A Quarterly Newsletter of the Project -

Energy Conservation in Small Sector Tea Processing Units in South India

Issue - 14 September 2011

Mr. R. Ambalavanan, IA & AS,

EDITORIAL Executive Director, Tea Board
National Project Director
As I write the editorial for conservation measures and many
the current edition of the other agencies were keen to learn
EnCon newsletter, the from us about our implementation
bright light of the newly approach. The partnership between
The project - Energy Conservation
installed solar LED light the Tea Board, UPASI, Tea factories
in Small Sector Tea Processing
illuminates the Tea and TIDE with technical support
Units in south India, has been Board premises. A solar water heater provided by Anna University and PSG
initiated by the Tea Board to has been installed for the guest house. Tech Coimbatore has been a
remove barriers to energy An additional initiative taken is to symbiotic relationship and must be
conservation and energy efficiency renovate the Tea Board office to nurtured for greater environmental
that inhibit the realization of large become a green building to the extent impact in the Tea gardens.
energy saving potential in the tea possible. It is a good demonstration for Finally, Tea Board will very soon,
sector. This 4-year project is the many guests and visitors who release the video tutorials on energy
supported by the United Nations come to the Tea Board and also conservation produced by the project.
Development Programme - Global showcases the commitment of the Tea Several of the tea stakeholders have
Board towards green initiatives. spared their time for the video footage
Environment Facility. The project’s
objective is to remove barriers and Last week I visited a biogas plant and I am grateful to them for their
to develop replicable strategies for installed in the Highfield tea factory support. The tutorial CD would be
energy efficiency and energy and witnessed how it was creating an mailed freely to all tea factories in the
energy resource while addressing country. I have seen the first version of
conservation interventions in the
issues of sanitation for the labour the films and I think that they would
tea processing industry in south
colonies on the estate. I learnt that it trigger a renewed interest in energy
India. The objective would be could generate sufficient biogas to conservation not only in South India
achieved by: replace 7 kg of LPG everyday which is but also in other tea clusters in the
about half a domestic cylinder. To me it country.
a. Awareness creation among the was a win-win situation. There are
target sector about energy other win-win options for renewable
efficiency/renewable energy Viewpoint
INSIDE

energy in tea gardens that need to be 2

Dr. Praveen Saxena
technologies and their relation exploited. The current issue carries an
interview with Dr. Praveen Saxena of 3 Biogas Plant At Highfield Tea
to profitability Factory Commissioned
MNRE inviting tea gardens to adopt
b. Elimination of financial barriers hydel power and offering MNRE 4 Quality Upgradation of Briquettes
At Sri Ra Ra Biofuels
that inhibit investment in support for the same.
energy conservation In the second week of September, I 5 Gasifier For Green Tea Panning
equipment was at Goa to participate in the Global At Glenmorgan
Environment Facility's National 6 Tea Project Presented In
c. Adoption and procurement of dialogue organized by the Ministry of GEF National Dialogue
energy efficiency/renewable Environment and Forests. I met A Report On The Deliberations of
energy equipment /practice several officials of MoEF, Bureau of The Technical Advisory Committee
Energy Efficiency and others and was of The Project

d. Learning, knowledge sharing happy with their very positive 7 Report on UPASI Energy
Service Facility
and replication response to the Encontea project. The
project has shown very good 8 Announcement
implementation of energy
(For Internal Circulation Only)

1
 INTERVIEW WITH DR. PRAVEEN SAXENA
VIEWPOINT
Scientist F, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India

i) The tea industry all over India has Look for grid interactive and off grid distributed
very high unexploited potential for renewable power under programmes / schemes.
hydro and we want to promote hydro in the tea You can also see the draft recommendations for the
sector. Can you tell us which sector and which 12th plan on the opening page of the web site under
region has best exploited hydro power and why? requests for suggestions on 12 th plan. Tamil Nadu
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and Kerala would be the focus states from south India
is responsible for the promotion of small hydro projects for hydro capacity addition and we are very keen to
(SHP) (upto 25 MW). Projects generating power of 5 see more projects being developed from these states.
kW or less are classified as watermills. Small hydro is Realizing that the capital costs have increased and
popular in all hilly areas where water falls from a height. that subsidy plays a very important role in covering
So region wise, Himachal Pradesh and the Western risk and making SHP projects economically viable, the
ghats in Karnataka have best exploited small hydro 12th plan has recommended increase in MNRE
potential so far but much more needs to be done. subsidy. It has also recommended that the scope of
There is also very high potential for hydro power in the water mill and the micro hydel projects be
Arunachal Pradesh. The MNRE has assessed that enlarged. There is also a recommendation for direct
power generation is also possible from canal drops support for tea / coffee garden owners. We hope that
when water falls from a height of even one metre. The more projects would now become viable. The MNRE
response from the private sector partners for is also open to discussions with tea industry
development of hydro power has been very good. In representatives to suitably amend the provisions if
Himachal Pradesh, there are good examples of private required.
sector grid connected small hydro power projects. The iv) In tea estates the streams are usually at least 1
MNRE has in the past worked with two tea gardens in - 2 kms from point of consumption. Would you
Darjeeling - Pussimbing and Chamong and with the recommend that even remote streams be
Rani Tea Estate in Assam for implementing 100 kW exploited for hydro power?
small hydro projects. Decentralized power generation
in the captive mode is perhaps best suited for tea Yes, they must be and this is not an issue. But it is
gardens but the MNRE is open to all proposals from tea important that hydel projects be taken up for
estates. implementation only after the preparation of a detailed
project report (DPR) and with a complete
ii) What do you think the project must do to understanding of what is possible and at what cost.
motivate the tea industry to adopt hydro power? This report should contain information about the head,
For a long time now the MNRE has believed that the tea flow rate, the power generation potential during lean
sector located in a hilly region with several streams is and peak seasons, the detailed designs for
most ideally suited for adopting hydro power. It is useful implementation of the project, the costs broken up into
to look at why this has not happened. Perhaps there equipment costs, civil works costs etc. The techno
are barriers in obtaining permissions for hydro power economics must to be worked out for different options
and the need to interface with different departments. If e.g. if the hydel power is replacing grid electricity,
the project can dialogue with different state diesel gensets etc., for informed decision making.
governments and with the tea planters and understand v) Tea estates are generally not comfortable in
the permissions required for implementation of a hydro going to different departments of the government.
power project, then the MNRE would step in and do all There is a general impression that New Delhi is
it can to remove these barriers. I would be happy to very far and not approachable.
meet the industry representatives and find a way for
adoption of hydro power in all tea gardens. We have interacted with several private sector
partners in the past without any problem. We are very
iii) What in a nut shell are the typical schemes of approachable and flexible if the situation requires. You
the MNRE for hydro power? can call or mail us with your queries, clarifications. We
MNRE supports installation of small hydro power do not delay release of subsidies. We are very keen to
projects both in the public and the private sector. The promote hydel power in tea gardens and open to
pattern of Central Financial Assistance is different for discussions, clarifications. You can contact me at 011-
private sector and community hydro projects. There 24362706 or on email at [email protected]
are special packages for the north eastern states and (comments / suggestions can also be sent to the
border districts. Details of the MNRE schemes are project office in Tea Board, Coonoor and these would
available at the MNRE web site www.mnre.gov.in. be forwarded to Dr. Praveen Saxena)

2
 BIOGAS PLANT AT HIGHFIELD TEA

ARTICLE
FACTORY COMMISSIONED
The Encontea project has motivated the Highfield Tea do not have any distasteful odours. The raw materials
factory Coonoor to install a biogas plant. The plant is are fed through the inlet at the bottom of the digestor
producing rich methane from kitchen waste, dung and go to the bottom of the tank thus giving adequate
waste (from the horse and sheep yards) and night soil time for the fermentation reaction to take place. The
from the labour colonies. residence time of the waste inside the tank is about 40
A biogas plant is an anaerobic digestor (fermentation days and during this period, most of the fermentation
reaction happens in the absence of air) that can reaction has been completed.
convert organic wastes into biogas through bacterial The cost of this biogas plant was Rs 5 lakhs. With an
action. The digestion process consists of 3 stages (i) LPG equivalent of 7 kg saved per day, the revenue
Hydrolysis, (ii) Acidification and (iii) Methanization. generation because of the plant is about Rs 400/day.
The biogas plant has been installed with twin purposes
of:
(a) Generating methane rich biogas for cooking in
the labour quarters to substitute/ supplement
LPG which is costlier and has to be transported
over long distances. Surplus biogas can also be
used for withering tea leaves in the factory
(b) To produce carbon – nitrogen rich bio-manure for
the tea gardens.
The capacity of the biogas plant installed is 10m3 of gas
generation per day that can replace 7 kg of LPG. When
biogas is used in kitchens, special biogas burners must
be used. Biogas burns cleanly with a blue flame with no
smoke released.
The biogas plant has been constructed as a concrete Figure 2 The Executive Director, Tea Board visiting the biogas plant
underground structure both to make the plant rugged at Highfield tea factory
and insulate it from the atmospheric temperature. (The
night temperature in Coonoor falls to 10 C or less. But (commercial rate of LPG is Rs 50/kg). The simple
with the underground construction, the cool payback period works out to 3 years against the
temperatures does not have any detrimental effect on expected plant life of more than 20 years.
plant performance or gas production). The raw material These types of plants are ideally suited for tea estates
fed to the biogas plant being perennial, there are no where there is no sanitation facility. At least 100
fluctuations expected in biogas generation. installations are working satisfactorily in Tamil Nadu
As the biogas is a product of anaerobic digestion, and alone in educational institutions, hospitals, labour
the residence time of the digester is designed for quarters of textile mills etc.
complete digestion, the gas and the surrounding areas

Hu-Methane Gas

Pressure Release
Valve Pressure Gauge

Organic Waste
Collection Pit
Overflow
Ground Level Hu-Methane Gas

Anerobic Digestion

Figure 1 Schematic of a typical biogas plant

3
 ARTICLE QUALITY UPGRADATION OF BRIQUETTES
AT SRI RA RA BIOFUELS
The Encontea project had motivated the creation of Sri To overcome these problems and also to offer high
Ra Ra Biofuels, a dedicated briquetting facility for quality briquettes Sri Ra Ra Biofuels installed new
supplying quality briquettes to the tea industries. Like equipment for pre processing the raw material prior to
any other start up, Sri Ra Ra biofuels had experienced briquetting. This now consists of size reduction
a few constraints in its initial period. Raw material followed by size separation and heavy / foreign
supply is the most critical need of a briquetting unit and material removal through a sifter, drying in a drier
it had secured the same. During the commissioning (unlike open air drying) and pneumatic conveying of
phase production was slow and standardization of the the loose biomass to the briquette press. These
quality of the briquettes was a problem. The calorific additional steps in processing ensure that only dried (<
value of the briquette was inconsistent. Sri Ra Ra 10 % moisture ) loose biomass without any heavy /
biofuels also wanted the competitive advantage of foreign particles are briquetted.
being identified as a reliable supplier of quality
briquettes.
It quickly identified the problems and took corrective
action. Production of briquettes, especially in the rainy
months was a problem because the raw materials like
saw dust etc. were wet and took a long time to dry.
There were many days when the unit was not
functioning because of high moisture content in the raw
material. The moisture was also bringing down the
calorific value of the briquettes.
The raw materials saw dust, coffee husk etc. were in
different sizes and also had several foreign materials
like sand, stones, iron filings etc. This was the major
reason for poor binding in the briquettes and they could
crumble during handling and transportation.

Raw material landing

in factory

Figure 2 Pulverizer of the briquetting unit

Size reduction
(ball mill)

Size separation Oversize

(sieving) particles

Sifter Heavy / foreign

particles

Dryer (< 10 %
moisture

Screw conveyor
Figure 3 Sifter sifting the heavy/foreign particles

Calorific value of the fuel pellets has been measured at

fuel labs at Coimbatore (indag), Valparai (BBTC Fuel
Briquette press Lab) and Coonoor (UPASI). All tests show a minimum
CV of 4 000 kcal / kg. Sri Ra Ra Biofuels has gained
valuable insights in these early stages and is now
willing to provide turnkey solutions for new briquetting
Packaging and units and rejuvenate sick briquetting units and enter
dispatch into agreements to operate briquetting facilities
installed by tea factories.
Figure 1 Flow chart for production of briquettes at Sri Ra Ra biofuels

4
 ARTICLE
GASIFIER FOR GREEN TEA PANNING AT GLENMORGAN
The gasifier for green tea panning installed at
Glenmorgan is presently being commissioned. The
gasifier supplied by NSP Green Energy operates in the
thermal mode to generate producer gas of
combustible quality. The flame speed and
temperatures are extremely good and it is very rare to
obtain such high flame temperatures when the
ambient temperature is low. Photographs of the
gasifier - the flame obtained when producer gas is
ignited and the pipes in which the producer gas is
moved to the burner prior to ignition, shown below
exhibit the working of the gasifier.

Figure 2 Producer gas produced in the gasifier is transported through

the pipes and ignited

Figure 1 The wood gasifier installed at Glenmorgan tea factory for Figure 3 Flames from the gasifier burners provide the required
panning of green tea thermal energy

A detailed monitoring of the gasifier has yet to be conducted.

SOLAR LED LIGHTS UP TEA BOARD LAWNS

The Tea Board lawns are now illuminated by an LED Installed on : 26th Sep 2011
light powered by a solar panel. The spread of light in LED Light : 12 Watt LED street light
terms of general visibility is about 25 feet in the front Battery : 40 Ah battery
and about 15 feet on either side. The light is Solar Panel : 50 Wp
comfortable enough for reading and writing. Hrs of Operation : 2 nights – Dusk to Dawn autonomy
Fixture Ht : 12 feet from the ground.
Lux levels : 140 to 150 Lux directly below
the light at 6 feet from the
ground
80 to 85 Lux at 3 feet from
the ground
40 to 50 Lux at ground level
60 Lux at 5 feet on all three
sides i.e., left, right and front.

This light is highly recommended for large homes,

guest houses, hotels etc. in hilly areas.

5
 ARTICLE
TEA PROJECT PRESENTED IN
GEF NATIONAL DIALOGUE
The Global Environment Facility's (GEF) National senior officials of the MoEF, the Bureau of Energy
Dialogue was organized by the Ministry of Environment Efficiency,(BEE), the GEF, World Bank and UNDP in
and Forests (Govt. of India) (MoEF) along with the GEF the plenary session. It was rated as one of the best
secretariat, Washington DC from September 8 – 10 implemented projects supported by GEF in India. The
2011 at Holiday Inn, Goa. Such dialogues are project presentation received a good response from
organized once in a four year GEF cycle to provide an the audience. In the feedback received following the
opportunity to the partners of GEF India network within presentation made by Ms. Svati Bhogle, it was said that
India and abroad to come together. The meet facilitates the project must be showcased internationally for good
the participants to deliberate on critical issues and work and high impact. The Encontea project was
agree upon the way ahead. A key item for discussion in identified as one where generation and dissemination
the Goa meet was the strengthening of engagement of knowledge was used as a tool influencing
with the private sector in India. Mr. R Ambalavanan, investment by private sector in energy efficiency. The
Executive Director Tea Board and Ms. Svati Bhogle, approach was thought to be unique and deserved to be
TIDE and Project Manager of the Encontea project developed further for deployment in other sectors.
participated in the deliberations. The Tea Board and the project team gratefully
Mr. T Chatterjee, Secretary of the Ministry of acknowledge its association with UPASI, the Bought
Environment and Forests inaugurated the meeting. Leaf Association and the leading tea factories in south
Where most projects were presented in the break out India for the acclaim received at the meet. The project
groups, the Encontea project was chosen in the climate team is initiating a detailed documentation of project
change portfolio to be presented to the Secretary and processes to share its experiences with a larger
audience.

A REPORT ON THE DELIBERATIONS OF THE TECHNICAL

ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF THE PROJECT
The technical advisory committee (TAC) of the project data and operationalize a combined heat and power
consisting of representatives of Tea Board, project, gasifier.
industry, academic institutions and UNDP met on
August 28, 2011 at the Committee Room of PSG The TAC reached a similar conclusion and
College of Technology, Coimbatore. The committee recommended identifying a research grant for
discussed several technical, and techno-economic exploring ultra clean gasifiers in the tea sector. In this
issues concerning energy conservation in tea factories. technology, the wood is converted into producer gas
which is then cleaned to such a level that it is good
One of the forthcoming recommendations of the project enough for direct firing in the same way as CNG is
was in the area of green tea panning. Conventionally directly fired in tea factories in Northeast.
the panning of tea leaves for green tea preparation is
done on an open fire ignited below the rotating drum. The TAC discussed the constraints to adoption of
The project had recommended a shift to a biomass hydro power in tea factories. In the south Indian
gasifier. The TAC reviewed the progress in the context of small non perennial streams, the TAC felt
installation and commissioning of the gasifier and that there was not adequate information for estates to
requested for data from the installation once the take a decision. The location of the stream, its head
gasifier was commissioned. and flow rate, the distance from the power house to the
factory or a labour colony all needed to be understood.
The TAC gave a serious thought to whether it should The TAC recommended that a ready reckoner be
recommend adoption of combined heat and power developed on small hydro as a decision making tool for
gasifiers. The technology had the potential to generate tea factories.
both electricity and heat within a range of options. The
proportion of heat and electricity could be altered to As the Encontea project is in its final stages of
meet the entire energy needs of a tea factory. The TAC implementation, the TAC discussed ways to capture
considered that although the technology was proven in the knowledge and experiences of the project and
other sectors, there would still be risks in a tea factory make it available to all stakeholders in an easily
context. The investment required would be high (about understood form. The templates for the preparation of
Rs 1.5 crores as a first estimate), the factory would a 100 audit report and case studies of model tea
have to make arrangements for power generation from factories were presented.
firewood instead of grid electricity, the operators would Finally the TAC discussed the project spin offs,
have to be trained and outside expertise for operation especially the creation of several student projects in
and maintenance would be required for the initial the area of energy for tea processing building on the
period. But the techno economics would be very good knowledge created by the project. The PSG college of
especially when the estate adopts energy plantations technology and Anna University both with
and the factory could benefit from a green branding. distinguished departments on energy studies could be
The TAC recommended that the project approaches motivated to work on newer issues arising with
the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for increasing adoption of energy conservation
a research grant to understand all the issues, collect technology.

6
 ARTICLE
REPORT ON UPASI ENERGY SERVICE FACILITY
FROM APRIL TO SEPTEMBER 30, 2011
The UPASI energy lab is now fully operational. In the last six months it has tested 72 fuel samples of coal, wood
and briquettes. The tables below give a brief report of the data from the facility.

Total number of samples analysed monthwise

No. of No. of samples
Month factories
/ traders Wood Coal Briquette Made Tea Total
April 1 2 - - - 2
May 3 1 3 3 - 7
June - - - - - 0
July 9 12 7 - 2 21
August 5 19 - - - 19
Sept 9 20 1 2 - 23
Total 27 54 11 5 2 72

Regionwise, sampleswise details

Total number of samples analyzed
Region
Wood Coal Briquette Made Tea Total
Coonoor 6 2 3 - 11
Kotagiri 9 8 1 - 18
Kundah 16 - - - 16
Ooty 9 1 - 2 12
Gudalur 10 - - - 10
Coimbatore 2 - 1 - 3
Tirupur 2 - - - 2
Total 54 11 5 2 72

Parameter range in samples analyzed

Calorific Value (kcal/kg) Moisture % Ash content %
Type
of Range
samples
Lowest Highest Lowest Highest Lowest Highest
Coal 3128 4772 15.85 41.95 2.17 62.30
Briquette 3816 4099 - - 8.90 -
Made Tea - - 12.95 13.00 - -
Wood
Coonoor 2633 4313 17.83 55.81 0.82 2.27
Kotagiri 2089 4087 11.03 47.39 1.27 3.62
Kundah 2352 4084 20.08 45.82 0.96 6.63
Ooty 2121 4314 12.50 52.88 0.75 2.74
Gudalur 2131 3847 27.06 55.29 2.14 5.58
Coimbatore 3567 3580 16.53 18.23 - -
Tirupur 3307 3600 35.18 19.34 2.02 3.26

7
 ANNOUNCEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT
OUR DUE APPRECIATION
The Encontea project staff would like to thank each one are considering dubbing them into different regional
who offered time to shoot with us for the video tutorials. languages. We shall provide a copy of the film to every
The video tutorials contain information on all the tea factory in India after its official release. Our special
energy conservation equipment recommended by the thanks to our industry partners:
energy audits and promoted by the project team. We

No. Name Company Designation

1 K Dhananjayan Nankemp Partner
2 S R Shilajit Dunsandle Manager
3 D. Hegde Chamraj Group Director
4 G. Ramamoorthy UPASI Scientist
5 N.K. Krishnamoorthy Dodabetta Tea Factory Managing Partner
6 K Rajmohan Glenworth Estate Gen. Mngr
7 C. Shreedharan Woodbriar Group Director
8 M. Surendra Mohan Havukal Tea Compony C.O.O.
9 P. S. King Chulika Estate Senior Manager
10 K Kandhavadivel Highfield M. D.
11 A. Arunachalam Kaikatty Indco Tea Factory Special Officer
12 Sunil Goyal Akshaya Managing Partner
13 R. Muralikrishnan Concept 4E CMO
14 V Benjamin Bino Highfield Manager
15 B. K. Mani Highfield Tea Maker
16 K. Selvam Highfield Furnace Operator

HOT WATER GENERATOR COMMISSIONED

AT SUSHIL SHIV TEA FACTORY
The hot water generator has been commissioned in
Sushilshiv Tea Factory the bought leaf factory located
on the Kotagiri - Ooty highway in September 2011. It is
the third bought leaf tea factory to install the hot water
generator. The Havukal and Rosedounmulay bought
leaf tea factories had earlier adopted the hot water
generator. Purchase decisions for high cost equipment
are difficult in the bought leaf sector.

Figure 1 Photo taken during the commissioning of the hot water

generator at Sushil Shiv tea factory.

Editorial Team Contact

Chief Editor Mr. R. Ambalavanan, IA & AS TIDE Project Office TIDE
Executive Director, Tea Board Tea Board Zonal Office #19, 9th Cross Road
National Project Director Shelwood 6th Main Road
Coonoor Club Road Malleswaram
Assistant Editors Mrs. Svati Bhogle, TIDE Post Box No. 6 Bangalore 560003
Coonoor - 643101 Phone: 080 23315656
Design & Print Mrs. Poulomi Deb Phone: 0423 2222090 Fax: 080 23344555
www.graphicshapes.com e-mail: [email protected] e-mail: [email protected]