Dryer design parameters and parts specifications for an industrial scale bagasse drying system

Abstract

The sugar industry is an ideal sector for electricity cogeneration due to a large amount of burnable bagasse produce as a by-product. Bagasse produced in the sugar industry always consists of moisture affecting the efficiency of a boiler in the cogeneration plant. In our case study, a cogeneration plant run by bagasse burning found with bagasse moisture problem and suffocating with low power generation for the last few years. The boiler efficiency per tonne of bagasse is currently lower than optimal due to the substantial percentage of water present in the bagasse. A bagasse dryer design for this industry can improve the efficiency of a boiler as well as the cogeneration plant. In this paper, a pneumatic bagasse drying system is proposed to reduce the moisture content of bagasse from 48% to 30%. This work provides a full analysis of bagasse dryer design parameters, including specifications for dryer system components, such as feeders, fan, drying tube, and cyclone. The total bagasse drying system proposed is expected to be fitted within a 6 × 6 × 25 m space to dry 60 tph of bagasse, reducing the moisture content from 48% to 30%, in full compliance with all relevant Australian and company standards.