Thermax designs boiler for distillery unit

Pune: Thermax, the energy and environment solutions major, has designed a boiler that will burn distillery waste and spent wash into usable energy steam and power. The boiler was commissioned at a leading distillery in Karnataka in June and has started operations in July end.

According to Mr M. S. Unnikrishnan, Managing Director, Thermax, spent wash is a brown liquid waste water, which is a by-product generated by the distillation of fermented molasses.

A typical distillery generates six to 15 litres of spent wash for every litre of alcohol. Spent wash is highly acidic with an offensive odour and it is a major source of ground water pollution. A typical distillery generates about 1,000 tonnes of spent wash every day.

An evaporator would concentrate this 1,000 tonnes waste to around 200 tonnes before it is fed into the boiler. Steam from the boiler will be used in the distillery process and would also co-generate two MW of power which would end the distillery’s dependence on power grid.

“The alcohol business is highly competitive in India and overseas. This technology will enable Thermax to improve the competitive edge of its clients by improving productivity and reducing production costs.

This will also mitigate pollution, which is a major issue with distilleries,” he said. By generating steam from spent wash, molasses-based distilleries can significantly reduce their energy costs.

Every kilogram of concentrated spent wash replaces nearly 0.33 kg of Indian coal. Thermax has won three more orders from leading distilleries of the country, he added.

Thermax informed the stock exchanges that it has received a Rs 415-crore order from a leading steel making company for setting up a captive power plant for the steel company’s blast furnace complex. The captive power plant will use waste gas from the furnace to produce power.

This order is part of a 4.2 million tonnes a year steel capacity expansion. Thermax’s scope includes design, engineering, manufacture, supply, erection and commissioning of the captive power plant with blast furnace gas fired boilers, steam turbine generators and balance of plant.