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If someone says that the process of chocolate manufacturing depends on bio-wastes and steam and wind energy, would you believe? But the Mangalore-based cooperative Campco (Central Arecanut and Cocoa Marketing and Processing Cooperative) Ltd believes in them.
Most process of Campo's chocolate factory at Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district, ranging from boilers to air-conditioning system, are now running on these principles.
It all began four years ago when Campco decided to run its boiler on steam generated by bio-briquettes than on furnace oil. (Bio-briquette is a block of agro-wastes.)
Encouraged by its performance, the cooperative has now started operating a major portion of its air-conditioning units at the chocolate factory on steam energy.
Mr Suresh Bhandary, General Manager of Campco Ltd, told Business Line that the cooperative effected the switch to bring down its dependence on petroleum products and grid power for chocolate manufacturing.
BOILER
The cooperative needs boiler for chocolate manufacturing process, including roasting of cocoa beans and to cook chocolates. The transition from furnace oil to bio-briquettes began four years ago to bring down the cost of chocolate production at the factory.
“In boiler, steam is generated by boiling water. In the old system, furnace oil was used for this purpose. Four years ago we went in for bio-briquettes. That conversion helped us save around Rs 1 crore a year,” he said.
With furnace oil, the cost of 1 kg steam was at Rs 2.10. With bio-briquettes, the cooperative saves around Rs 1.20 a kg of steam.
The factory's boiler capacity was 4 tonnes an hour. However, its requirement for processing was only 2.5 tonnes. Following this, the cooperative decided to put the excess steam for running its air-conditioning system at the plant.
AC ON STEAM
Mr Bhandary said that the factory uses vapour absorption mechanism (VAM) to run its air-conditioning system. It is a system to give air-conditioning to the plant by using steam instead of electrical power, he said.
The total requirement for air-conditioning at the factory is around 300 tonnes an hour. For this, the factory was running three electrical motors of 125 hp each earlier.
Cost savings
After the switch over to VAM, the factory consumes about 500 kg of steam an hour for running its air-conditioning system. Asked about the cost advantage in this, he said the factory saves around Rs 7,000 a day. This is after deducting the cost of steam, he said.
“More than anything, it is a green energy. There is no electrical power consumption in this,” he said.
Stating that the cooperative switched over to VAM a fortnight ago, he said the figures were based on the performance during the fortnight.
“In most of the processes we have come out of petroleum products and moving towards bio wastes,” he said.
According to him, the change over from furnace oil to briquette helped the cooperative save around Rs 7 lakh a month, and with the current change over there will be around Rs 10 lakh saving a month.
WIND
Asked about the wind energy initiative of the cooperative, he said that it has helped the cooperative's dependence on grid power. It has generated around 21 lakh units last year, he said.
The cooperative's 1.25-MW wind mill at Halthimalapura in Hoovinahadagali taluk of Bellary district began functioning on March 31, 2009.
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