pattern in the sugar mills reveals that there exists tremendous scope for improving the energy efficiency in the Indian Sugar Industry. The major reason for the high energy consumption in the industry is the presence of large number of old small capacity sugar mills which have not invested much over the years in modernizing or upgrading various process equipment. Apart from improving the end use efficiency in the plants, the other most promising energy conservation measure for the industry is to set up high-pressure cogeneration systems. This not only has the potential of opening up additional revenue streams for the sugar plants by way of sale of electricity, it can effectively contribute in reducing the ever widening gap between demand and supply of electricity in various power deficit regions in the country.

Factors and methods to enhance Specific Power Generation:

I Fibre %
Fibre % varies between 12 and 16 % depending upon the variety of the cane, cultural practice, age of the cane, etc. Generally fibre-rich variety has low Sugar % which is more detrimental for the profitability of the factory. So developing Fibre rich variety for the sake of enhancing the power output is not profitable. Immature can has less fibre % and Sugar %. So immature can reduces both power and sugar revenue and affects the profitability of the factory. Over-matured can has more Fibre % but less Sugar %. So the overall profitability is not in favour of Over-mature cane. Having maximum Sugar % and optimum Fibre %, matured Cane maximizes the profitability of the factory. Under identical conditions, Specific Power Generation with 12% Fibre Cane is 94.5 and that of 16% Cane is 138.5% kW.

II

Input Steam Pressure and Temperature:

In Co-Generation Sugar Mills, at present there are different pressure boilers 42, 66 and 84 atm, specific power generation for the different steam pressure are 73, 100 and 123 kW respectively. So in the present available high pressure boiler of 84 atm, the specific power generation is the highest.

III

Exhaust Pressure:

In Sugar Mills, Exhaust Pressure varies between 1.7 and 2.5 atm. In the beginning of the run, exhaust pressure is very low and at the end of the run exhaust pressure is high. Under identical operational conditions, Specific power generation for 1.7 and 2.5 atm back pressure are 100 and 109 kW respectively. Similarly depending upon the exhaust steam temperature, Specific power generation varies.

IV

Thermal Efficiency of the Boiler:

Bagasse fired boiler efficiency ranges between 55 and 68%. The factor which determine Steam-Bagasse ratio are excess air, flue gas temperature, particulate in the flue gas, temperature of the feed water, fouling of the boiler tubes, Fines and uniformity of the bagasse, Moisture %, temperature of the bagasse, etc. Under identical operational condition, fines and uniformity of

bagasse reduces fuel-air ratio under the controlled draft and this increases Steam production per ton bagasse. Similarly Steam-fuel ratio increases with increase in bagasse temperature. In the milling plant, the co -generation of variation of bagasse size is more. Bagasse Powder is more. This causes more particulate in the flue gas. In Diffuser Plant, Preparative Index-fines of bagasse and uniformity of bagasse size is given more importance to maximize the sugar extraction in the Juice Extraction plant. This increase the boiler efficiency, steam-fuel ratio and power-ratio. In the Diffuser, Diffuser bagasse temperature is raised to 65 0C by the circulating Scalding Juice. So in the Diffuser Plant, Final Bagasse Temperature is around 50 degree C and that of milling plant is 30 Degree C. Higher bagasse temperature reduces the heat energy to be taken by the bagasse from the burnt gas to vaporize the moisture in the bagasse. This increases the Fuel value of bagasse. If bagasse temperature is increased from 30 to 50 0C, the fuel value increases by about 19.5 k Cal per kg bagasse which is equal to 0.88%. This increases Steam fuel ratio by 0.01 and Power productions per ton cane increase by 1 kW. This is to state that in the diffuser plant, size of bagasse in small and uniform and the bagasse temperature is more than that of mills which increases the fuel value of bagasse.

Ways of Cogeneration in Sugar Industries:

Steam Engine/ Steam Turbine based Cogeneration:

Gas Turbine based Cogeneration:

Reciprocating Engine Generator based Cogeneration:

Convention vs. Cogeneration:

In a conventional power plant, fuel is burnt in a boiler to generate highpressure steam which is used to drive a turbine, which in turn drives an alternator through a steam turbine to produce electrical power. The exhaust steam is generally condensed to water which goes back to the boiler. As the low-pressure steam has a large quantum of heat which is lost in the process of condensing, the efficiency of conventional power plants is only around 35%. In a cogeneration plant, very high efficiency levels, in the range of 75% 90%, can be reached, because the low-pressure exhaust steam coming

out of the turbine is not condensed, but used for heating purposes in factories or houses.

References
http://eeii.org.in/index.php?option=content&task=viewtheme&sid=72& Itemid=43 http://www.tesplcogen.com/cogeneration-systems-for-sugarindustry.html http://www.winrock.org/Clean_Energy/files/Advancing_cogeneration.p df http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/773/1/JSIR%2067%283 %29%20%282008%29%20239-242.pdf http://cdm.unfccc.int/Projects/DB/SGSUKL1200599187.35/ReviewInitialComments/0EHRTI99IZO2F5EQWTHOT GXDFEKW14 http://www.princeton.edu/pei/energy/publications/texts/InternationalSugar-Journal.pdf http://www.indiansugar.com/Cogeneration.aspx http://www.indiansugar.com/PDFS/Cogenerators.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org