Speakers at the one-day national seminar on ‘Conservation of energy and water in sugar complexes’ stressed on the need for effective and efficient utilisation of energy and water by sugar industries as one of the necessary measures to save energy and water on the one hand and improve their profit margins on the other hand.
The seminar was organised jointly by the Chennai-based South Indian Sugarcane and Sugar Technologists Association and the Karnataka State government established S. Nijalingappa Sugar Institute (SNSI) here on Saturday.
Inaugurating the seminar, SISSTA President E. Muthuvelappan, while briefly highlighting the role of the SISSTA in promotion and practice of new technologies in the sugar industry, said the seminar was organised with the objective of motivating the industry on the need to save energy and water.
B.R. Balekundargi, President, Karnataka State Co-operative Sugar Federation, who presided over the function called upon all the sugar technologists to make a common cause to save energy and water in the industry by adopting improved technologies and also by educating farmers on efficient use of water to improve productivity and cost-effectiveness, which would go a long way in saving and generating more revenue.
Delivering the keynote address, Narendra Mohan, Director, National Sugar Institute, Kanpur, highlighted the Union government’s policies to help industries in conservation of water and energy. He stressed auditing and authentication of the best benchmarks achieved by industries. He said that distilleries should work on how to reduce the spent-wash generation quantity by utilising minimum water. He elaborated how the sugar industry could obtain higher outputs by utilising minimum energy and water.
SNSI Director R.B. Khandagave made some plain-speaking, drawing attention to the prevailing situation in the sugar industry, which he pointed out as “going down” even in major sugar producing States of Maharastra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh due to drought for the past two years. This situation necessitated the managements to evolve more cost-effective measures. He said the industry should adopt efficient electrical devices and water saving systems by recycling excess condensate to achieve zero raw water consumption and reducing steam consumption to the extent of 30-40% on cane.
· Around 150 delegates from leading sugar companies in the country attended the seminar.
· 23 technologists presented technical papers.
