Drying 2004 Proceedings of the 14th International Drying Symposium (IDS 2004) So Paulo, Brazil, 22-25 August 2004,

, vol. B, pp. 990-997

SUGAR CANE BAGASSE DRYING A REVIEW

Juan H. Sosa-Arnao, Fabiano Marquezi de Oliveira1, Jefferson L. G. Corra2, Maria A. Silva3 and Silvia A. Nebra. 1. School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Campinas - Unicamp P.O. Box 6122, CEP 13083-970 Campinas, SP, Brazil, E-mail: sanebra@fem.unicamp.br 2. Chemical and Food Technological Department. Federal University of Paraba, Joo Pessoa, PB, CEP 58059-970 Email jeffersoncorrea@hotmail.com 3.School of Chemical Engineering, University of Campinas - Unicamp, P.O. Box 6066, CEP 13083-970 Campinas, SP, Brazil,
Keywords: Energetic analysis, boiler, air pre-heater, biomass, sugar cane bagasse, dryer ABSTRACT The bagasse is the only fuel used in the sugar alcohol industry in Brazil, the biggest producer of sugar cane in the world. The sugar alcohol industry produces, by cogeneration, electric energy for its own use and for selling. The improvement of the use of bagasse in the furnaces is an important industrial strategy nowadays. This subject has become of great interest due to the increasing of cogeneration level in the last years. The state of art of sugar cane bagasse drying is presented here. This work shows an improvement of the steam system efficiency due to sugar cane bagasse drying. However, a trade off between the energy used to dry the bagasse and to pre-heat the boiler combustion air is necessary. Two types of air heater dryer arrangement were studied: the first one consists of a series arrangement and, the second, of a parallel arrangement. INTRODUCTION Arrascaeta and Friedman (1984 and 1987) presented the state of art of sugar cane bagasse until 1987. These works show dryers types and their characteristics. Nevertheless, the recent importance of sugar cane bagasse drying was not sufficiently discussed in the literature. The goal of this work is the presentation of a review of the main published drying systems until now and of a study of energetic efficiency maximization of steam generation by using two types of air heater dryer arrangement: series and parallel.

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SUGAR CANE BAGASSE DRYING STATE OF ART Industrial Systems Professor Kerr was the first one that studied drying of the sugar cane bagasse using the exit gases of the boiler, in 1910. The dryer, made in steel, was 1.2 m x 1.8 m cross section and 6.0 m high. It was in a countercurrent contact, equipped with deflectors to promote better gas-solid contact. The moisture content was reduced from 54.3% to 46.4 % (w.b.), raising the steam production (Boulet, 1975). Between 1910 and 1970, only a small number of papers were published and even few industrial applications were reported. The reason for the lack of interest in bagasse drying during this period was the low cost of fossil fuel. Bagasse was not very attractive as an alternative and, even in the cases where it was a residue, cheap oil was also used. Due to the energy crisis in the 1970`s, efforts have been concentrated in further reducing the bagasse moisture by drying with waste heat from flue gases, with the advantages of increased boiler efficiency from about 65% to 70%, decreasing stack particulate and CO2 emission and bagasse saved for other uses. During the fuel crisis of 1972-73, Furines prepared a feasibility study of bagasse pre-drying with waste stack gases. He work with three rotary-drump type dryers of maximum capacity to operate with existing boilers, based on flue gases temperature of 218 C. These three dryers processed all the bagasse produced by a daily grinding rate of 8000 ton of cane and lower the moisture content from 54% to 46% (w.b.), providing the gases had a temperature of 218 C or more. The total fuel oil consumption for 1976 was 1.01 gal per ton of cane, wich compared with an average of 1.62 during the previous two years, showed an average saving of 0.61 gal/ton of cane (Furines, 1976). Kinoshita (1991) published four systems using boiler flue gas to dry bagasse installed in Hawaii. Three of the four intallations were rotary dryers and the other, a flash dryer. Correia (1983) described the use of a pneumatic transport dryer and its advantages over the rotary dryer. This dryer was developed in the Santo Antonio factory, in Alagoas, Brazil. He reported an increase in steam production of 16% by drying the bagasse from 52% to 40% moisture (w.b.). After this, Cruz Alta sugar cane industry got new installations in Olmpia city, So Paulo State, Brazil. Data used in the second part of this work were gotten at this industry and reported in Sanches Prieto et al. (2001) and Sanchez Prieto and Nebra (2002). Although there main drying agent in a bagasse drying is waste gas, it was published a passive collector solar drying. It was found that a viable situation for bagasse drying purpose with a relatively low initial cost as well as low operating and maintenance requirements (Anonimous, 1985). Massarani and Valena (1981 and 1983) studied intensively the drying of bagasse in a moving bed dryer. They developed a study from laboratory scale to pilot one. The pilot installation was composed of a dryer of 0.40x0.50x2 m. These two steps carried to satisfactory results. Nebra and Macedo (1989) published an industrial equipment. This dryer was designed and built according to a project developed by the Centro de Tecnologia Copersucar, Brazil. It was a flash drier that could work with 25 ton bagasse/h. That is the biggest flash dryer reported until now. Arrascaeta et al. (1987) got a patent of a bagasse dryer that elutriates the bagasse, separating the particles in different sizes. This dryer could work with 7 ton/h. It was designed, constructed and then operated from 1983 to 1985. It used fluidized and pneumatic conceptions. Augustinsky (2004) described the installation of two pneumatic dryers at Brazilian sugar industries in 1984 and in 2004. Salermo and Santana (1986) worked with a dryer composed of a fluidized bed, a pneumatic duct and a cyclone. It is important to note that they used the cyclone to separate the phases. This system worked with 10 t/h of 47% moisture content (w.b.) bagasse. Final moisture content was 35% (w.b.) and inlet gas temperature, 250C.

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Crdenas et al. (1994) described a pneumatic dryer in an industrial size. They studied the energetic and exergetic efficiencies of a boiler-dryer system. They concluded that the use of a dryer improve the boiler efficiency. Experimental Systems Meirelles (1984) studied bagasse drying in a fluidized bed dryer. He observed the necessity of a mixer to allow fluidization, because of the bagasse cohesive characteristic. By removing the moisture, the agglomeration decreases and dried particles were elutriated. The diameter of bagasse particles used in that work was from 0.51 to 1.02 mm. He used a very wet bagasse (71 a 91% (w.b.)). The researchers from School of Mechanical Engineering and School of Chemical Engineering from State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) have been working with drying of agricultural residues like sugar cane bagasse in cyclone (Silva and Nebra, 1997, Corra et al., 2004). A review of drying in cyclone that includes the works of this group is presented at Nebra et al. (2000). Barbosa (1992) studied the kinetics of sugar cane bagasse drying in a flash dryer. He observed that the major part of moisture reduction occurred in the acceleration zone. Alarcon and Jstiz (1993) also worked with pneumatic dryer. That drier reduced moisture content from 50 a 30% (w.b.) and separated particles with different sizes. The biggest particles were used as raw material to paper and pharmacy industries and the smaller ones were burned. This is a solution for countries like Cuba that do not have energetic sources. Pneumatic Dryer The simplest type of a stream dryer is a pneumatic dryer shown in Figure 1. Drying takes place in a vertical tube where hot air flows at a velocity higher than the velocity of the wet particles free falling. Wet material is introduced at the bottom of the drying tube.
(A) (B) ms (C)
Blowers

ms
Blowers

mg
Blowers

ms
Blowers

mg mg
Blowers

Figure 1: Pneumatic Dryer

The systems showed in Figure 1A and 1B were studied by Nebra and Macedo (1989), and Correia (1983) respectively. The Figure 1C is a standard system showed by Dascalescu (1969). In the work of Correia, the bagasse flows by passing throught the blower, Figure 1B. This not occurs in the other cases. The direct contact between the particles and the blower disminushes the durability of the blower because of friction effects. Advantages of sugar bagasse drying Bone dried bagasse presents a gross calorific value (PCS) of 19268 kJ/kg. Because of the moisture, the net calorific value (PCI) at 50% (w.b.) is only about 7563 kJ/kg. In addition to increasing the PCI, the reduction of bagasse moisture also reduces the volume of the flue gases. Furthemore, the specific heat of

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water vapour is almost twice the other gases, and hence the reduction of water vapour in the combustion gases will result in higher combustion temperature, thus improving boiler efficiency. The reduced volume of water vapour will also result in a reduced load on the induced draft fans (Upadhiaya, 1991). Boulet (1975) stated that drying could reduce both air pollution and air demand in the furnace. Nebra (1985) concluded that pneumatic drying is a good alternative even when using exit gases from preheaters at about 180C. Bailliet (1976) stated that the main advantage of drying the bagasse over the air preheating is the substantial increase in burnability of the bagasse. For mills unable to attain a bagasse moisture below 50% and producing a substantial bagasse quantity, bagasse drying is definitely recommendable. Paiva Souza et al. (1998) showed that the dryer could safe more energy than the preheater. Arrascaeta e Friedman (1984) and Kinoshita (1991) also stated that bagasse drying in an integrated system make possible to obtain a lower temperature of the exit gas. According to Edwards (1981), the use of a bagasse dryer could reduce exit gas temperature from a range of 200 to 390C to about 140C and increase efficiency from a 54% to 69%. The drying systems installed so far are showed in Table 1.
Table 1. Sugar cane bagasse systems

Type and size Counter current flow Rotary dryer Rotary dryer 3.6mx12 m Rotary dryer Pneumatic dryer Pneumatic dryer Pneumatic dryer Rotary dryer 3.6mx9m Rotary dryer 4.2mx9 m Pneumatic dryer Pneumatic dryer Rotary dryer 3.6mx12 m. Rotary dryer 2.4mx15.7 m

Capacity [ton/h] 1.4 30 50 35 4.52 12 9.7 65 10.7 72

Energetic source Gas Other X X X X X X X

Year 1910 1976 1976 1979 1980 1981

Industry, place Palo Alto Sugar Factory Donaldsonville, Lousiana Atlantic Sugar Association, Florida St. Mary Sugar Co., Louisiana Waialua Sugar Co., Hawaii

Reference Boulet, W.P. (1975) Furines, J.H. (1976) Arrascaeta and Friedman (1987) Kinoshita, C.M (1991) Correia, L.E.M (1983) Nebra, S.A. (1985)

Observations pilot scale Tg,o=218 C Tg,o = 315 C Tg,o = 244 C Tg,o=220 C

1980 1980

24 45 13 X

1982

Aucareira Santo Antonio, Brazil Barra Grande sugar factory Lenois Paulistas SP, Brazil Cruz Alta Plant, Olmpia, Sanchez SP, Brazil Prieto, M.G. (2001) Davies Hamakua Sugar Kinoshita, Co., Paauilo - Hawaii C.M (1991) Hilo Coast Processing Co., Kinoshita, Pepeekeo, Hawaii C.M (1991) Paia Factory of HC&S Co., Kinoshita, Maui, Hawaii C.M (1991) Central Azucarero Don Arrascaeta and Pedro, Batangas, Friedman Philippines (1987) Central Aidsisa, Bacolod, Arrascaeta and Philippines Friedman (1987) Central Victoria, Bacolod, Arrascaeta and Philippines Friedman (1987)

pellets

Tg,o=258 C

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Pneumatic dryer Pneumatic dryer Pneumatic dryer Through circulation (moving) Pneumatic dryer Solar Pneumatic dryer Pneumatic dryer Pneumatic dryer

1980 1983

Sugar Research Inst., Mackay, Queensland, Australia Chun Cheng Sugar Factory, China Central Pablo Noriega, Quivicn, Cuba Usina Paraiso Alagoas Pernambuco - Brazil Central Pablo Noriega, Quivicn, Cuba Consuelo factory, Dominican Republic Usina Itajubara GIJS, Maranho Brazil Ingenio uorco, Tucuman, Argentina Cia. Agroindustrial de Goiana - CAIG - Acar e lcool GIJS, Brazil

Edwards, B.P. (1981) Arrascaeta and Friedman (1987) Arrascaeta and Friedman, (1987) Massarani, G. (2004) Arrascaeta and Friedman (1987) Anonimous (1985) Augustinsky, J. (2004) Cardenas et al. (1994) Augustinsky, J. (2004)

pilot scale pilot scale Tg,o=140 C pilot scale Tg,o=200 C Industrial prototype Tg,o=300 C hybrid active/passiv e system Tg,o=330 C Industrial scale Prototype building

0.5

X X

1983 1983 1984 X 1983 1984 1992 2003

7 3.18 7.5

X X

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ENERGETIC EFFICIENCY MAXIMIZATION OF A STEAM SYSTEM FUELED BY SUGAR CANE BAGASSE It is very important to note that one can only take the above advantages if the drying agent is the furnace waste gas. Another frequent use of furnace exhaust gas is to pre-heat the inlet air of the boiler. Marquezi and Nebra (2003) studied the two possibilities and optimized the ratio dryer gas flow/preheater gas flow. This study is presented below and its details could be verified in Marquezi and Nebra (2003). Two arrangements were proposed, Figure 2 and Figure 3, respectively.
Steam Pressurized water Hot air Dried bagasse Pressurized water Combustion gases Hot air Steam Dried bagasse

Boiler

Boiler Combustion gases

Preheater

Dryer Wet bagasse

Preheater

Dryer

Cold air

Combustion gases

Cold air

Combustion gases

Wet bagasse

Figure 2: Paralell arrangement flowchart

Figure 3: Sequence arrangement flowchart

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The results obtained are reported in the graphics below, Figure 4 for the parallel arrangement and Figure 5 for the series arrangement. A unit fraction (x=1.0) indicates the total flow to the dryer.
89 88 87 86 85 84 83 82 81 115 Net efficiency Net and boiler efficiency [%]

Net and boiler efficiency [%]

89.78

81.38
165 Boiler efficiency

92 90 88 86 84 82 80 78 0 Net efficiency 0,5 Flow division

88.32

82.11
1 Boiler efficiency

Preheater exit temperature [ C]

Figure 4: Net and boiler efficiencies as function of flow division.

Figure 5: Net and boiler efficiencies as function of pre-heater exit temperature.

Data analysis Figure 4 strongly indicates that the best option to improve the efficiency of the steam generation unit is the use of dryer only. The best efficiency (89.78%) was found in a parallel arrangement, with the major part of gases flowing to the dryer (x=0.9). This high value shows that it is better to use a dryer instead of a pre-heater. Figure 5 correspond to a series arrangement of pre-heater and dryer. It shows that the efficiency increases with the exhaust gas temperature lowering (net=88.32 %). This study was based in a lower temperature of 120 C in the pre-heater. It must be considered that a series arrangement with high preheater exhaust temperature result in a pre-heater with shorter exchange area and, consequently, a cheaper equipment. The dryer was modeled in an ideal condition: the exhaust gases were saturated. Cruz Alta Plant, from which were taken all simulated boiler parameters, is composed of pneumatic bagasse dryers installed in parallel with pre-heaters, and the gases exhaust temperatures measured in these dryers were in a low value, closer to saturation (Sanches Prieto et al., 2001), this shows as possible the project and construction of bagasse dryers working closer to that condition. Considering that the boiler exhaust gases are the only available energy source and that all the own boiler fuel must be dried, the lowest moisture content obtained was 28%(w.b.). Souza-Santos (1998) showed that optimum bagasse moisture content in a gasifier inlet must be between 20 and 30 % (w.b.) CONCLUSIONS The first sugar cane bagasse dryer was the rotary one. This use was based in the preceding experience with wood drying. Nowadays, pneumatic dryers are often used because they are cheaper and request small area. Energetic analysis showed the bagasse dryer is more efficient than the pre-heater. To make a complete analysis of boiler exit gases use, besides an energetic analysis, it is also necessary a thermoeconomic analysis.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to thank FAPESP (Proc. No 03/01757-6) and CNPq (Proc. 142135-2003-8) for the financial support. NOTATION X Tg,o net w.b mg ms Flow division Temperature of stack gas Net efficiency Wet basis gas mass flow solids mass flow LITERATURE
Alarcn, G.A.R., Jstiz, M.A.B. (1993), Indiustrial device for drying and classifying sugar cane bagasse, International Sugar Journal, Vol. 95, no.1133, pp. 319-322 (In Spanish) Anonimous (1985), The Sugar Journal, Vol. 47, no 12, pp. 6-10 Arrascaeta, A., Friedman, P. (1984), Bagasse drying: past, present and future, International Sugar Journal Vol. 86, no. 1021, pp. 3-6 Arrascaeta, A., Clerch, D., Friedman, P. (1987), Secador de Bagao. Int. CI3F16B17/12.35625. 15 abr 1982, 09 jun 1987. Oficina Cubana de la propiedad industrial, Republica de Cuba, CU 21461 A1. Arrascaeta, A., Friedman, P. (1987), Bagasse drying, International Sugar Journal, Vol. 89, no.1060, pp. 68-70 Augustinsky, Jiri. Drying of cane bagasse [Personal Communication]. jhsosa@fem.unicamp.br. 01/03/2004 Bailliet, V.J. (1976), Bagasse drying versus air pre-heating, The Sugar Journal, pp. 53-53 Barbosa, R.D. (1992), Sugar cane bagasse drying in a pneumatic system. Msc .D. Thesis, State University of Campinas (in Portuguese) Boulet, W.P. (1975), Waste fuel Drying and the energy, The Sugar Journal, Vol. 10, pp. 40-47 Crdenas, G., De Vasquez D., Wittwer, E. (1994), Energy and Exergy analysis of a combined bagasse dryerboiler system, International Sugar Journal, Vol. 96, no.1146, pp. 213-219 Corra, J.L.G., Graminho, D.R.L., Silva, M.A., Nebra, S.A. (2004), Cyclone as a sugar cane bagasse dryer. Accepted to be published on Chinese Journal of Chemical Engineering Correia, L.E.M. (1983), Bagasse drying. Seminrio de Avaliao do Bagao So Paulo Sopral Sociedade de Produtores de Acar e lcool, pp. 1-15 (in Portuguese) Dascalescu, Aurelian. Le Schage et ses applications industrielles. Translation Alexandre Painatescu. Bucurest: Publishing Technica, 1964. 535p.

[-] [C] [%] [kg/kg] Kg/s Kg/s

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Edwards, B.P. (1981), Bagasse drying. Proceedings of Australian Society of Sugar Cana Technologists, pp. 203-206 Furines, J.H. (1976), Pre-Drying Bagasse using Flue Gases, The sugar Journal, Vol. 39, (3), pp. 39-40 Kinoshita, M.C. (1991), Flue Gas Drying of Bagasse, American Society of Agricultural Engineers, Vol. 91, pp. 706 729 Marquezi de Oliveira F.L., Nebra, S.A. Energetic efficiency maximation of a steam system fueled by sugar cane bagasse, COBEM, 2003, So Paulo. Proceedings of the 17th International Congress of Mechanical Engineering, 2003. Massarani, G., Valena, G.C. (1981), Sugar cane bagasse drying, III National drying meeting, pp. 355 (in Portuguese) Massarani, Giulio. Drying of cane bagasse [Personal Communication]. jhsosa@fem.unicamp.br. 23/02/2004 Massarani, G., Valena G.C., (1983) Secagem de bagao. Seminrio de Avaliao do Bagao So Paulo Sopral Sociedade de Produtores de Acar e lcool, pp. 1-15 Meirelles, A.J.A. (1984) Cane bagasse drying in a fluidized bed. Msc .D. Thesis, State University of Campinas (in Portuguese) Nebra, S.A. (1985), Pneumatic Drying of cane bagasse, Ph.D. Thesis, State University of Campinas (in Portuguese) Nebra, S.A., Macedo, I.C.M. (1989), Pneumatic drying of bagasse, International Sugar Journal, Vol. 91, no.1081, pp.3-8 Nebra, S.A., Silva, M.A. Mujumdar, A.S. (2000), Drying in cyclones - a review, Drying Technology, Vol. 18, no.3, pp.791-832 Paiva Souza, M.E., Nebra, S.A., Gallo, W.L.R. (1998), Comparative exergetic analysis of energy recuperation of exit gases from cane bagasse boilers, 7th Brazilian Congress of Engineering na Thermal Sciences, pp. 347-352 (in Portuguese) Salermo, M., Santana, O. (1986), Economic aspects about bagasse dryer. ICINAZ report. (5), pp. 44-49 Snchez Prieto, M.G., Carril, T.P., Nebra, S.A (2001), Analysis of the Exergetic Cost of the Steam Generation System of the Cruz Alta Mill, Proceedings of the 16th Brazilian Congress of Mechanical Engineering, pp. 206-215 (in Portuguese) Snchez Prieto, M.G., Nebra, S.A (2002), Thermoeconomic Analysis of a cogeneration system of a sugar mill plant, Proceedings of ECOS, pp. 258-265 Silva, M.A., Nebra, S.A. (1997), Numerical simulation of drying in a cyclone, Drying Technology, Vol. 15, no.6-8, pp.1731-1741 Souza-Santos, M.L. (1998) A study on pressurized fluidized-bed gasification of biomass through the use of comprehensive simulation In: Technologies for a Clean Environment. Gordon and Breach Publisher, Amsterdam, Holland, Vol. 4. Upadhiaya, U.C. (1991), Bagase as a fuel, International Sugar Journal, Vol.93, no. 1111, pp. 132-138

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