Jorhat tea factories dry leaf on coal or gas: how much, and what does a buyer's carbon figure need?

A large Jorhat factory drying on coal burns about 0.72 kg of coal per kg of made tea; on gas, about 0.32 scm. On today's factors that is about 1.85 kg CO2 per kg of made tea on coal and 1.06 on gas. A buyer needs your season's fuel, power and DG diesel divided by kg made.

The cluster

• About 150 factories, estate and bought leaf, making CTC and orthodox black tea.
• About 100,000 tonnes of made tea and 68,838 toe a year in the cluster summary (data 2010 to 11).
• Grid power runs withering fans, CTC machines and dryer blowers. Coal or natural gas fires the dryers, and DG sets cover outages.
• The season runs from March or April to October or November; factories stand idle for two to three months in winter.

What BEE's 2010 audits found per kg of made tea

• Large factories: 0.55 kWh, 0.72 kg coal or 0.32 scm gas, 0.07 L diesel.
• Medium factories: 0.65 kWh, 0.82 kg coal or 0.39 scm gas, 0.08 L diesel.
• Small factories: 0.85 kWh, 1.02 kg coal or 0.51 scm gas, 0.09 L diesel.
• On gas, the dryer burners take about 90% of the heat. Fixed air to gas burners waste fuel; an adjustable burner was estimated to cut gas by about 10%, from 0.51 to 0.46 scm per kg.

What to send a packer or brand

1. Season totals: coal in tonnes (with its calorific value if the supplier gives one), gas in scm, grid kWh and DG diesel in litres.
2. Kg of made tea for the same season, by grade if the buyer asks.
3. The figure per kg of made tea, with factors named.
4. For bought leaf factories: kg of green leaf bought, so the buyer can add the garden side.
5. Any firewood, reported as biogenic CO2 outside the scopes.

Worked example: two large factories from BEE's audit, one on coal, one on gas

• Coal factory, 1,900 t made tea: 1,457.6 t coal x 1.76 = 2,565 t; 862,897 kWh x 0.675 = 582 t; 136.4 kL diesel x 2.645 = 361 t
• Coal total: 3,509 t CO2, or 1.85 kg per kg of made tea
• Gas factory, 2,100 t made tea: 629,896 scm x 2.05 = 1,291 t; 805,999 kWh x 0.675 = 544 t; 145 kL diesel x 2.645 = 384 t
• Gas total: 2,219 t CO2, or 1.06 kg per kg of made tea
• Same size of factory, about 43% less CO2 per kg on gas

Fuel and output from BEE's 2010 audit tables. Coal uses India's default of 1.76 kg CO2 per kg; Assam coal often has more carbon, so use your supplier's calorific value where it is on the bill. Grid factor is CEA's for FY 2025-26.

What Senseible does here

Senseible reads a season of coal, gas, power and diesel bills into records per factory, so the figure per kg of made tea you send a packer traces back to each bill.

• Supplier evidence for your buyers
• Tea factory footprint per kg
• Tea estate fertiliser emissions

Sources: BEE, Detailed project report: energy efficient natural gas burner for drier, Jorhat tea cluster (2010, SAMEEEKSHA), SAMEEEKSHA, Jorhat tea cluster summary (data 2010 to 11, BEE SME programme), IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy, Tables 1.2 and 1.4, CEA CO2 Baseline Database, version 22.0, GHG Protocol Corporate Standard (biogenic CO2 reported separately)

Last reviewed 2026-10-30. Audit data is from 2010. Update if BEE or SAMEEEKSHA publish newer Jorhat tea figures.