Design Based Improvement in a Three Pan Jaggery Making Plant for Rural India

Jaggery making is among the major agro processing industries found in rural India. Nearly 50% of total sugarcane produced in the country is used to manufacture about 8 million tonnes of jaggery, which is known to be the most nutritious agent among all sweeteners. Jaggery making plants are generally small units fabricated by local artisans and run by villagers in different parts of India. These plants are designed and fabricated on the basis of age old expertise without any technical support. Bagasse is used as fuel in these units to boil the sugarcane juice. Due to the crude and improper design, energy losses are high in these units resulting into higher fuel consumption. In order to reduce the losses and cut down the consumption of bagasse, an efficient three pan jaggery making plant is designed and studied. The improved plant and the conventional plant are compared on the basis of four parameters viz. jaggery production, baggase consumption, emissions and temperature of exhaust. The Improved unit resulted in about 12% reductions in bagasse consumption, about 23% increases in jaggery production capacity, lesser emissions and comparatively lower exhaust gas temperature.