Electric power from green harvesting residues of sugar cane in Colombia: a pre-feasibility study on its technical and economic viability.

This paper presents the results of a pre-feasibility study on the technical and economic viability of producing electric power from green harvest residues of sugar cane in Colombia. The study was sponsored by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and was carried out by Cenicana during 1998. In the evaluation process, two systems of collection and transport of residues were considered: chopping and baling. In the assessment of the conversion of energy in the residues to electrical energy the following systems were considered: anaerobic fermentation in landfills, integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) and direct combustion in bagasse boilers. The analysis of landfill systems indicated that they are not economically viable for Colombian conditions. The application of biomass integrated gasification/gas turbine system could eventually become the best solution for the use of the residues in power generation. However, there are no commercially viable systems using gasified biomass with relatively low calorific value to generate power through gas turbines. For this reason, the Colombian industry will continue to observe the progress in Brazilian, Indian and Australian projects and will base future decisions on the results. The use of residues as fuel in traditional and modified boilers to produce power is the most attractive option for the Colombian sugar industry. The analysis demonstrates that power generation is technically feasible in many mills with very little investment. Increased investment and adjustments could significantly improve the performance of the boilers originally designed primarily to attend sugar operations.