First User Group meetings: a big success

The first User Group meetings in Tirupur were held on the 10th and 11th of July. Two groups had been preselected to work on two topics namely 'Energy Management' and 'Energy savings in Batch Dyeing' aimed at environmental improvements and energy savings. These companies will meet 5 times in a period of 1 year approximately. The primary goal of these user groups is that companies discuss possibilities for improvements for processes they all have in common, to share their experience and gain from the common pool of knowledge.

The meetings were chaired by Mr. Sandeep from CONQUEST India along with technical expertise from Mr. Anton Kaasjager from TNO the Netherlands. The turn out was impressive with companies sending more personnel from their production team to participate in the second meeting. During the course of the meeting companies willingly shared their experiences highlighting methods that worked and those that needed further attention.

New publications added

Please find several new publications added to the reference list on the right hand side, including one on energy management.

Workshop on Biomass Boilers: Possibilities for optimisation?

Agrowaste or biomass boilers are used in Tirupur Textile industries, since gas is not available in the area. To thoroughly address important aspects in relation to boiler fuel optimisation, we organised a workshop on biomass boilers. First a general introduction on steam and biomass boilers was given by Mr. Anton Kaasjager of TNO. An important aspect addressed here was the moisture content of the biomass. If the moisture content is high, part of the energy is wasted in the evaporation process. If at all possible, it can be worthwhile to look into drying the biomass before feeding it to the boiler and to look at possibilities for covered biomass storage in the monsoon season.

Two experts from KARA, a European company specialised in biomass boilers, addressed issues like:
- boiler design in relation to capacity, type of biomass and moisture content of the biomass
- possibility to design boilers with sloping furnace floor or moving furnace floor
- automatic control systems enabling the boiler managers to better maintain the required steam pressure

The people present in the workshop actively participated in the discussions, asked whichever questions they had and in this way contributed tremendously to the succes of the workshop.

The presentations of the workshop are available through the below links:
1. Introduction into steam and biomass boilers (Anton Kaasjager TNO)
2. Biomass boilers (KARA)

Please do not hesitate to contact the project team, if you have any questions about this workshop!

conquest@satyam.net.in: Mr. B.N. Sandeep or Mr. Manavalan
weerdesteijn.m@crem.nl: Ms. Marieke Weerdesteijn

Solidaridad launches Tirupur User Group Project

Starting within the next months, Solidaridad will introduce the methodology of so-called User Groups to the Tirupur Textile Industry. Financial support for this project was granted by the Netherlands Ministry of Environment.

Key partners in this project with be the Dutch R&D Institute TNO and the Indian consultancy CONQUEST.

In the past, the User Group methodology has proven to result in considerable energy reductions in the textile industry in The Netherlands. A user group typically has the following characteristics:
- It consists of employees from different companies (usually 5-10)
- It focuses on one specific process or issue that is relevant to all companies
- Consultants facilitate the meetings and provide assistance with regard to technical subjects
- External experts or suppliers can be invited

The user group basically functions as a platform to share information, to learn from each others experiences and to discuss potential solutions. Also, actions are agreed upon, the results of which, are discussed in next sessions.

In the up-coming period of time topics will be selected for two user groups after which companies will be selected for joining these groups. If you have any suggestions for topics or if you would like to express your interest, please contact Deboleena Sengupta of CREM or Mr. Thulasiram of CONQUEST.