Biodry Pty Ltd
Bagasse drier for energy conservation and generation
QSEIF funding: $90,000
Project dates: 2002
Project details
This project scaled-up a prototype bagasse drier to commercial scale which required the development of novel design features to take account of the particular properties of bagasse.
The technology
In conventional sugar milling process, sugar cane is first crushed to extract the juice. The left over bagasse is then burnt, with the heat used to condense the juice and eventually turn it into sugar crystals.
Similarly, Biodry’s technology extracts the juice from the sugar cane, but instead of burning the bagasse, dry superheated steam (which is 150ºC) is used to remove moisture from cane pulp and condense the sugarcane juice.
This technique uses 75% less energy than conventional sugar milling processes. It enhances electricity generation by about 30 gigawatt-hours per year, displacing coal-fired electricity generation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about 30,000 tonnes/year of carbon dioxide.
Project status
Biodry partnered with Nambour based company Biocane to trial the effectiveness of their technology in turning sugarcane into a livestock feed called ‘CowCandy’. In this trial, the companies were able to produce 200 kg of CowCandy a day for shipment to Korea.
A larger scale bagasse drier is currently being trialed and will be fully operational by June 2011. Once complete, this will produce 10 tonnes of CowCandy per hour for export to Korea and Japan.
Please consult the fact sheet (PDF, 321K)* for information regarding this project.
* Requires Adobe Reader
Last updated 27 March 2012