Elimination of black smoke emissions and reduction in fuel consumption of a 6 Lac Kcal/hour poha roaster.

There are about 50 poha roasters units scattered over the area of Indore and Ujjain. These units manufacture flattened rice flakes (Poha) using paddy as a raw material. These units were mainly using sawdust for heat generation for roasting the poha. The main problem faced by the industry was high amount of black smoke formation and more than permissible solid particulate emissions from the roaster’s chimney. All this was greatly contributing to the environmental pollution that became a matter of concern for the residents of nearby society, government authorities and pollution control board. That is why, Ujjain Poha Association planned to switch to automatic fuel feeding with a cleaner biomass fuel to get compliant with the CPCB norms. Poha roasters approached Steamax with the intent of up-gradation/modification of air pollution control devices, auto-fuel feeding with a shift to cleaner biomass fuel and improving existing manufacturing process.

Steamax conducted a detailed analysis of the roasting process and designed a new heating system for the poha manufacturing units, “Multifuel Poha Roaster Heater”. After successful trials of the prototypes, the first unit was commissioned on 19^th September 2019 at Ujjain and Steamax started providing its clean biomass fuel blend, ‘Astillas’ to the company. Steamax upgraded the entire system to make it more environmental friendly. By switching to the clean biomass fuel, the Ujjain poha industries are successfully benefitting in various aspects

Environmental benefits:

1. The entire roasting process has become clean and free of dust.
2. Black smoke formation is completely omitted from the process with our clean biomass fuel.
3. Particulate Emissions from roaster chimney is well below 800 ppm prescribed limits.
4. Solid waste going out (Ash + clinker) has drastically reduced from 15-20 % to 2% (% of fuel input).

Economic benefits:

1. Customers have been able to reduce its fuel consumption and hence the process cost.
2. The quality (and quantity) of the roasted poha has increased with the improvement in system efficiency and uniform heat distribution.
3. Manpower requirement of the process is reduced due to auto-fuel feeding system of the roaster.
4. Zero reported heater breakdown incidences since September, 2019
5. Significant reduction of ash disposal cost.

Other benefits:

1. Safety of the workers is increased
2. Operation and maintenance of the roaster has become hassle free.

Practical Outcomes:

Steamax has been working closely with various poha manufacturers across India post our success at Indore. We have developed a new technology specifically for the poha roaster industry which we call as Renewable Energy Combustor (REC). Additionally, we are providing the industry with clean biomass fuel, Astillas which has helped the industry to reduce the pollution, has higher calorific value and is financially attractive than any other biomass today. If you are interested to know more details about how we can help you, we are just a mail away.

Call today at +91-9315124803 (Mr. Aditya Mahajan) or drop an email at info@steamaxindia.com.