Enhancing profits using Biomass in Chemical Industries

(A case of distillation based industry)

Author
Pawan Kumar Tiwari (Fellow)
The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi, India

Biomass is biological material derived from living or recently living organisms or plants. As an energy
source, biomass can either be used Approx calorific value
directly via combustion to produce Sr Biomass Source Kcal/Kg
Natural State Dry State
heat or indirectly after converting to
1 Wood 1500 3500
various forms of biofuels. Major 2 Cattle dung 1000 3700
sources of biomass in India and their 3 Bagasse 2200 4400
respective calorific values are 4 Wheat and rice straw 2400 2500
5 Cane trash, rice husk, leaves and vegetable wastes 3000 3000
provided in the table below. The
6 Coconut husks, dry grass and crop residues 3500 3500
average calorific value of biomass is 7 Groundnut shells 4000 4000
estimated to be 3,620 kCal per kg 8 Coffee and oil palm husks 4200 4200
(considerations: 50% drier than its 9 Cotton husks 4400 4400
10 Peat 6500 6500
natural state).
Average 3270 3970
The chemical sector contributes
significantly to the Indian economy. The size of the Indian chemical industry is estimated at $30 billioni.
The production volumes in the chemical industry have positioned India as the third–largest producer in
Asia next to China and Japan, and the 12th largest in the world. The chemical industry accounts for
about 13% in the manufacturing output, 5% in the total exports of the country, and contributes about
20% in the national revenue through various taxes and
duties.
Distillation and solvent extraction is one of the key and
energy intensive processes to separate out the
component substances from a liquid mixture by selective
evaporation and condensation. Distillation may result in
essentially complete separation (nearly pure
components), or it may be a partial separation that
Figure 1: Basic distillation process
increases concentration of selected components of the (Material A is more volatile than B)
mixture.
Distillation based Industries generally use steam as a working fluid for evaporation and water from
cooling towers for condensation. In distillation process, the main source of energy is thermal as it
makes up for about 91.26% of the total energy consumed in the process, whereas, electricity makes up
for 8.74% (mostly used in cooling tower pumps & fans).

Most of the industries engaged in distillation are using Natural Gas (a hydrocarbon gas mixture
consisting primarily of methane) as primary fuel for generating steam in the boilers. Natural gas is
preferred as a fuel due to ease of use in combustion/operation and high calorific value. However,
volatility of natural gas prices (as these are linked to international oil prices) is forcing distillation
plants to look for other fuel alternative to hedge against price instability. Specific cost of steam
generated from fire tube IBR boiler with natural gas as fuel is found to be Rs 3.54 per kg1 of steam
generated.

Due to the price instability associated with natural gas, distillation based industries should opt for
biomass as a primary source of thermal energy. Biomass (with direct combustion) has a moderate
calorific value of 3,600 – 4,500 kCal per kg (compared to 8,500 kCal per SCM of natural gas) and
availability is estimated to be 1.1 million tonne per year in the Bharuch District of Gujarat which
comprising the major chemical clusters such as Ankleshwar, Panoli, Jhagadia and Dahej.

Based on above calorific values, it is estimated that, if biomass is used a thermal source of energy in
steam boilers of distillation based industries; average specific cost of steam can be reduced to Rs 1.21
per kgii of steam generated.

Breakup of production cost, of a distillation based industry, with two different fuel options, is provided
below, for a comparative analysis.

Production cost breakup Production cost breakup

(with Natural Gas) (with Biomass)
3% 11.64%
Raw material
9% Raw material
3.39% Energy cost

Energy Man power

20% 9.32%
Man power Other
7.85% 67.80%
68% Monetary
Other Savings

Based on above figure it may be concluded that, using biomass as a fuel instead of natural gas in
steam boiler in distillation based industries may lead to 11.64% monetary saving in the production
cost. Further, based on the analysis of financial data, it was observed that the monetary savings arising
with biomass as primary fuel may lead to increase in annual gross profit of distillation based industries
by 19.55%.

Apart from monetary benefits, biomass (as a clean fuel option in comparison to natural gas) may help
industries in reducing their carbon emissions and in turn help the nation in reducing carbon intensity2 of
national gross domestic product (GDP).

iTERI 2012, Cluster Profile Report – Ankleshwar Chemical Cluster (Project Report No. 2012IE03)
ii Investment Grade Detailed Project Reports, Original work of TERI done under the WB-GEF-SIDBI project "Financing Energy
Efficiency at MSMEs".

1
Based on actual energy conservation studies conducted in chemical industries
2
Carbon dioxide emitted for production of 1 unit of GDP