Planning changes to the process sections of raw sugar factories for increased cogeneration

For sugar factories undertaking large scale cogeneration of electricity, substantial reductions in the consumption of low pressure (process) steam in the raw sugar process stations will be sought in order to increase the revenue from export power. Ultimately, the extent to which the process steam consumption is reduced will be determined by the economic return obtained from the increased power generation, balanced against the capital expenditure required to modify the process section of the factory to effect the reductions in process steam consumption. This paper describes the procedures and software which have been developed to estimate relatively quickly the low pressure steam consumption for nominated process configurations for juice heating, juice evaporation and pan stage operations. Through successive applications of the softwarc, suitable practical plant configurations for minimising low-pressure steam consumption can be ei.tablished. The most promising options can then be analysed in greater detail.