Caribbean Rum Distillery

Rum distillery utilities assessment was focused on 3 main areas:

1. Biomass Boiler - 

• Bagasse fueled boiler 

• Pre-heating air is used to dry the bagasse while traveling along the vibrating grate prior to entering the boiler.

• Boiler needs to operate at >30 bar(g) in order to have a high enough furnace temperature

• Bagasse's density and calorific value is low and dependent of cane varietal and performance of the mills

• An economiser is designed to withstand full boiler pressure thus pre-heating feedwater in excess of 100°C, this  is important for efficiency

• Turndown ratio 1:8 – all equipment on VSDs (min. turndown on feedwater pumps limited by pressure requirement i.e. 30 bar(g)

2. Organic Rankine Cycle Turbine - 

• ORC turbine is used as a steam load management device, otherwise, when there is no distillation taking place the steam would have to be vented.

• Cycle based on Rankine’s steam cycle expect organic refrigerants/alcohols are used in the circuit in lieu of steam

• Typically needs a heat supply and connection to cooling plant in this case steam supply of main header and cooling tower water connection

• The circulating pump on the refrigerant circuit is VSD controlled giving a good turn-down ratio (albeit at lower output the parasitic loads consume a larger portion of the useful energy produced)

3. Air Emissions Abatement - 

• Feedwater economiser and air pre-heater

• Grit collector or multi-cyclone separator operates with a pressure drop > 2 kPA

• Reverse jet back filter – fitted with differential pressure instruments

• > 95% particulate reduction achievable