Determination of optimum mixture of tea waste and sawdust for gasification as a source of energy for tea factory: A case of Itona Tea Factory
Loading...
Date
2023-12-01
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Mbeya University of Science and Technology
Abstract
Processing tea requires a lot of energy. However, only significant energy inputs
particularly those from fossil fuels, wood fuel, and electricity have been able to support
high agricultural productivities and, in turn, the expansion of the green revolution. Due
to the recent increase in price and scarcity of these fuels, there has been a shift in the
usage of alternative energy sources, such as waste (specifically, agricultural waste),
which has the potential to address concerns related to both the environment and energy
issues. Moreover, these energy resources have not been able to provide an
economically viable solution for agricultural applications even if they seem to contain
amount of energy which can be source of energy to be used in various factories in rural
areas through gasification process. This study presents an experimental assessment of
energy potentials from tea wastes and saw dust available at Itona Tea Factory for tea
drying processes as important data for agricultural wastes. The experimental
measurement of energy potential from tea wastes was done using bomb calorimeter,
muffle furnace and energy balances to determine calorific value, moisture content and
energy potentials of tea waste and saw dust respectively. According to the findings,
there is sufficient electrical energy for the tea drying process in the tea processing plant,
with a total energy potential of 2.78x108kWh. In order to process 9.6 million kg of tea
from a 4.5-thousand-hectare tea plantation in Mufindi (during 2021–2022), the total
energy usage (4.5 kWh/kg of produced tea) was 4.32x107 kWh. Gasification of these
wastes could provide the energy needed to process tea while reducing the environmental
harm caused by burning wood fuel and disposing of waste.
Description
This Thesis was published by Mbeya University of Science and Technology in 2023