Dear Editor,
Please permit me to comment on Mr Tony Vieira’s letter in the Stabroek News, titled ‘Did the weather have more to do with meeting GuySuCo’s target than anything the corporation did?’ (December 31, 2014). As I am unaware of the details surrounding all, save one, of the issues raised by Mr Vieira in his letter, I restrict my comments to just this one of the many issues raised.
This relates to the use of energy briquettes produced from bagasse; Mr Vieira contends that this, among several others listed in his letter, is an unworkable project and questions whether it has been attempted at all by GuySuCo. I would like to inform Mr Vieira and the general public that bagasse briquettes are burned or gasified to produce energy in many countries in the world, including India, South Africa, Brazil and Australia. This should settle the question of whether energy briquettes made from bagasse are “workable.”
As for Mr Vieira’s question regarding when and where energy briquettes from bagasse have been introduced, please permit me to provide some pertinent information. The Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST), since 2011, has been involved in researching and promoting the use of energy briquettes from rice hulls, waste wood (including wood dust and shavings) and bagasse. Indeed, the IAST has extensively measured the calorific values of these feedstocks, has developed mobile units to produce the briquettes, and has measured the efficiency and calorific values from the burning of these briquettes. The units were made mobile so that they could be transported to different sites where the feedstock is generated.
In 2012, the IAST demonstrated the suitability of briquettes as a fuel to replace the firewood currently used at GuySuCo to power their boilers. The demonstration was conducted at Enmore Estate, and all the data from this demonstration are available to any member of the public on request. In summary, compared to an equivalent weight of firewood, the briquettes developed a higher pressure of steam in a shorter amount of time, and sustained this higher pressure of steam for a period twice as long as the equivalent weight of firewood.
Then again in 2014, on the 12th September, the IAST in collaboration with GuySuCo’s personnel led by Mr Dwarka Sharma, (then) Factory Operations Manager and Mr Curbette Victorine, Executive Manager of Uitvlugt Estate, conducted another conclusive demonstration of the feasibility of this approach. In this test, the bagasse used was from Albion Estate, and had been disposed by the estate operations as waste; it had been lying in the open for a number of years and had become a threat due to self-ignition and other attendant environmental issues. We were able to demonstrate, using a very carefully designed comparison of firewood and bagasse briquettes, that the briquettes outperformed an equivalent weight of firewood, using two identical boilers and all other identical conditions. A report was compiled, which recommended to GuySuCo’s management that it acquire larger-scale equipment for its own use in utilizing its waste bagasse. The entire report is available to members of the public on request.
The corporation generates a significant amount of bagasse; in 2011 it generated 1,190,667 tonnes; in 2012, 1,025,439 tonnes; and in 2013, 898,406 tonnes. I do not have the final numbers for 2014 as yet. Other than for Skeldon estate, where bagasse is used in the co-generation plant, bagasse at the other estates is used without any compaction to augment the firewood used as the main fuel source. This is a very inefficient way of burning the bagasse as the surface area to volume ratio of the ‘loose’ bagasse is very high, resulting in inefficient capture of the calorific value of the material as it is introduced into the furnace. In addition, many estates such as Albion will generate excess bagasse which goes to waste, whilst other estates like Uitvlugt typically run out of bagasse. The adaptation of this technology will allow the bagasse to be utilized more efficiently, and will allow excess bagasse from some estates to be transferred inexpensively to those without bagasse. Using this approach, GuySuCo can completely eradicate its dependence on costly firewood and in so doing curtail its contribution to deforestation. Furthermore, this approach, based on a business plan developed by GuySuCo using the data from the IAST tests, suggests that the corporation can significantly cut yearly operational costs by multiple tens of millions.
The implementation and ongoing management of the project is now under the control of GuySuCo’s engineers, with the IAST playing a supporting role in helping to scrutinize the technical merits of equipment being procured, and the process of modifying the equipment so as to make mobile units. I retain no ability to comment on the subsequent implementation and ongoing management of the project, as this is now entirely under the control of GuySuCo.
Should Mr Vieira or any other member of the public like to see a video of the briquettes being made at Albion Estate or the head to head comparison tests done at Uitvlugt, or a copy of any of the reports mentioned, please contact the Confidential Secretary, IAST, at +592 222 4214.
Yours faithfully,
Suresh S Narine
Director
IAST
