Energy for Sustainable Development 18 (2014) 3648

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Energy for Sustainable Development

Energy improvements in jaggery making process

Kiran Y. Shiralkar a, Sravan K. Kancharla b, Narendra G. Shah a,, Sanjay M. Mahajani b
a
b

CTARA IIT Bombay, India

Chemical Engineering IIT Bombay, India

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 31 December 2012
Revised 22 October 2013
Accepted 1 November 2013
Available online 13 December 2013
Keywords:
Bagasse
Energy efciency
Jaggery
Multiple pans
Single pan

a b s t r a c t
Jaggery (unrened sugar) is produced by evaporating water from sugarcane juice in steel pans situated over pit
furnaces. While it delivers a health friendly sweetening agent with medicinal value (Singh et al., 2008; Sahu and
Paul, 1998), its performance, both in terms of technical efcacy and nancial sustenance, is being questioned. In
India, jaggery is produced in batch operations, of about 1 ton per day capacity. Bagasse is used as fuel for the process. Improving the efciency of bagasse utilization is of interest because surplus bagasse could be used elsewhere as a fuel. If all energy in the bagasse were used to heat and evaporate water from the juice, calculations
show the rate of bagasse consumption would be 0.65 kg bagasse per kg jaggery. Heat losses in ue gas at
1000 K with no excess oxygen are calculated to decrease the efciency to 72% (0.90 kg bagasse per kg jaggery).
In this study, two single-pan jaggery units were tested wherein, efciencies varied from 53-76% and 5057%. The
higher efciencies in each unit were obtained by blocking some of the air inlet holes to decrease the excess air
ow. The second unit has a taller chimney than the rst, which may contribute to greater air ow due to increased draft. Excess air contributes to lower combustion temperatures, causing a decreased rate of heat transfer
to the juice. Minimizing excess air ow into the furnace is a possible strategy for increasing the efciency of
bagasse utilization and might be implemented quite easily by placing dampers at air inlets. This study also included tests of one four-pan jaggery unit. Measured efciencies were about 50%. Radiative heat transfer to three of
the four pans is calculated to be hindered substantially by a low view factor.
2013 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Introduction
Jaggery is made from sugarcane as well as palm juice. It has been
and will continue to be an important sweetening agent in the diet because of its characteristic taste and nutritional value (Singh, 2001;
Singh et al., 2008; Sahu and Paul, 1998). Pawar and Dongare
(2001) surveyed the jaggery industry in India, and indicated that
India produced 10.3 million tons of jaggery in year 2000. In Western
Maharashtra, especially in Kolhapur, the cane production is signicant and the jaggery made out of some special cane varieties has considerable demand in the market, worldwide. Jaggery making is
typically a rural and small-scale enterprise owned and manned by
farmers. Studies (Gehlawat, 1994; Shankar et al., 2010; Sardeshpande
et al., 2010) clearly indicate that one of the areas that needs considerable improvement is the energy efciency of the process.
Almost all the jaggery units use bagasse a residue left after juice extraction, as a fuel to meet the energy requirement for the concentration of
sugar cane juice. Bagasse is burnt in a pit type furnace to provide required
heat for evaporation. Our eld survey indicates that insufciency of bagasse forced some of the units to use non-bagasse fuel (e.g. used automotive tires). Bagasse generated at jaggery manufacturing units was not a
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: nshah@iitb.ac.in (N.G. Shah).

commercial commodity in the past and its saving did not really make
the jaggery manufacturers to seriously think about the energy efciency
of the process. However in the recent years, bagasse, after preprocessing, is identied as a promising bio-fuel in various process industries as a relatively cheaper renewable alternative to fossil fuels (e.g. fuel
oil) thereby opening a possible opportunity of claiming carbon credits
for the user (Junqueira, 2005). The price of conventional fuel oil that
serves as an energy source in many small and medium scale process industries is close to 0.72 USD (Rs. 39) per kg (BPCL, 2013) and its caloric
value is about 44 MJ/kg. Bagasse, on the other hand, used in the form of
briquettes is available at factory gate price of 0.07 USD (Rs. 4) per kg
(Patel and Suryavanshi, 2012) and a sale price of 0.09 USD (Rs. 5) per
kg (BBS, 2013). Thus the opportunity cost of bagasse in India, on energy
basis, is about 1/3rd of the fuel oil today. Other uses of bagasse include
paper, paper board production and producer gas generation (Paturau,
1982). It is also considered as a promising biomass feedstock for the second generation biofuels like ethanol and n-butanol (Ralph et al., 2010).
The current and future demand of bagasse thus makes a strong case for
undertaking studies to maximize energy efciency of jaggery units and
make them more cost-effective and environment friendly.
The bagasse produced in large scale sugar mills (5000 to
10,000 tons/day) is mostly used for co-generation in the factory itself
(Scott et al., 1998). Out of 527 working sugar mills in India, 206 mills
have installed cogeneration facility. Around 240 million tons of cane is

0973-0826/$ see front matter 2013 International Energy Initiative. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.esd.2013.11.001

K.Y. Shiralkar et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 18 (2014) 3648

crushed every year in these units, which generate 80 million tons of

wet bagasse (50% moisture) and consume around 70 million tons to
meet captive power and steam requirements (Birlasugar, 2013). Similarly, if jaggery manufacturer can save bagasse, it can fetch more prots
as a fuel byproduct. This aspect has not received its due attention.
Sardeshpande et al. (2010), through their experimental and theoretical
analysis, reported that the rate of bagasse addition has a strong impact
on the efciency. Authors recommended that the rate of addition
should be fairly uniform over the entire run. Excess addition of bagasse
would result in reduced combustion efciency. In the present work, we
take a step further and explore a possibility of improving energy
efciency at uniform bagasse feeding rate.
Anwar (2010) has proposed the use of two-pan jaggery making process to achieve energy saving. In the state of Uttar Pradesh, India, most
of the units are multi-pan units in which the hot ue gas ows in the opposite direction of the juice. The performance of such multi-pan unit has
been analyzed by Shankar et al. (2009). We anticipate that the waste
heat associated with the hot ue gas is effectively utilized to offer
improved energy efciency. It is with this reason that we undertook
systematic study to evaluate the usefulness of multi-pan method by
performing measurements in a representative multi-pan unit in the
Pune district of Maharashtra.
The work presented in this article has following objectives:
Examine the energy efciency of the existing single pan jaggery units
in Kolhapur district, Maharashtra and identify ways to improve the
same with appropriate modications in the operating procedure or
the design.
Examine the energy efciency of the existing multi-pan jaggery
units in Pune district, Maharashtra and compare the performance
with typical single-pan units.
The design of the traditional heating system used for jaggery making
is evolved mainly through experience gained over the years. The heat
utilization efciency of the furnace system mainly depends on the
ow patterns, which are highly non-ideal in nature owing to the irregular geometry. There are several design and operating parameters
such as furnace depth, chimney top and bottom diameters, and orientation of furnace air inlet and duct that inuence the ow patterns. However, it is not easy to estimate their effects independently due to strong
coupling. Nevertheless, our measurements clearly indicate that there is
a scope for saving more bagasse in many of the existing units.
The article is organized as follows: First we give the background
information of the jaggery making process. The theoretical basis is

37

provided by presenting pertinent equations as regards to heat transfer

and draft generation. The methodology is then presented by giving details on the apparatus and procedure used for the measurements. The
performances of single and multi-pan units are then analyzed and
compared, and possible modications are suggested.

Background
Fig. 1 shows the layout of a typical jaggery making unit. At any point
of time, there are about 1215 workers engaged in various activities
such as cane crushing, juice transfer, bagasse drying and charging,
juice concentration and monitoring, and cooling and molding of the prepared jaggery. Jaggery production is a batch process and typically 45
batches are conducted per day. On an average, the production per
batch is about 250 kg of jaggery, which is equivalent to about 1 to
1.25 tons/day.
Fig. 2 shows the bagasse and air inlet system. Sugarcane juice is
charged in the pan kept on the furnace wherein, bagasse is fed from
the feeding holes as shown in Fig. 2. Air is drawn into the furnace by
the natural draft provided by the chimney. The ue gas, generated due
to combustion of bagasse, is allowed to ow through the outow duct
and then to the chimney. The magnitude of the draft depends on chimney height and diameter, length of the outow channel and the frictional pressure drop. Fig. 3 shows the sequence of steps through which the
cane juice undergoes during the entire period. Cane juice contains nonsugar components (e.g. proteins, pigments, polyphenols), which impart
dark color and undesired taste to the nal product, if not removed.
Hence, the removal of scum that oats over the liquid pool, is commonly
practiced in all the jaggery units. It has to be removed at three different
stages of the process. This is the reason why the well-known concept of
multiple effect evaporation practiced in chemical plants, and performed
under closed conditions, cannot be easily adopted for jaggery making
process.
In the following text, we present the theoretical background for the
energy efciency and the related equations so as to form a platform for
further discussion and interpretation of the results obtained in our
measurements.
The thermal efciency of the furnace for a given batch can be
calculated as
Q utilized =Q bagasse

Fig. 1. Layout of a typical jaggery unit in Kolhapur district. gen: generator; ch: chimney; st: intermediate storage-1; pp: intermediate storage; cr: crusher.

38

K.Y. Shiralkar et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 18 (2014) 3648

Fig. 2. Top and front views of the furnace and the related system.

in the given batch and the temperature to which the nal product
is heated.

wherein, the total heat supplied by bagasse is determined as,

Q bagasse m  LHV bagasse

where, LHV is the lower heating value of bagasse with 68 % moisture

content (Table 4) without allowing condensation of vapor generated
during combustion.
The heat utilized (Q utilized) to produce jaggery by evaporating
water from the juice can be calculated based on the water evaporated

h



i
Q utilized m  C p  T jb T ji m 
water
h


i
m  C p  T s T ji
:
jaggery

Q utilized can also be interpreted as the heat transferred to the pan by

convection and radiation. Some of the heat going into the pan is released
from the surface of the juice through radiative heat transfer and

Fig. 3. Protocol of jaggery making process.

K.Y. Shiralkar et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 18 (2014) 3648

Table 1
Detailed geometries for the two representative units considered for comparison.

Table 3
Sugar and water contents at various stages in jaggery making process; Basis: 100 kg of
sugar-cane.

Unit-1

Unit-2

0.46 m
1.22 m
0.2 m/0.33 m
4.72 m

0.43 m
1.22 m
0.2 m/0.33 m
6.10 m

0.72 m
1.99 m
1.53 m
1

0.64 m
1.73 m
1.02 m
1

Furnace
ID
Height

3.05 m
1.49 m

3.12 m
1.58 m

Duct
Length
Width
Height center
Height end
Position from furnace top

9.60 m (1.37 + 2.90 + 5.33)

0.46 m
0.56 m
0.36 m
0.50 m

6.10
0.61
0.76
0.46
0.10

Bagasse inlet
Depth from furnace top
ID

0.20 m
0.24 m

0.13 m
0.25 m

6 inlet holes with

0.10 m ID and 2 inlet
holes with 0.13 m ID

4 inlet holes with

0.10 m ID and 3 inlet
holes with 0.15 m ID

3.44 m
2.90 m

3.96 m
3.26 m

Chimney
Top ID
Bottom ID
Wall thickness
Height
Juice tank
Juice height
Length
Width
No. of tank volumes
per batch

Air inlet
ID

Pan
Top diameter
Bottom diameter

Total juice
Sugar
Water
Dry bagasse
content (kg) content (kg) content (kg) content (kg)
Cane
7080
Wet bagasse from crusher 815
Juice from crusher
6265
Sun dried bagasse
37

It may be noted that there are many factors to be considered while

performing radiation calculations such as emissivity of ame, furnace
walls and ue gas apart from emissivity of pan. However we have
made an approximation by considering only the emissivity of pan in
the above equation. The heat loss from the furnace walls to the ambience is,
6

where, ha is the convective heat transfer coefcient corresponding to

the losses to the surroundings. Since the furnace is surrounded by
thick brick walls, these losses can be neglected for all practical purposes.
The heat loss through the ue gas, which is the major cause of energy
inefciency, is given as,

fluegas

Eq. (7) indicates that the excess ow may cause greater heat loss
through the ue gas. Moreover, it would reduce the ame temperature
(Tf) and hence adversely affect the heat transfer to the pan (Q utilized). On
the other hand, less air ow rate may lead to inefcient combustion of
bagasse. Most of the jaggery furnaces draw air by virtue of the natural
draft (P) created by chimney, which is given by the equation,



P g  h  a fg P f

where, h is chimney height, a and fg are the densities of ambient air

and ue gas, respectively, and Pf is the frictional pressure loss.
Based on the draft generated, the velocity of ue gas in chimney is
thus given as,

Table 2
Dimensions of four-pan jaggery making unit.
Chimney
Wall thickness
Height

0.2 m
4.27 m

Furnace
Length
Width

9.45 m
0.91 m

Bagasse inlet
Depth from furnace top
ID

0.20 m
0.15 m

Bottom diameter

2030
2030
0
2030

Q w ha  Aw  T w T a

convective heat transfer to the surroundings. It is assumed that these

terms are negligible. The heat distribution in a bagasse fuelled furnace
is thus shown in Fig. 4.
Part of the heat liberated by bagasse combustion (Q bagasse) is used in
evaporation (Q utilized), and rest is lost along with the ue gas (Q fg) and
through the walls (Q w) of the furnace. Hence, the balance is given as,

Pan
Top diameter

5660
611
4950
13





4
4
Q bagasse hfg  Ap  T fg T p F    Ap  T f T p :

h


i
Q fg mfg  C p  T fg T a

Air inlet
Width and length

1420
24
1216
24

The total heat received by the pan is composed of heat ux due to

convection and radiation.

m (0.91 + 5.18)
m
m
m
m

Q bagasse Q utilized Q fg Q w :

39

0.08 m 0.06 m, 0.43 m 0.43 m and

0.30 m 0.30 m

1.75
1.68
1.45
1.40

m (rst pan from bagasse inlet),

m (rest of the three pans)
m (rst pan from bagasse inlet),
m (rest of the three pans)

vfg

r
h



i
2  g  h  a fg P f =fg :

Hence, depending on the operating conditions, there exists an optimum chimney height for which the air ow rate is such that the energy

Table 4
Properties of bagasse from various locations.
Sample from:
Jaggery unit

Caloric value
(MJ/kg)

Moisture
(%)

Volatile
(%)

Fixed carbon
(%)

Ash
(%)

Unit 1
Unit 2
Unit 3
Unit 4

16.4
16.1
15.2
15.9

6.7
7.8
6.7
6.2

75.4
74.5
77.9
77.1

13.4
15.2
12.3
12.9

4.5
2.6
2.9
3.8

40

K.Y. Shiralkar et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 18 (2014) 3648

Fig. 4. Heat balance for a furnace.

efciency of the unit is maximum. It may be noted that if the chimney is

over-designed then one may encounter one of the following problems:
Furnace draws in more air, which demands more bagasse inow to
obtain the desired ame temperature. This is because the heat transfer
to the pan is mainly governed by radiation (Eq. (8)) and is a strong
function of temperature. This results in more bagasse consumption.
If bagasse is not fed to match the excessive air ow rate, then it would
increase batch time due to low evaporation rates as the ame temperature, in this case, is relatively less than that in the case of a properly
designed chimney.
Furthermore, it is possible that there is a minimum limit on chimney
height imposed by environmental constraints. If this minimum height
requirement is greater than the optimal height based on the draft calculations, then one has to use a greater chimney height than that obtained
by draft calculations. In such case the ow can be regulated by some
other means as explained in the following text.
The frictional losses in Eq. (9), depend on the duct diameter, its
length, number of bends, suction ow rate, number of air inlet holes,
chimney height and diameter. Since the net draft available to ue gas
decides its velocity, all possible pressure losses (Pf) are subtracted
from draft generated when there are no losses g h (a fg).
Frictional pressure loss Pf is given by Fanning's equation as,
2

P f 2  f  L   v =D

10

where, L can be the duct length, air inlet pipe length or equivalent pipe
length for the bends and is the velocity of ue gas in the duct or the air

velocity in the furnace inlet pipes. is the density of gas owing in the
system whose frictional pressure drop is measured. Frictional losses include losses due to ow of gas through furnace air inlet pipes, duct,
chimney walls and other minor losses. The frictional pressure drop
through air inlet pipes increases when some of the air inlet holes are
blocked. This is because of the increased air velocity and decreased
cross-sectional area for ow (Pf v2/D). Hence, the air ow rate in
units with over-designed chimney can be controlled by closing some
of the air inlet holes without altering the chimney height. Another alternative to introduce more pressure drop for the control of air ow rate is
to use damper in the path of the ue gas. The damper may be conveniently operated to ensure an optimum air ow rate to the furnace.
The equations for the draft are applicable to multi-pan method (see
Fig. 5) as well. In this case, the pans are arranged in such a way that the
hot ue gas, on its way to the chimney, comes in contact with the other
pans containing relatively less concentrated juice. The juice is transferred from one pan to another at xed time intervals. Thus it is a
semi-continuous process, with countercurrent ow of juice and heating
gas, and is expected to offer more productivity. The thermal efciency is
calculated based on the jaggery production rate and the rate of addition
of bagasse. It is the ratio of heat utilized to evaporate water and heat jaggery, to the energy released through bagasse combustion. We throw
more light on the heat transfer aspects in multi-pan method later in
the section on results and analysis. As mentioned before, this method
though not practiced in Kolhapur, is popular in few other parts of India.
Methodology
Selected jaggery units
Several measurements were made in various jaggery units of Maharashtra, India in the middle of the season (December-January) but systematic study is performed only at two different units which were
observed to be the most and least efcient, among all. The designs of
two such units are schematically shown in Fig. 6. Other details are also
given in Table 1. The main differences in the designs are that the height
of the chimney in unit-2 is more than that of unit-1, and the path of the
exhaust duct from the furnace to the chimney is smaller and with less
number of bends in unit-2 as compared to that in unit-1.
The layout of a typical four-pan jaggery making unit at Daund in the
state of Maharashtra, chosen for the present study, is similar to that
shown in Fig. 1. The dimensions of four-pan jaggery making unit are
given in Table 2.

Fig. 5. Schematic of a multi-pan process.

K.Y. Shiralkar et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 18 (2014) 3648

41

Fig. 6. Design comparison of units.

Measurements
The measurements include bagasse addition rate, total duration of a
batch, sugar and water content in cane, temperatures at several locations and properties of dry bagasse i.e. moisture content, caloric
value, proximate and ultimate analysis. Bagasse is weighed each time
before charging with the help of a weighing machine (Corona System,
L.C.-100 g). The sugar and water contents in the given juice are calculated by material balance considering the amount of juice extracted, jaggery produced and moisture content in wet bagasse. Since dry bagasse
is used as a fuel, it is necessary to analyze it for the following:
a Moisture content: It is measured by calculating the weight loss
on subjecting the bagasse to 105 C for 6 h in an oven. The values
are cross-checked by performing measurements in a thermogravimetric analyzer (Perkin-Elmer, Diamond TG-DTA).
b Caloric value: It is measured in a Bomb calorimeter (C-200, IKA,
Germany). It has been found that the caloric value does not change
signicantly for the samples from various units (Table 4).
c Proximate and ultimate analysis: This analysis is necessary to estimate the ue gas composition. Proximate analysis is performed
with the help of a thermo-gravimetric analyzer, while ICP (inductive
coupled plasma) technique was used to obtain C, H, O contents of the
bagasse samples.
Fig. 7 shows different important locations at which temperatures
were measured with the help of pre-calibrated K-type thermocouples.
The measurements are captured on-line using a data-logger (Dynalog
DAQ 4718, 8 channel).
Air velocities at the suction holes are measured at certain time intervals throughout the process using digital anemometer (Lutron, Model
No. AM-4204). Schematic of the setup for measurement is shown in
Fig. 8. A pipe is inserted in the air suction hole and an anemometer is

placed at a location (N 6 times the diameter of pipe) to ensure that we

measure the velocity of a fully developed ow. Bagasse charging hole
is completely closed while taking the velocity measurements through
air suction holes. During the course of the run, the operator feeds bagasse continuously and therefore our estimation of total air entering
into the furnace is reasonably accurate. From the measured velocity
and cross-sectional area of all the air suction holes, excluding bagasse
charging hole, the volumetric ow rates are calculated. The cumulative
air intake in each case is obtained by calculating the area under the plot
of volumetric ow rate vs time (not shown here).
To evaluate the effect of air inlet cross-sectional area on air ow rate
and thus on thermal efciency, experiments were performed by
blocking some of the furnace air inlet pipe holes. Initially one air inlet
hole is blocked and the measurements were made. Later two inlet
holes were blocked. The number of blocked holes was increased up to
the point beyond which the ames in the furnace extinguished.
Results and analysis
Measurements
Bagasse addition with respect to time
It was found that the rate of addition over the entire period is fairly
constant in all the units in Kolhapur district (see Fig. 9). Air draft is a parameter which decides how much bagasse to be fed since the operator
can observe drop in boil-up rate when excess air is going into the furnace. The higher the air draft the more is the heat required to preheat
the air and hence the more is the bagasse consumption. As the maximum possible rate of addition is decided by the efciency of the worker,
most of the times, excessive draft results in longer batch time because of
less heat transfer to pan.
Total duration of the run
The duration of the run depends on the efciency of the furnace. The
rst batch of the day, which is normally started after a gap of about 6 h,
always takes longer time as the furnace is relatively cold. Fig. 10 shows
the variation in batch times i.e. 145 to 165 min.
Crushing efciency
Crushing efciency is dened as the ratio of juice extracted from the
cane to the juice present in the sugar cane. The crushing efciency
depends on the type of crusher used. It varies over the range 8095%
depending on the crusher used.

Fig. 7. Locations of temperature measurement in a Jaggery making unit.

Sugar and water content in cane

Different canes have different sugar contents. It also depends on the
maturity of cane at the time of harvesting. Cane harvested in MarApril
has higher sugar content than that harvested in NovDec. It is therefore
necessary to measure/estimate these concentrations to calculate the efcacy of a run. The typical material balance in terms of sugar and water

42

K.Y. Shiralkar et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 18 (2014) 3648

Fig. 8. Measurement of velocity at suction hole.

contents at various stages is given in Table 3. Juice is composed of

sugars, water, proteins and other impurities. In Table 3, all the solid content in the juice is considered as sugar since other components, such as
proteins and minerals are in small proportions. Some sugar and water
content is still left in bagasse after crushing and sun drying, which is
indicated in Table 3.
Analysis of dry bagasse (leaves, rind and soft bers)
As depicted in Table 5, the variation in composition of rind, soft ber
and leaves is insignicant.

of dry bagasse per kg of jaggery is 0.65 kg/kg. Detailed calculations are

given in Appendix A.
Our eld survey (Shiralkar, 2010) reveals that about 1.75 kg sun
dried bagasse (78 % moisture, Table 3) is generated per kg of jaggery.
Bagasse consumption is in the range of 11.5 kg/kg jaggery made,
which is less than the bagasse generated during extraction.
From CHO analysis, the average formula for bagasse can be worked
out to be C13H21O10 and hence the stoichiometric reaction can be
written as,

Energy efciency

4C13 H21 O10 53O2 5379=21N2 52CO2 42H2 O

5379=21N2

Theoretical and ideal bagasse requirement

First, we determine the theoretical requirement of bagasse in jaggery making process. As given in Table 3, the wet bagasse content in
sugarcane is about 35% (w/w). To know the maximum requirement of
bagasse a relatively inferior quality cane (i.e. 20% solids in juice) is
considered for the calculation of efciency. The heat required per kg of
jaggery production by evaporating water from the juice is given
in Eq. (5). Substituting the appropriate values in Eq. (5) (m = 4 kg;
Cpwater = 4.186 kJ/kgK; Tjb = 373 K; Tji = 303 K; = 2257 kJ/kg;
Ts = 391 K; Cpjaggery = 2 kJ/kgK), the energy requirement turns
out to be 10,376 kJ/kg. Considering a typical caloric value of bagasse
(78 % moisture, Table 3) as 16,000 kJ/kg, the theoretical requirement

Eq. (11) allows us to calculate the stoichiometric air to fuel ratio as

5.4 (w/w). Neglecting the wall heat losses, the ideal thermal efciency
is given in Eq. (1). Assuming the typical ue gas exit temperature as
1000 K, specic heat of 1 kJ/kg C, and ambient temperature as 300 K,
one can calculate the energy lost to the ue gas as 4480 kJ/kg of bagasse.
Hence, the net energy utilized for evaporation is 11,520 kJ/kg of bagasse.
Thus the corresponding bagasse requirement is 0.9 kg bagasse/kg of
jaggery and the ideal thermal efciency is 72% (Appendix A) for the
given air to fuel ratio and furnace temperature. Hence, efciency lower
than 72% means that the air used for combustion is in large excess.

Fig. 9. Bagasse addition as a function of time in two representative runs.

Fig. 10. Variation of duration of run with respect to batch number on a given day.

11

K.Y. Shiralkar et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 18 (2014) 3648

Table 5
CHO analysis of rind, leaves and soft Fiber in bagasse.
Sample

Carbon wt.%

Hydrogen wt.%

Oxygen wt.%

Rind
Leaves
Soft ber

42.7
41.2
42.7

6.1
5.4
6.1

51.2
53.4
51.2

Single pan jaggery making process

Temperature variation. Fig. 11 shows the variation in temperatures at
different points in the unit during the course of a representative run. It
may be seen that the juice temperature is close to 373 K for a long period and increases up to the striking point (391 K) towards the end. The
trend in the juice temperature is merely the same in all the units. Typically, the batch time is of the order of 2.5 h in which 1 m3 of water is
evaporated, which means average heat transfer rate through the pan
is 330 kW. The temperature of the juice is not signicantly different
from the temperature of the bottom of the pan because heat transfer coefcients for boiling liquid and for conduction through steel are much
greater than the overall combined coefcient for radiation and convection on the furnace side of the pan. The temperature of the furnace
varies over a range of 8731273 K.
From Eq. (5), convective heat transfer rate is proportional to temperature (T) and radiative heat transfer rate is proportional to T4. Hence,
the heat transfer to the pan is mainly due to radiation and to some extent by natural convection arising out of the large temperature difference in the ame (10731273 K) and the pan bottom (~ 378 K). In
literature, it is stated that the convective heat transfer coefcient is in
the range of 525 W/m2K. The dominance of radiation can be proved
through simple calculations by considering typical values of heat transfer coefcient of 5 W/m2K for low Reynolds number (Barrett and
Christopher, 2003), emissivity of pan and the view factor as 0.5 each.
The heat transfer rates at different temperatures were computed to examine the relative contributions from convection and radiation. When
the furnace temperature is in the range of 10001200 K, the radiative
heat transfer is about 5 times that of convection. There is a considerable
loss of heat when the ue gas travels from furnace to the chimney. Observations indicate that the chimney exhaust temperature is also relatively high (823873 K) providing a scope for waste heat recovery. All
the temperatures though uctuating on a smaller time scale are fairly
uniform over the entire run. The drop in furnace temperature at certain
intervals corresponds to interruption in bagasse addition at the time of
scum removal (see Fig. 3). The observation is consistent for all the runs.

43

Comparison of two units. The time required for the batch varies between
2 and 3 h depending on the furnace design. The results of a typical run
performed in the two different units are compared in Figs. 12 and 13.
For comparison, we have chosen second run of the day in both the
cases. The capacities of both the units are approximately similar.
It may be seen from Tables 6 and 7 that the time required to complete a run in unit-1 is about 2 h as against ~2.5 h in unit-2. Moreover,
the bagasse consumption per kg of jaggery produced in unit-1 is
1.2 kg as against 1.5 kg in unit-2. It may be noted here that the ideal bagasse consumption rate, as calculated before, is 0.65 kg/kg jaggery. The
average thermal efciencies in unit-1 and unit-2 are 55% and 42%, respectively. Using the data of Table 1 and solving Eq. (8), for a ue gas
temperature of 1073 K and assuming frictional pressure losses to be
zero, air drafts for unit-1 and unit-2 are found to be around 33 and
43 N/m2, respectively (Appendix A).
Higher draft requires large amount of cold air to be heated to the furnace temperature thereby increasing the bagasse consumption. It is
therefore necessary to control the ow rate of air by some means. We
performed several experiments by blocking some of the air inlet holes
to control the air ow rate. The results for units 1 and 2 are depicted
in Tables 6 and 7, respectively.
Variations in thermal efciency of the single pan units at different air
ow rates are shown in Figs. 14 and 15. It can be seen that the air ow
rate has a signicant impact on the thermal efciency and the operators
should be made aware of its consequences.
Multi-pan jaggery making process
Jaggery production in a four-pan process is a semi-continuous process wherein, unit is operational for 24 h a day. Typical capacity is
2 tons of jaggery per day per unit. On an average, the rst pan receives
360 l of sugarcane juice, and undergoes evaporation in four stages to
produce 90 kg of jaggery. The average residence time that the juice
spends in the process is 56 min. The consumption of bagasse is
1.44 kg/kg of jaggery. The thermal efciency was found out to be
about 46% and the air drawn into the furnace is at a ow rate of
0.13 m3/s. Thermal efciency data is summarized in Table 8.
Discussion
Lower thermal efciency of unit-2 may be attributed to higher air
draft (Tables 6 and 7) that is caused by taller chimney and less pressure
drop in shorter and straight furnace exhaust duct. From the temperature
proles and from the data presented in Tables 6 and 7, we can say that
relatively low temperatures in unit 2 are possibly due to suction of more

Fig. 11. Temperature variation with respect to time.

44

K.Y. Shiralkar et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 18 (2014) 3648

Fig. 12. Temperature prole of unit 1.

air which leads to longer batch time and less thermal efciency. Air ow
rate may have a signicant impact on thermal efciency and thus on the
bagasse consumption. The exact relationship may evolve through detailed reaction enabled ow simulations. If we optimize air ow rate
then the efciency of the furnace can be increased. A precise control
over the air ow rate in the furnaces and boilers is commonly practiced
in large scale processes to obtain higher energy efciencies. However,
this technique has not been well adopted in the jaggery process. The
comparison of the performances of the two units reveals that unit-2
draws more air requiring more bagasse to attain the desired furnace
temperature (N 1000 K). The excess requirement of bagasse is thus
reected in the lower thermal efciency in unit-2.
It has been reported that, use of multi-pan method for jaggery making process improves the thermal efciency (Anwar, 2010). However,
according to our measurements the designs used in Daund, Maharashtra do not show considerable improvement. This may be explained as
follows: The heat transfer to the pan near the bagasse feeding hole is
due to both convection and radiation, and for the rest of the three
pans, the heat transfer is mainly due to convection. This is because,
the rest of the pans are far away from the ame and the view factor is
adversely affected. The reader may refer Appendix B for the calculation
and comparison of the view factors in the case of single pan and multipan processes. The extent of heat transfer to the rest of the pans
happens to be much lower since it is mainly due to convection,

and can be calculated by assuming the heat transfer coefcient to be

5 W/m2 K at low Reynolds numbers (Barrett and Christopher, 2003).
Hence, the enhancement in thermal efciency due to increased number
of pans is not so signicant. The results presented in section 4 for the
single pan jaggery making process, indicate that the furnaces, if operated judiciously, can be more energy efcient than the multi-pan unit
studied in the present work. Thus, from the energy efciency point of
view, unless the multi-pan design is modied for a better radiative
heat transfer, there seems to be no appreciable benet in adopting
this mode of operation. Providing parallel ns at the bottom of pans
has been suggested for heat transfer enhancement (Anwar, 2010),
however this option needs further investigations and experimental
validation.
Though one does not gain much in terms of energy saving in the
existing four-pan jaggery process, it should be noted here that this process, being semi-continuous in nature, enjoys the benet of increased
productivity and less labor. Thus, if the product quality is maintained
well, four-pan method can still be a promising alternative to the conventional Kolhapur-type single pan units.
Further research
Future research may be aimed at establishment of a mathematical
model for both single-pan and multi-pan methods, which explains the

Fig. 13. Temperature prole of unit 2.

K.Y. Shiralkar et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 18 (2014) 3648

45

Table 6
Batch time and thermal efciency data of unit 1 with varying air ow rate.
Batch
time
(min)

Inlet cross
sectional
area (m2)

Total volume
of air going in
(m3)

Bagasse
consumed
(kg)

Jaggery
produced
(kg)

Juice
volume
(m3)

Thermal
efciency
(%)

124
122
124
139
137

0.07
0.08
0.08
0.04
0.04

1922
1681
1542
1557
1172

324
290
243
255
214

264
260
250
272
271

1365
1213
1167
1284
1280

55
53
61
64
76

Table 7
Batch time and thermal efciency data of unit 2 at different air ow rates.

Fig. 15. Thermal efciency of unit 2 at different air ow rates.

Batch
time
(min)

Inlet cross
sectional
area (m2)

Total volume
of air going in
(m3)

Bagasse
consumed
(kg)

Jaggery
produced
(kg)

Juice
volume
(m3)

Thermal
efciency
(%)

162
157
143
125
130
143
137

0.05
0.05
0.07
0.05
0.08
0.08
0.05

1507
1060
1292
830
2227
2450
1966

278
232
215
228
289
288
246

280.5
250
245
240
260
255
270

1142
1072
1002
1037
1072
1081
1055

50
57
57
56
45
46
52

trend in variation of thermal efciency with air ow rate and other design parameters. This would require detailed reaction enabled ow simulations. An optimum design for the furnace system and the standard
operating protocol may evolve through this exercise. Various other
ways of controlling air ow rate (e.g. use of dampers in the duct) may
also be explored. The design of multi-pan furnace may be modied
such that the heat transfer to all the pans is efcient. The waste heat recovery techniques such as recuperation (Liu et al., 2014) for air
preheating may enhance the efciency. However, its economic viability
for a small-scale jaggery unit should be evaluated.
Conclusion
The eld survey of several jaggery units indicates that there is
ample scope to improve energy efciency of the furnace and save bagasse. The measurements and eld data analysis reveal that the thermal efciencies of single pan units are over a range of 4560%. This
translates into bagasse consumption in the single pan units to be
11.5 kg/kg jaggery made. The amount of air that ows in is very
crucial as it decides the bagasse burning efciency and the temperature inside the furnace. If the draft is more, much of the heat is lost
in preheating the air which results in a reduction in the furnace

Fig. 14. Thermal efciency of unit 1 at different air ow rates.

Table 8
Residence time and thermal efciency data of multi pan unit.
Residence
time (min)

Bagasse
consumption (kg)

Jaggery
produced (kg)

Juice
volume (m3)

Thermal
efciency (%)

60
54
54

116
136
140

87
87
97

448
443
498

50
42
46

temperature and the energy efciency. It also results in a longer duration to complete one batch due to poor heat transfer. On the other
hand, very low draft results in inefcient combustion thereby causing less heat transfer. Thermal efciency can be signicantly improved (from 60 to 70 % in unit 1 and from 45 to 55 % in unit 2) by
controlling the air ow rate by blocking or opening air inlet holes
while retaining the existing setup i.e. furnace, ue passage and chimney. An alternate option to control the air ow is to provide dampers
at either inlet or in the ue passage.
Of late, there have been some efforts in introducing four-pan
method for jaggery making in Maharashtra. However, the limited
measurements carried out by us at a representative unit employing
four-pan method gave thermal efciencies in the range of 4050%,
which is comparable to existing single pan units. Based on these
ndings, authors recommend that four-pan units, in its exiting
form, in spite of being more productive, do not make appreciable improvement in energy efciency. Nevertheless, these units are more
productive due to their semi-continuous nature. However, our conclusion is based on limited measurements. Further design improvements can be made only by performing rigorous testing and
analysis of multi-pan methods.
Nomenclature
Ap
bottom surface area of pan
Aw
total area of duct and chimney walls
Cp
heat capacity
D
diameter of duct
F
view factor of pan to ame
f
Fanning's friction factor
g
acceleration due to gravity
h
height of chimney
ha
convective heat transfer coefcient wall and air
hfg
convective heat transfer coefcient for ue gas-pan system
L
length of duct
LHV
lower heating value
m
mass
P
natural draft created by chimney
Pf
frictional pressure loss.
Qbagasse heat supplied by bagasse

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K.Y. Shiralkar et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 18 (2014) 3648

Qfg
heat loss to ue gas
Qpan
heat received by pan
Qutilized heat used in heating jaggery and evaporating water
Qw
wall heat losses
Ta
ambient air temperature
Tf
ame temperature in the furnace
Tfg
ue gas temperature at the furnace exit
Tfw
furnace wall temperature
Tjb
boiling point of water
Tji
initial juice temperature
Tp
temperature of pan
Ts
jaggery striking temperature
Tw
outer surface temperate of duct and chimney walls

general term for velocity

fg
velocity of ue gas in chimney

emissivity of Pan

thermal efciency

latent heat of vaporization of water

a
density of ambient air
fg
density of ue gas

StefanBoltzmann constant

A2. Ideal thermal efciency

Neglecting wall heat losses, the ideal thermal efciency is given as
Q utilized =Q bagasse :

From CHO analysis, the mass fraction of dry ash free bagasse is
given as
Carbon fraction 0:454;
Hydrogen fraction 0:062;
Oxygen fraction 0:474:
Hence, the average formula for bagasse is C13H21O10. The stoichiometric reaction is given as,
4C13 H21 O10 53O2 5379=21N2 52CO2 42H2 O 5379=21N2
Mass of bagasse 4  156 21 160 4  337 1348

Acknowledgment
This work was funded by Rajiv Gandhi Science and Technology
Council, Maharashtra (India). The authors wish to acknowledge the access and support provided by all the jaggery unit holders during the
measurements and survey. The assistance provided by Prof. K. Iyer
(Mech. Engg. IIT-Bombay) and Rahul Kumar and Shashank Bhansal
(Chem. Engg., IIT-Bombay) is gratefully acknowledged. The authors
would also like to acknowledge jaggery unit holders, especially,
Dhere-Patil, Raju Mali, and Bhagwan Tule for their support in the eld
measurements.

Mass of air 53  32 53  79=21  28 1696 5583 7279

Appendix A. Sample calculations for air draft, theoretical bagasse

consumption, and ideal and actual thermal efciencies

Cp of water 4:186 kJ=kg  K

Stoichiometric air=fuel ratio 7279=1348 5:4

Brix in juice 20%
Basis : Jaggery produced 1 kg
Juice to be evaporated 4 kg

Latent heat of water 2270 kJ=kg

A1. Theoretical bagasse consumption

Energy required for juice evaporation;

Jaggery content in sugarcane juice = 20%.

Water to jaggery ratio in sugarcane juice is

Q utilized 4  4:186  10030 4  2270 1  2  11830

10; 428 kJ=kg of jaggery

mwater =mjaggery 80=20 4:

Air=fuel ratio 5:4

Heat required per kg of jaggery production by evaporating water

from the juice is,
Q utilized =mjaggery
h



i
m  C p  T jb T ji m 

water

h


i
m  C p  T s T ji

6:4 kg=kg fuel gets converted to CO2 and H2 O:

Assuming ue gas exit temperature as 1000 K and ambient temperature as 300 K,


jaggery

Flue gas=kg of fuel air fuel 5:4 1

=mjaggery

4  4:186  10030 4  2270 1  2  11830 10; 428 kJ=kg:

Caloric value of bagasse is given as,

LHV bagasse 16; 000 kJ=kg:

Energy lost to flue gas 6:4  1  1000300

4480 kJ=kg of bagasse

Net energy from bagasse 16; 0004480 11; 520 kJ=kg of bagasse
Bagasse required 10; 428=11; 520 0:9 kg bagasse=kg of jaggery
Energy from bagasse; Q bagasse 0:9  16; 000 kJ=kg

Theoretical requirement of dry bagasse per kg of jaggery made =

10,428/1600 = 0.65 kg/kg.

The ideal thermal efficiency 10; 428=0:9  16; 000 0:72:

K.Y. Shiralkar et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 18 (2014) 3648

47

zone is assumed to be a at circular area on the oor of the furnace

which radiates heat. The horizontal distance between the centers of
the two circles is l. The surface areas of combustion zone and pan are divided into m equidistant rings and n equiangular differential cells. For a
cell, the center of mass lies on its bisector and its distance from its vertex
is given as

A3. Actual thermal efciency

From the data in Table 6
Juice taken 1365 kg assuming juice density as 1 since it has
less concentration of sugars in it
Jaggery produced 264 kg

CM 2  r  sin =3 

Bagasse consumed 324 kg

B:2

where is half of the sector angle and r is the sector radius. To estimate
the center of mass of the rest of the differential sectors of all the rings
(CMl), superposition rule is applied as below:

Water evaporated 1365264 1101 kg:

Heat utilized,







Q utilized mC p T jb T ji m water mC p T s T ji jaggery

A1  CM1 A2 A1  CM A2  CM2

B:3

11014:186373303 11012270
where, A1 and A2 are the areas of small and big sectors, respectively.
All these points are then converted from cylindrical to Cartesian coordinate system. To calculate view factor from each differential sector
on combustion zone to each differential sector of pan, distance and
angle between them are determined. Individual view factors are then
calculated by the following equation:

2641391303 2845 MJ
Heat supplied 324  16 5184 MJ
Actual thermal efficiency 2845=5184  100 55%:

h


i
2
F21 cos1  cos2  A11  A21 =  d
=A2

A4. Air draft in units 1 and 2 neglecting frictional pressure loss

Assumptions:
P f 0



fg a  T a =T fg where T a is inlet air temperature and T fg is flue
gas average temperature

B:4

where, A and A are the differential sector area and total area, respectively. d is the differential sector center to center distance and is the
angle with the normal to the surface.
For calculating the net view factor, all the individual view factors are
added (Eq. (B.5))
F21 Fij :

B:5

a 1 kg=m at 303 K
The heat transfer rate due to radiation is given in Eq. (B.1).
Using above method, we can also calculate view factors for each pan
of multi-pan jaggery unit for the geometry shown in Fig. B.2.
Following the above method, calculations were performed for both
single pan and multi-pan units. The results are presented in Fig. B.3.
From these results, one can conclude that the view factor is more in single pan unit when compared to multi-pan unit. The view factor and
hence the heat transfer rate to pan by radiation are reduced signicantly
if the pan moves away from combustion zone.

T a 303 K
T fg 1073 K



For unit 1 : Draft; P g  h  a fg
9:8  4:72  11  303=1073
2
33 N=m



For unit 2 : Draft; P g  h  a fg
9:8  6:1  11  303=1073
2
43 N=m :

Appendix B. Calculations for the view factor in single pan and

multi-pan units
The heat transfer rate (Eq. (B.1)) by radiation is given as



4
4
Q F12    A1  T f T p :

B:1

The view factor (F12) in the above equation may be dened as the
fraction of the heat absorbed by the pan bottom surface (2) situated at
vertical distance h from the oor (1) on which combustion occurs.
In order to calculate the view factor (F21) for the single pan method,
we have considered the geometry shown in Fig. B.1(a). The combustion

Fig. B.1. (a) Positions of the combustion zone and the pan bottom considered for the calculation of view factor in a single pan methods; (b) differential sectors and center of mass
for differential sector of length r2r1.

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K.Y. Shiralkar et al. / Energy for Sustainable Development 18 (2014) 3648

Fig. B.2. Positions of the combustion zone and the pan bottom considered for the calculation of view factor in a multi-pan methods.

Fig. B.3. View factors for radiative heat transfer in single pan and multi-pan jaggery units.

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