Hollingdale, A. C. and Lipscombe, R. J. (1992) Report on a visit to Sri Lanka to evaluate performance of traditional furnace/heat exchanger systems used in the tea industry: 10 to 29 November 1992. Technical Report. Natural Resources Institute, Chatham, UK.

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Abstract

Under a project entitled "Fuel efficient wood-fired furnace systems" NRI has developed a fuel efficient wood fired furnace/heat exchanger system suitable for application in developing countries. To gauge its effectiveness in both economic and technical terms a comparative study of a typical system used in the Sri Lankan tea industry was carried out. This was coupled to a detailed energy audit of a tea processing factory in order to assess the relative importance of process heat within the entire manufacturing operation. This exercise was carried out in close collaboration with Browns Engineering, a long established Sri Lankan company which sells and maintains tea furnace/dryer equipment both to the Sri Lankan industry and for export. On the evidence of detailed trial results at one factory, observations in other factories, and discussion with equipment suppliers; there are clearly significant energy savings that could be achieved in the industry. Servicing of existing furnace equipment and furnace operator training should be given high priority. Production scheduling within the new factory groupings·also offers scope for reduced specific energy consumption. It was also established from the assignment that there exists a desire to upgrade furnace equipment in the tea industry. The NRI unit is competitively priced and offers significantly improved wood fuel utilization. Changes in the industry and the plans of new management groups to improve efficiency and update manufacturing techniques makes this an opportune time for introduction of the NRI design. A simple payback financial analysis shows that there are financial benefits in replacing old and inefficient units. A suitable venue for field testing and techno-economic evaluation of performance under prolonged operation has been identified.

Item Type:	Monograph (Technical Report)
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Sri Lanka, furnace exchanger, heat exchanger, tea, efficiency, evaluation
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group:	Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute Faculty of Engineering & Science > Natural Resources Institute > Livelihoods & Institutions Department
Last Modified:	27 Nov 2019 16:43
URI:	http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/12093

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