{"title":"Multi-criteria optimisation of a cane flexi-factory","authors":"A. Khoodaruth","doi":"10.1504/IJETP.2019.10021647","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The sugar cane industry is at stake due to the fall in prices of sugar. The industry has to re-engineer itself to a cane flexi-factory for its survival. A cane flexi-factory consists of a sugar mills, cogeneration power plant, bio-ethanol distillery, value-added sugars refinery and a bio-fertiliser manufacturing plant. Although one such refinery is in operation in Mauritius, the area of land area under sugar cultivation is decreasing. The outputs of the flexi-factory can be increased through implementation of higher pressure boiler; higher fibre cane; energy cane; cane tops and leaves; addition of a falling thin film evaporator and use drip irrigation technique. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the possible options to optimise the performance of a flexi-factory through the multi-criteria assessment approach. The outcome of the assessment will help policy makers to prioritise the implementation of these alternatives in the short, medium and long term.","PeriodicalId":35754,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2019-05-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Energy Technology and Policy","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1504/IJETP.2019.10021647","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"Social Sciences","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The sugar cane industry is at stake due to the fall in prices of sugar. The industry has to re-engineer itself to a cane flexi-factory for its survival. A cane flexi-factory consists of a sugar mills, cogeneration power plant, bio-ethanol distillery, value-added sugars refinery and a bio-fertiliser manufacturing plant. Although one such refinery is in operation in Mauritius, the area of land area under sugar cultivation is decreasing. The outputs of the flexi-factory can be increased through implementation of higher pressure boiler; higher fibre cane; energy cane; cane tops and leaves; addition of a falling thin film evaporator and use drip irrigation technique. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the possible options to optimise the performance of a flexi-factory through the multi-criteria assessment approach. The outcome of the assessment will help policy makers to prioritise the implementation of these alternatives in the short, medium and long term.