Studies on bagasse drying

Abstract

newlineBagasse the byproduct from the cane sugar industry is a fuel used by the plant to meet its process steam and in house power requirements This mill run bagasse has a high moisture content of around 50 with a gross heating value of 9456 kJ kg compared to its bone dried conditions at 19268 kJ kg Hence if the mill run bagasse is dried using the available waste heat there is considerable scope for improving its calorific value The increased calorific value of the fuel results in improved boiler efficiency decrease in blower power consumptionsreduction in emission levels and savings in fuel Hence in this research studies on bagasse drying using available waste heat have been focused on Considering minimum modification to the present material handling system in the plant a thin layer tunnel type moving bed dryer with combined heating is considered This study comprises both experimental and theoretical aspects The thin layer drying experiments are conducted in a laboratory scale dryer for a wide range of air temperatures 80 to 120°C velocities 0 5 to 2 m s humidity 9 to 24 g water kg of d a product thickness to determine the drying kinetics under varied operating conditions newline newline