Evaluation of New Process Options for Co-Generation in the Sugar Industry

Abstract

Biomass fuelled combined cycle with gas turbine for co-generation, has the promise of being able to produce electricity at competitive cost. The sugar cane industries in the developing countries are targets for near term-applications of this technology. Different options for increasing the electricity generation in the sugar mills by using more advanced steam process and combined cycle technology, using cane trash and bagasse as a fuel for has been analyzed. The TPC sugar mill in Tanzania was selected as a case study for investigation. Introduction of a combined gas turbine/steam turbine process will make it possible to increase the electricity output from 2.5 MW to 30 MW at this plant during milling season. By using cane trash as fuel during the off-season period, the electricity generation can be increased by a factor of 20 compared to what is generated at TPC sugar factory today. The financial evaluation indicated that the annual profit would range from US$ 3.5 million for the advanced steam process with 6.5 years pay-back time, to be US$ 4.7 million for the combined gas turbine/steam turbine process with 6.8 years pay-back time.