The Hindu Business Line : Simbhaoli plans new model to double capacity

SIMBHAOLI Sugars Mills Ltd (SSML) has said it would double its existing sugar production capacity through a combination of brownfield expansion and establishing facilities for `off-season' processing of in-house and imported raw sugar.

The whole exercise would entail a capital expenditure of around Rs 50 crore, which is "a fraction of the investment necessary under the greenfield route", according to Dr G.S.C. Rao, Executive Director, SSML.

SSML currently operates two plants in Uttar Pradesh at Simbhaoli (Ghaziabad) and Chilwaria (Bahraich) with daily cane crushing capacities of 7,500 tonnes (tcd) and 3,800 tcd respectively. The effective capacity in these two units, after discounting for 6 per cent stoppages, comes to 7,050 tcd and 3,570 tcd, respectively.

"The crushing duration for the Simbhaoli plant is now about 180 days, while it is 140-150 days for Chilwaria. The two plants together can, thus, crush about 18 lakh tonnes (lt) of cane annually, which translates into about 1.8 lt of refined sugar," Dr Rao said.

The company now plans to enhance the Simbhaoli unit's capacity to 9,500 tcd. But the entire 2,000 tcd expansion would be dedicated for production of raw sugar and not refined sugar, in order to save on baggase that can be used during the off-season.

"The steam consumption in refined sugar production is about 48 per cent of the sugarcane, entailing use of 24 tonnes of baggase for every 100 tonnes of cane crushed. Taking a baggase content of 30 per cent, a unit producing refined sugar is left with six tonnes of surplus baggase for every 100 tonnes of cane it crushes," Dr Rao noted.

But if the unit were to produce only raw sugar, the baggase savings would be even higher, as the steam consumption would be only 30 per cent of the cane. The surplus baggase from crushing 100 tonnes of cane would, then, be 15 tonnes, against only six tonnes for refined sugar.

SSML is also planning to expand the Chilwaria unit's capacity from 3,800 tcd to 6,000 tcd. This plant will continue to produce normal plantation white sugar using the double sulphitation process. "As there is no refining involved here, the steam consumption would also be lower. Our intention ultimately is to achieve a steam consumption of 44 per cent in refined sugar and 36 per cent in plantation white sugar. This would generate baggase savings of at least 1.5 lt from the two plants," he said.

The 1.5 lt surplus baggase can be used as boiler fuel, which can process raw sugar during the off-season from May, comprising roughly 30,000 tonnes of in-house raw sugar (produced from the new 2,000 tcd Simbhaoli facility) and another one lt of imported raw sugar. "In all, we would increase our overall sugar production capacity from the existing 1.8 lt to about 3.4 lt, which includes processing of one lt of imported raw sugar," he added.

A key objective of the exercise, Dr Rao said, is to extend the operational period of the two units by 100 days. "In the South, mills run for 270-320 days, as cane is available all through the year. In the North, the three months of severe winter means that cane planting can be only from mid-February to end-April and mills can operate only for 160-180 days. Therefore, a 10,000 tcd mill here produces the same quantity of sugar that a 5,000-6,000 tcd plant in Tamil Nadu produces," he pointed out.

SSML's innovative `model' of extending the running period by using surplus stored baggase to process raw sugar in the off-season will not only augment its sugar capacity, but will also help sale of additional power from its co-generation unit to the State grid. All this, of course, crucially hinges on the Government continuing to allow duty-free import of raw sugar against advance licences and the company discharging the corresponding obligation to export white sugar.

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