Exporting power to the local network

The traditional sugar making process requires large amounts of heat for the extraction of sugar from the raw material, and for the evaporation of water from the product to facilitate the subsequent crystallisation of the sugar. A factory which produces 1500 tones of white sugar per day still requires about 80 tonnes/hour of process steam at low pressure. The production of this amount of steam at a higher pressure, and the employment of a back-pressure steam turbine permits the production of electricity at a relatively low additional cost. This combined heat and power (CHP) has been employed in the sugar industry since the 1920s. The author briefly discusses the development of CHP in the sugar industry and the export of electricity to the local network. The author also briefly discusses parallel operation