CHAPTER XXIII 



BAGASSE AS FUEL AND THE STEAM GENERATING PLANT OF 

 THE CANE SUGAR FACTORY 



IN this chapter an account is given of the special points of interest of bagasse* 

 regarded as a fuel, and of the designs of furnaces and boilers used in its 

 combustion. 



Composition of Bagasse. Bagasse consists essentially of crude fibre and 

 water, together with more or less cane sugar and glucose depending on the 

 degree of extraction practised in the mill whence it is derived. In addition 

 there are present ash, organic acids, cane wax, and the other bodies associated 

 with plant life. By the crude fibre is here meant the material insoluble in 

 water. C. A. Browne 1 found as an average that purified cane fibre contained : 



Per cent- 



Cellulose (including oxycellulose) ( c 6 H io o o) M 55 

 Xylan ) , 20 



Araban i ( c ^^ ^ \ .. V .. 4 



Lignin, c 24 H 26 (CH 3 ) 2 o 10 15 



Acetic acid, CH S COOH . . . 6 



As bagasse is an indefinite material, it is not possible to give an exact 

 figure for its percentage composition as regards carbon, hydrogen, and oxy- 

 gen ; but since the crude fibre and sugar of which its solid matter almost 

 entirely consists have nearly the same percentage composition, the variation 

 between dry specimens of bagasse of different origin is not great. As long 

 ago as 1869 Robert Angus Smith 3 gave the ultimate composition of dry 

 bagasse, calculated to ash-free material, as carbon 47-6 per cent., hydrogen 

 6-2 per cent., and oxygen 45-4 per cent. These results are almost identical 

 with the 46-8 to 48-4 and 6-3 to 6-7 found by Geerligs, 3 and the 47-9 to 

 48-3 and 5-5 to 5-7 found by Norris. 4 



The ultimate composition of bagasse is influenced to a small extent by 

 the proportion of rind tissue and pith tissue, the former generally containing 



* Bagasse was the term originally applied in Provence to the refuse from olive oil mills. Hence, as anything 

 worthless, the word was used to describe a disreputable woman, and it appears in English as " baggage." The 

 ultimate root of bagasse may possibly be the same as the Anglo-Saxon baeg, referring to the olive skin as a bag. 

 If so, megass coming from bagasse by phonetic change is cognate with belly, which also denotes a bag. 



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