Use of molasses in Pakistan proposed in the generation of power

Owing to the present energy crisis in Pakistan a meeting amongst stakeholders has mooted to the government that the export of molasses be banned and instead the molasses be used for the production of power in the country.

The government is planning to increase electricity production from one thousand megawatts to one thousand five hundred megawatts by use of less expensive sources like molasses under the power co-generation policy with the sugar millers.

The sugar-mills that are strewn all over the country all possess available resources such as generators and turbines and they could comfortably generate electricity from molasses. During the meeting it was proposed that the government should enforce duty on molasses export, or else place a complete ban on it.

The meeting demanded that the sugar mills be given financial support to ensure that they could begin the generation of electricity as soon as possible so as to ease the current energy crisis.

Environment Department officials at the meeting observed that the usual methods of electricity generation were generally not friendly to the environment. However, they pointed out that there existed ways and means through which electricity could be generated in larger volumes while incurring reduced costs and doing the least harm to the environment. As per the environment department, low sulphur furnace oil energy, hydropower energy, solar energy, gas energy, biogas energy, heat energy, geothermal energy, molasses, tidal energy and wind energy were harmless to the environment. In contrast, coal energy, high sulphur furnace oil energy, fossil fuels energy and nuclear energy were all unfriendly to the environment.