Towards Cleaner Technologies A process story on biomass gasifiers for heat applications in small and micro enterprises T HERMAL GASIFIER TEAM Core Team Sunil Dhingra Sanjay Mande P Raman S N Srinivas Technical Support Team Field Implementation Team Vinayak B Kulkarni E Joseph Kusum Lata Raj Kumar Gaurav Mishra M L Sharma Yabbati Nagaraju (From 2002) Gurvinder Singh (till 1997) N K Ram L B Thakur H H Ninga Setty U Vellaikannu Group Leader V V N Kishore Collaborating Manufacturers Financial and Management Support List of firms who have been closely involved with Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, India manufacture and installation of TERI gasifiers at Indo-Swiss Project Sikkim, Gangtok different stages of the process SERI-2000, Bangalore 2M Industries, Mumbai In addition, support has also been received from: Chanderpur Works, Yamunanagar Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) Figu Engineering Works, Ranipool Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Paramount Enviroenergies, Kottayam Energy, Germany Punjab Engineering Works Himachal Pradesh Forest Sector Reform Project, Shimla Rolltech Engineering Projects, New Delhi SilkTex Industries, Kanakapura Collaborating Organizations Urjex Boilers, Meerut List of organizations who have been associated with the Vijay Engineering Enterprises, Bangalore process in different capacities and at different stages Western India Carbonics Pvt Ltd, Junagarh Bapuji Institute of Engineering and Technology, Davangere Facilitation/Management Team BVB College of Engineering and Technology, Hubli Somnath Bhattacharjee, TERI (till 2003) Central Silk Technological Research Institute, Bangalore H V Dayal, TERI (till 2002) Department of Horticulture, Sikkim H R Girija, SDC (till 2003) Department of Sericulture – Andhra Pradesh, Pierre Jaboyedoff, Sorane Sa Karnataka, Tamil Nadu P J Joseph (1996–1999) Gram Vikas, Mohuda Veena Joshi, SDC I J Raju and Associates, New Delhi M K Halpeth, TERI (from 2002) Industrial Design Center, IIT, Mumbai Urs Heierli, SDC (till 1999) Nagarik Seva Mandal, Ambernath Sameer Maithel, TERI (till 2006) Pioneer Magnesia Works, Kharagoda Ajay Mathur, TERI (till 2000) Radha Soami Satsang, Beas C K Rao, ISPS (from 1999) Rubber Board, Kottayam Girish Sethi, TERI Sorane SA, Switzerland Symbiotec Research Associates, Bangalore Towards Cleaner Technologies A process story on biomass gasifiers for heat applications in small and micro enterprises Editors Sanjay Mande V V N Kishore Narrator R P Subramanian Series Editors Girish Sethi Pierre Jaboyedoff Veena Joshi © The Energy and Resources Institute and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, 2007 ISBN 81-7993-107-2 This document may be reproduced in whole or in part and in any form for educational and non-profit purposes without special permission, provided acknowledgement of the source is made. SDC and TERI would appreciate receiving a copy of any publication that uses this document as a source. Suggested format for citation Mande S and Kishore V V N (eds). 2007 Towards Cleaner Technologies: a process story on biomass gasifiers for heat applications in small and micro enterprises New Delhi: The Energy and Resources Institute. 280 pp. Published by TER I Press The Energy and Resources Institute Tel. 2468 2100 or 4150 4900 Darbari Seth Block Fax 2468 2144 or 2468 2145 IHC Complex, Lodhi Road India +91 • Delhi (0) 11 New Delhi – 110 003 E-mail [email protected] India Web www.teriin.org Printed in India at I G Printers Pvt Ltd, New Delhi CONTENTS Foreword v Preface vii INTRODUCTION 1 Small and micro enterprises in India 1 The protected years 2 Liberalization challenges 4 The environmental imperative 4 A partnership is forged 5 SDC—human and institutional development 5 TERI—global vision, local focus 6 The macro-level study 7 The scope for intervention 8 Screening workshop, December 1994 9 Getting started 10 Cluster-level intervention 10 Finding the right technology 11 Participatory technology 12 Capacity building: key to sustainability 12 Structuring the interventions 13 Action research 13 Competence pooling 15 CHARTING THE COURSE 17 Energy from biomass 17 Biomass-based enterprises 18 Biomass gasification 20 Exploring new avenues: TERI and gasifier technology 23 The silk route 24 Overview 24 Process—from silkworm egg to raw silk 26 Silk reeling units: field realities 31 SDC and TERI—early activities 32 TERI’s field survey 34 Exploring options 35 The spice route 36 Overview 36 Enter: SDC and TERI 43 Exploring options 44 INTO THE FIELD 47 Silk reeling 47 From lab to field: hindupur yarn 49 Ramanagaram yarn: participatory approach 56 Siddlaghatta yarn: low-cost approach 86 Rewinding the reel—a barrier analysis 96 Silk dyeing 102 Development of gasifier-based dyeing oven 102 Manufacture and marketing 106 Large cardamom curing 109 Developing the gasifier 114 Test marketing of improved-quality cardamom 137 Training and awareness generation 139 Developing a commercial version 142 One step forward, two steps back 143 Applications: the larger web 147 Salt of the earth: Kharagoda 147 Large-scale cooking in rural areas 164 Green brick drying 166 Beas: gasifier for community cooking 166 Hot water for hotels 170 Gasifiers for midday meals 171 vi Contents Gasifier-based cremation 173 Gasifiers for drying rubber 182 Taking stock 186 Technology development and dissemination 186 Potential for gasifier technology—manufacturers’ views 190 Future potential and challenges 192 THE WAY FORWARD 195 ANNEXURES: TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS FOR SERICULTURE 201 Annexure 1: Overview of sericulture 203 History of silk 203 State presence in the indian silk industry 205 Central Silk Board 206 Central Silk Technological Research Institute 206 Central Sericultural Research and Training Institute 206 Cocoon markets 207 Silk exchanges 207 Making raw silk from cocoons—process 208 Rearing cocoons 208 Reeling the cocoons 209 Annexure 2: Field survey of silk reeling ovens 213 Energy audits 217 Annexure 3: The Hindupur experience 222 From lab to field 222 Mark 0: proof of concept 222 Mark 1: laboratory model 225 Mark 1: field model 226 Annexure 4: The Ramanagaram experience 236 From field to commercial model 236 Mark 2: improved field model 236 Mark 3: industrial prototype 244 Mark 4: commercial prototype 249 Annexure 5: The Siddlaghatta experience 252 Background 252 Technology development 254 Mark 0 254 Mark 0-F 254 BIBLIOGRAPHY 261 CONTRIBUTORS 271 ABBREVIATIONS 279 viii FOREWORD India annually produces about 400 million tonnes of a variety of biomass, which on a tonnage basis is on a scale comparable with coal production. Most of these biomass materials are consumed for heat generation, as has been the practice since the dawn of human history. The single largest use of biomass in India is for cooking and other house- hold purposes. Besides, there are over one million SMiEs (small and micro enterprises) that burn biomass fuels. However, unlike coal, which is used with conversion efficiencies of over 80% in boilers and other equipment, the conversion efficiency with biomass is still quite low at about 10%. The result is a huge wastage of an important natural resource. Also, biomass combus- tion in traditional devices produces smoke, carbon monoxide, and other health-damaging emissions. It is thus imperative to use the available biomass resources more efficiently and in a clean manner. Gasification technology offers considerable scope for achieving this goal. Biomass gasification as a technology emerged during the Industrial Revo- lution, and was successfully used for running automobiles, lighting public places, cooking in urban households, and generating power during the Second World War, largely in European countries. It re-emerged in the wake of the oil crisis in the 1970s in India and in a few other developing countries such as the Philippines; the technology’s main application at that stage was seen in small-scale power generation for purposes such as irrigation pump- ing. In recent years, however, interest has been rekindled in biomass gasifica- tion, particularly among developing countries that are rich in biomass resources and that find themselves caught between rising prices of fossil fuels on the one hand and development needs on the other. TERI began to work in the field of gasification in 1984 in a small way at its Field Research Unit at Pondicherry, and later organized and expanded its activities in Delhi. A gasifier demonstration unit was set up on a lawn in the capital’s posh Jorbagh area; a car garage served as a small workshop; and an attached bathroom was converted into a fuel-testing lab! With initial help from MNRE (Ministry of New and Renewable Energy), research and field activities were implemented in the village of Dhanawas in Haryana. A number of exploratory activities were undertaken to introduce the technology as a fuelwood-saving measure in plantations (such as for carda- mom curing, tea drying, and so on), and as a replacement for furnace oil used in boilers in small industries (herb-based products, tobacco processing, etc.). It was apparent that, besides applications in small power-generating systems, judicious use of biomass gasification technology could result in fuelwood savings – with implications of reduced deforestation – as well as savings in furnace oil/diesel/LPG (liquefied petroleum gas)—with implica- tions of increased energy security. During the same period, SDC (Swiss Agency for Development and Coop- eration) was active in the sericulture sector. SDC was supporting efforts by the government to improve mulberry farming