Energy and Productivity Yield Assessment of a Traditional Furnace for Noncentrifugal Brown Sugar (Panela) Production

Abstract

Noncentrifugal brown sugar (called panela in Colombia) is a natural sweetener obtained from the extraction, purification, and concentration of sugarcane juices. In this work, energy and productivity yield of a traditional furnace for panela production were evaluated, considering five performance indices. Experimental productions were developed in a pilot plant facility, analyzing furnace gas emissions of furnace and bagasse properties. Mass, energy, and exergy balances were performed. The following indices were obtained from the experimental runs: energy efficiency 12.726 ± 1.091%, exergy efficiency 9.013 ± 0.710%, energy losses through chimney 72.293 ± 11.507%, yield 0.144 ± 0.021 kgpanela/kgbagasse, productivity 7.450 ± 0.520 kgpanela/h, and bagasse consumption 1.258 ± 0.139 kgbagasse consumed/kgbagasse produced. It was found that these outcomes were strongly influenced by excess air and gas circulation velocity through the furnace, which affects the combustion rate and heat transfer between the gases and the juices. Finally, it was concluded that the traditional scheme is inefficient and requires various critical operational adjustments, such as combustion chamber, chimney draft control, and heat exchangers design.

Key Drivers for Non-Centrifugal Sugar Cane Research, Technological Development, and Market Linkage: A Technological Roadmap Approach for Colombia

“…A total of 148 research documents (52,67%) comprise the highly developed research line: from milling process (Oktarini et al 2019 ), passing through clarification (De Souza Sartori et al 2017 ; Meerod et al 2019 ), evaporation (Chantasiriwan 2017a , 2017b ; Grewal and Kumar, 2021 ), concentration (Marie et al 2020 ) and drying units process (Nishad et al 2017 , 2019 ). This trend promotes energy efficiency (Espitia et al 2020 ; Gutiérrez-Mosquera et al 2018 ; Srinvas et al 2019 ; Venkata Sai and Reddy 2020 ), nutritional and sensorial (Kumar et al 2017 ; Vera-Gutiérrez et al 2019 ), and value added.…”

Adaptative comfort modeling for a typical non-centrifugal cane sugar processing facility

“…The production of non-centrifuged cane sugar (NCS), as defined by FAO [1] and referred to as "panela" in Colombia [2], involves the extraction, purification and concentration of sugar cane juices [3]. This traditional agroindustry holds significant importance in the rural sector of Colombia [4].…”

Determination of the cane honey point of panela under open evaporation in Colombia

“…For decades, the small and medium producers have manufactured in a traditional way the products resulting from the juice of cane honeys. The panela production is one of the most traditional rural agro-industrial in Latin America, the Caribbean and Asian, where Colombia ranks the second worldwide in production of panela, after India, but according to the Ministry of Environment and Rural Development, the first place in terms of consumption per capita since in the country an average of 24.7 Kg of panela is used per person per year [1]- [4].…”

“…In Colombia, the panela production has presented some limitations to update the manufacturing processes (productivity and quality) related to technological adaptations in each production stage [3], [5]. Thus, the generation of innovative solutions for optimizing the productivity but containing technical, economic and environment requirements are still a challenge [1], [6], [7].…”