Analysis Of Process Steam Demand Reduction And Electricity Generation In Sugar And Ethanol Production From Sugarcane

The sugarcane industry represents one of the most important economic activities in Brazil, producing sugar and ethanol for the internal and external markets. Moreover, thermal and electric energy is produced for self-consumption, using sugarcane bagasse as fuel in cogeneration plants. Almost all the sugarcane plants in Brazil are self-sufficient in terms of energy supply and in the last few years some of them have been selling their surplus electricity for the grid. The reduction of process steam requirements and the use of more efficient cogeneration systems are new alternatives to increase the surplus electricity generation. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the steam demand reduction on sugar and ethanol process and alternatives for cogeneration systems in sugarcane plants, aiming at the surplus electricity generation increase. © 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.481129782987Macedo, I.C., Verde Leal, M.R.L., Hassuani, S.J., Sugarcane residues for power generation in the sugar/ethanol mills in Brazil (2001) Energy for Sustainable Development, 5, pp. 77-82Verde Leal, M.R.L., Macedo, I.C., Technical evolution of power generation systems in sugar/ethanol mills (2004) Biomassa Energia, 1, pp. 245-253. , In PortugueseChristodoulou, P., The Pinch Technology and the energy reduction in the beet sugar process (1992) Zuckerind, 117 (3), pp. 169-175Tekin, T., Bayramoglu, M., Exergy and structural analysis of raw juice production and steam-power units of a sugar production plant (2001) Energy, 26, pp. 287-297Bayrak, M., Midilli, A., Nurveren, K., Energy and exergy analyses of sugar production stages (2003) Int J Energy Res, 27, pp. 989-1001Ram, J.R., Benerjee, R., Energy and cogeneration targeting for a sugar factory (2003) Appl Therm Eng, 23, pp. 1567-1575Paz, D., Cárdenas, J., Análisis exergético de um sistema de calentamiento-evaporación-cocimiento (1997) Int Sugar J, 99, pp. 1182SRein, P., (2007) Cane sugar engineering, , Verlag Dr. Albert Bartens, Berlin, GermanyUpadhiaya, U.C., Cogeneration of steam and electric power (1992) Int Sugar J, 94, p. 1117Consonni, S., Larson, E.D., Biomass-gasifier/aeroderivaive Gas turbine combined cycles: part B - performance calculations and economic assessment (1994) IGTI, ASME COGEN-TURBO, 9, pp. 611-623Faaij, A., Gasification of Biomass Wastes and Residues for Electrcity Production (1997) Biomass Bioenergy, 12 (6), pp. 387-407Consonni, S., Larson, E.D., Biomass-gasifier/aeroderivaive gas turbine combined cycles: part A - technologies and performance modeling, assessment (1994) IGTI, ASME COGEN-TURBO, 9, pp. 599-610Rodrigues, M., Walter, A., Faaij, A., Co-firing natural gas in biomass integrated gasification/combined cycle system (2003) Energy, 28, pp. 1115-1131Horlock, J.H., (1997) Cogeneration - combined heat and power (CHP) thermodynamics and economics, , Krieger Publishing Company, Malabar, FloridaSzargut, J., Morris, D.R., Steward, F.R., (1988) Chemical and metallurgical processes, , Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, New Yor