Evaluation of Technical, Environmental and Financial Viability of Tri – Generation in Apparel Sector of Sri Lanka

Abstract: Apparel industry is the main source of foreign currency for Sri Lanka and is the one thatprovides most number of local employments. It has been severely affected by thecontinuous rise of fossil fuel prices. Industry is also under pressure by the governmentsand buyers (major retail chains and global apparel brands who has their supply chainemission reduction goals) to minimize the emissions as well as to reduce the energyconsumption. In view of that, this study was focused on the viability of using combinedheating, cooling and power generation or the Tri‐Generation (TG) at factory level whichhas never been tried in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka.After the literature survey, local apparel sector was analyzed and then the factorieswere categorized in to five main groups out of which the most affected group by theenergy cost, the fabric manufacturing, was selected as the focus group. One factory fromthe focus group, Textures Jersey (TJ) was selected for the initial case study. After a detailenergy audit at TJ, results were used to evaluate the environmental and economicalviability of two selected TG combinations. One with most favorable results wasoptimized and then studied in detail to see if it is environmentally, economically andtechnically viable to TJ. Result of the detail analysis of the optimal TG combination wasused to come up with general guidelines to implement viable TG plants for local apparelindustry.As per the results TJ can enjoy substantial benefits (15‐35% energy cost saving) byopting to use a TG, fired by either coal or biomass (saw dust briquettes or firewood).Biomass is preferred over coal due to low prices and reduced emissions. Not needing ofa complicated fuel preparation and feeding system as in a coal fired TG system is also anadvantage of Bio‐mass. However biomass has relatively more supply chain issuescompared to coal. A universal solution that can be used by any apparel factory cannot bearrived at, as economics of the TG is highly depended on local parameters. Howeverselecting the capacity of a TG based on the process heating demand of a factory isbeneficial if it has a 24 hour operation. Intermittent operation of TG is not economical asfrequent start‐up and shut‐down of a TG is not practical. Further, increasing electricitygeneration in TG is not very attractive owing to subsidized tariffs.