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ABSTRACT ABSTRACT
I In n t th he e w wo or rl ld d t te ea a t tr ra ad de e s sc ce en na ar ri io o, , I In nd di ia a stands as a leader. But Indian tea industry has to take
great care in energy consumption patterns for rational utilisation of the existing sources of energy as
well as for future implementation of possible nonconventional energy sources. Through rational
utilisation of conventional energy alone, a potential savings upto 20% electrical energy and 40% heat
energy can be accomplished. Technologies like Combined Heat and Power systems (cogeneration),
waste heat utilisation etc. help in achieving pollution control and energy efficiency. Use of
nonconventional energy through solar dryers, biomass gasifiers, wind generator etc. will prove to be a
boon to energy intensive industry like tea processing in future. This paper, based on the literature
survey, discusses on the existing energy efficient methods, proposes energy saving equipments and
identifies alternative energy sources for tea industry.

A Glance at Indian Tea Trade
Tea ranks as one of the most profitable commodities of Indian export market.
India is the largest producer of tea in the world. According to the Tea Board's
estimates, tea output touched an all time high of 870.405 million kg in 1998, up by 60
million kg over the previous year. Estimated domestic consumption of tea in India is
645 million-kg in 1998.
According to Tea Board, for the year 2000,
The production target = 1084 million kg,
Export target @ 28% of world trade = 363 million kg,
Domestic demand = 721 million kg.
Production in North India and South India during 1999 for various methods of
manufacture of tea is given in Table - 1.
Table - 1: Production in North India and South India during 1999
Production (million kg)
CTC
*
Orthodox Total
South India 169.5 31.8 201.3
North India 556.9 47.4 604.3
Total 726.4 79.2 805.6
* CTC : Cut-Tear-Curl
India's shipments in 1999 amounted to 190.2 million kg.
Gross Domestic Product value addition by tea in India is about 1%.
9


Tea Processing Methods
There are two major methods of tea manufacture: (i) Orthodox method and
(ii) CTC (Cut-Tear-Curl) method.
Orthodox is a traditional method in which the green leaves are first withered,
twisted gradually by the slow rolling process, then fermented and dried.
CTC method is a high volume process. In this, the withered leaves suffer more
severe cutting to strong liquors, then fermented and dried.
Some factories manufacture tea by Dual process - both orthodox and CTC
methods.
Energy Requirement in Tea Industry


Energy is a critical input for tea manufacture. Thermal energy is required to
remove the moisture from the green leaf as well as fermented tea, whereas electrical
energy is required at almost all stages of unit operations.
The process of tea manufacturing consists of different energy intensive unit
operations viz. withering, processing (rolling/CTC cuts), fermentation, drying, sifting
and packing. These make use of 3 different forms of energy i.e. electrical, thermal and
human. More than 80% of the energy required is thermal energy to remove moisture
from tea during withering and drying.
Every kg of made tea requires 3.5-6 kWh of thermal energy, 0.21 - 0.5 kWh of
electrical energy and 0.11 kWh of manpower.
5


Existing Energy Efficient Methods:
Dual Speed Withering
The power consumption in withering can be reduced to 0.08 units/kg of made
tea by using an aerofoil bladed adjustable pitch fan with a dual speed and dual rating
energy efficient motor and suitable control panel.
2

The usual amount of air required is 15 - 20 cfm/kg of green leaf
9
. After the
preset time, the airflow is automatically reduced, thereby reducing the power
consumption by 50 - 60%.
2

Waste Heat Recovery
The waste heat available in tea factories are mainly from (i) flue gas and (ii)
exhaust of tea dryer. Generally, sensible heat losses in the flue gases leaving the
chimney is 35-55% of the heat input to the furnace. When the excess air and flue gas
temperature are more, the waste heat available also will be more. The sensible heat in
the flue gases can be recovered by either preheating combustion air or charge
preheating. Preheating combustion air effects fuel savings. Heating devices used for
this purpose are recuperator and regenerator. Also if the air is enriched with oxygen,
combustion of the fuel is faster and more complete.
8

Strategies for Electrical Energy Conservation
Motors of adequate capacity should replace oversized motors. This will reduce
the under-utilisation of motor capacity.
Power factor improvement is to be investigated. Power factor may be
corrected to at least 90% under rated loaded condition
11
. Individual power factor
correction capacities can reduce the maximum demand by 20%
5
.
For large variable drive loads, variable speed drives may be used.
Energy efficient motors and Soft start motors enable to reduce electrical
energy losses. For lightly loaded motors, delta-to-star conversion connection schemes
can be used.
10


Proposed Energy Saving Equipments:
Fluidised Bed Dryer with Biomass Gasifier
The Fluidised Bed Dryer can be supplied with hot air produced by the heater
based on woody biomass down draught gasifier. The system, specially adapted for tea
drying, uses conventional fired wood or any other woody biomass with density above
250 kg/m
3
available at the factory location. The gasifiers have achieved upto 80%
thermal efficiency in the conversion of solid biomass to gas and upto 33% of
efficiency in electrical conversion. The calorific value of the combustible producer
gas formed from biomass gasification is of the order of 3780 - 5040 kJ/m
3
and is
sufficient for thermal applications in tea drying. The units can deliver constant
temperature air.
3



For a gasifier based tea drying system with a capacity of 300 kg of made tea
per hour and hot air flow at 120C of 11400 kg/hour, the specific fuel consumption is
0.4 kg wood/ kg of made tea and the wood consumption rate is 120 kg/hr. Before
using this system, the level of consumption was 0.9-kg wood/ kg of made tea. Hence
the rate of fuel wood consumption can be reduced by more than 50% by the use of
gasifier based tea dryer.
3

The project cost per MW is about Rs. 3.5 crores. The cost of unit generation
ranges from Rs. 1.50 to Rs. 2.20 per kWh.
3

Combination Tea Dryer
For producing tea with brisk, strong liquors, Endless Chain Pressure /
Fluidised Bed Dryer combination dryers can be used in which low temperature firing
and gradual removal of moisture take place. Its energy requirement is 3.6 kWh/kg of
made tea. It has got water evaporation capacity of 700 kWh whereas the conventional
dryers have a capacity of only 380-kg/hr. power consumed is only 14 kW whereas
Fluidised Bed Dryer consumes 37 kW. Drying cost/kg of made tea is also less in
combination dryer - Rs. 0.65 against Rs. 1.11 in conventional dryer.
7

To set the desired drying time, a variable speed drive system is also provided.
Fluidised Bed Dryer reduces the moisture of CTC dhool from 70% to 3% within 15
minutes whereas a conventional dryer takes 23 minutes.
7

Cyclones and dust collectors can be used to trap fly-off tea, which can be
refired.
Heat Pump for Saving Energy in Dryer
The exhaust gases from a tea dryer may have high moisture content. Since
they are vented at a moderately high temperature to atmosphere, heat loss takes place.
This heat can be recovered effectively by using a heat pump with a recycle system.
The heat pump extracts heat from the vent gases by cooling them (some moisture is
also condensed during this process) and used it for heating the air going to the dryer.
Further heat economy is resulted from recycling of part of the dryer outlet gases.
Energy required by using heat pump and recycle is only 185.8 kJ/s (electrical energy
= 86.75 kJ/s and thermal energy = 99.05 kJ/s) whereas that required without using
them is 400 kJ/s.
5

For a dryer of capacity 200 kg tea/hour in 2 shifts, approximate net investment
required for heat pump system is Rs. 4.62 lakhs and payback period is less than 2
years.
5


Alternate Energy Sources for Tea Industry:
Combined Heat and Power System
Combined heat and power (cogeneration) system is the coincident generation
of necessary heat and power - electrical and/or mechanical - or the recovery of low
level heat for power production. Two basic types of Combined Heat and Power
systems are (i) bottoming cycle in which thermal energy is produced first and (ii)
topping cycle in which electrical energy is produced first.
The ratio of electricity to steam for tea processing is low. So, for a tea factory,
a steam turbine topping cycle is recommended
5
. Thermal match cogeneration system
offers higher overall efficiency in tea manufacture. The topping cycle Combined Heat
and Power system in a typical CTC factory works as follows:
Steam is generated in a boiler with a working pressure of 2.4 N/mm
2
, using
firewood as fuel. The capacity of the boiler is 4.5 tons/hr. Steam temperature at boiler
outlet is 300C. Then high pressure super heated steam expands in a steam turbine the
turbine drives a generator, producing electricity amounting to 250 kVA. The exhaust


steam from the turbine goes to a heat exchanger where it heats the cold air. The hot air
thus produced is fed in to the tea dryer using a fan. The steam condensate coming out
of the radiator is collected by a steam trap and recycled with the boiler feed water.
Taking 26% losses of energy in the system and 50% use in dryer, the
remaining 24% shaft output is available as bonus energy. Thus there is a scope to
meet 33% of the electricity demand of the CTC factory after meeting the thermal
energy requirement using the same amount of firewood.
5

For the Combined Heat and Power system of the above capacity, approximate
cost of the equipment is Rs. 1 crore and the payback period is around 6 years.
5
Solar Hot Air System
Solar energy can be used to heat ambient air to around 60-75C. This air can
be delivered by a fan to the indirect fired furnace to heat it to the temperature required
for drying tea. On a clear sunny day, the saving on the fuel by use of solar energy is
around 50% of the fuelwood used for drying.
Solar air heating panels can be mounted on the roof of the tea factory.
Ambient air drawn through the solar panels will get heated during daytime. One
module of 10 m
2
area can provide heat to the order of 2.1 MJ/year. Each sq.m. of
solar collector can deliver 160 kg hot air at 75C on a sunny day.
1

Approximate cost of the modular solar hot air system is Rs. 8.5 lakhs and the
payback period is around 4 years.
1

The constraints in making use of solar panels in tea factories are difficulty in
storage of heat, high initial cost and large area required for locating the solar
collectors.

Mini-Hydro Power Generation
South Indian tea plantations have good potential for mini hydel schemes as
they are located in hilly regions with mountainous terrains. Also streams and ravines
are available to provide water sources. The hydel power generation is possible for
around 120 - 180 days in a year. Waterpower is economical as well as non-polluting
the environment. Depending on the head of water available, mini hydro can produce
100 - 500 kW.
5

For a mini-hydel project, approximate cost per kW generation is Rs. 25,000
per kW. For 500 kW project, payback period is around 11 years.
5

Wind Power
Wind energy has enormous resource potential in our country. In wind power
plants, there is no fuel expenses as wind is free. The project gestation period is only 4-
5 months. The power generation starts immediately after commissioning. The wind
energy is environment friendly and pollution-free. The capacity can vary in the range
0.25-15 MW.
5

Windmills have a life span of about 20 years. Once the plant starts generating
power, the investment is paid back over a period of 7 years. Cost of power generation
by wind reduces from Rs. 1.09/kWh in the first year to Rs. 0.23/kWh in the 8
th
year.
5


Conclusion
It is high time that the tea manufacturing units have to implement the possible
means of saving conventional energy (fuels) through energy recovery and alternative
energy. As innovative measures alternative energy methods like Combined Heat and
Power systems, solar heating, mini hydro and wind power generation etc. can be tried.
Using energy efficient process equipments and motors help in saving energy to a great


extent. This is highly significant and is the need of the day in the light of the energy
crisis our nation is encountering now.

Acknowledgement
This study was carried out under the project Asian Regional Research
Program in Energy, Environment and Climate - Phase II on Small and Medium Scale
Industries in Asia: Energy, Environment and Climatic Inter-relations with financial
grant from Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (SIDA). The
project is carried out in co-ordination with Asian Institute of Technology (AIT),
Bangkok. We express our thanks to SIDA, AIT and the authorities of PSG College of
Technology, Coimbatore for extending all support to carry out this study. We also
would like to thank the management and staff of factories who were keen on energy
conservation.

References
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