The Hindu Business Line : Tirupur textile units switch back to firewood to save energy costs

MOST dyeing and bleaching units in Tirupur which shifted to using furnace oil as fuel for steam generation a couple of years ago have now reverted to firewood and other softer fuel like coconut shells/husks to meet their energy needs.

The reversal to the traditional firewood usage tradition by dyers/bleachers, particularly the small and medium scale ones, has come about on cost consideration. Even as these small scale dyers/bleachers are seeking out an across the board cost reduction in the manufacture, the price spiral in furnace oil seen in the last two years has wiped off its trade-off benefits of having higher thermal (calorific value) efficiency and ease of use as compared to the fuel wood, sources in the Tirupur based wet-processing industries say.

The dyeing/bleaching units had couple of years ago migrated to using the furnace oil in large numbers to fire their boilers for steam generation widely used in dyeing and fabric drying operations. This was when the furnace oil price ruled around Rs 10-11 a litre and it was then found advantageous both cost-wise and from the usage point of view. But the steady rise in the cost of the furnace oil, which currently hovers around Rs 16, has driven these textile wet processors back to cheaper wood-based fuel sources.

The rising cost of furnace oil apart, the easy availability of the firewood in small loads at a cost far cheaper than that of coal or furnace oil has rendered itself as the most `friendly' fuel for the dyers. The credit supply of the firewood being extended to the dyers by the wood suppliers is also another strong factor favouring its preference, the sources say.

Simultaneously, the increase in other overheads for the dyers such as the higher cost of water needed for the processing procured from far off places and the environmental tangles caused by the effluent discharges have also brought pressure on the dyers to greater cost control exercise forcing most of them to source fuel at cheaper cost, the dyeing industry sources maintain. ``Our attention is now on more important issues like pollution and water, than on energy auditing,'' confessed a dyeing unit owner pleading anonymity.

The industry sources said that though there has been no figures on the amount of the firewood being used by the 700-odd dyeing and bleaching units located in the Tirupur region, it has been conservatively estimated that at least 100 truck loads of fire wood reach Tirupur daily and the fuel-wood of diverse native species find their way into the hosiery town from as far away districts as Tirunelveli, Ramanathapuram and Pudukottai and from a few close-by places like Dharapuram and Dindigul.

These fuel wood is being sold in the price band of Rs 1,500-2000 a tonne. It is also said that considering the needs of the Tirupur dyeing industries, specific softer fuel wood species are being grown by farmers in southern Tamilnadu.

Though in terms of thermal efficiency (calorific value), the fire wood is rated far below in the table at 2000/2500 K cal per kg, as against coal 6,500 K cal per kg and furnace oil at 8,000 K cal per kg, the sheer economics in usage of fuel vis-à-vis the available work orders appear to be forcing the Tirupur dyers to throw their weight behind firewood as their choice fuel.

More Stories on : Knitwear & Hosiery | Non-conventional Energy

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page