RESUMO

The brief Khandsari sugar manufacturing process includes crushing of cane into rollers, concentration of cane juice (through boiling), crystallization, and extraction of sugar in centrifuge and drying. The bagasse has decent calorific value and is burned in a furnace to provide heat for boiling (concentration) the juice. The air pollution problem begins with the burning of bagasse in the furnace. Although the production process has undergone improvements, the combustion/furnace design and heat recovery look primitive. The present furnaces are characterized by incomplete combustion, poor heat recovery, and excessive use of bagasse. This leads to significant air pollution in terms of particulate matter, including smoke/soot, carbon monoxide, oxides of nitrogen, etc. Particulate pollution is a major concern.
To specifically address the issue of air pollution from Khandsari, not only control at the stack end is required, but also combustion and heat recovery processes apart from dispersion of pollutants. The observations revealed that while emission quantities may not be very large, the impact can be significant to ambient air due to small chimney and aerodynamic downwash of pollutants. This paper specifically presents the problems of incomplete combustion, poor heat recovery, and pollution generated from Khandsari industry and suggests remedial steps. Some of the improvements are already adopted by the industry, while some are under various stages of implementation.