Maximizing sustainable power: improving bagasse drying efficiency in Indian sugar mills

Indian sugar production generates a lot of biomass that can be used to create electricity. Modern sugar mills use bagasse with 50% moisture, which affects boiler efficiency since water evaporation requires energy. Steam and power production can be increased by drying bagasse. India is one of the world’s greatest sugarcane growers, and its bagasse may be burned to generate electricity efficiently and sustainably. Most sugar mills co-generate with bagasse and sell extra electricity to the grid. This research aims to improve bagasse drying with a flue gas flash dryer. A small-scale facility with a free-fall reactor was used to determine how flue gas temperature, biomass size, and biomass feed rate affect bagasse sample free-fall height and velocity. Lab-scale trials were also observed. CFD models of industrial bagasse dryer components like the cyclone separator and drying column reactor are created using SOLIDWORKS and ANSYS FLUENT to study flue gas and bagasse flow paths. Combustion requires stoichiometric air. Detailed analyses of combustion products and bagasse’s proximate and ultimate components are presented. SPSS and psychrometric chart comparisons support the study’s findings. This study examines how flue gas temperature influences boiler bagasse drying. Bagasse dryers pull exit flue gas at 130–150 °C after air preheaters. By removing air heaters and transferring flue gases at 220 °C (above 220 °C, bagasse catches fire) to bagasse dryers, boiler efficiency can be improved from 68 to 84%, steam generation from 120 to 150 tph, and bagasse saving from 55 to 70 tph. The air preheater at 240 °C reduces gas moisture by 20%.