# How much wood and diesel do Allahabad (Prayagraj) bakeries burn a year?

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/answers/allahabad-bakery-cluster-wood-diesel-energy

About 18,750 t of wood and 462 kL of diesel a year, by TERI's count for Allahabad's 130 or so bakeries in 2014-15, plus 1.335 million kWh. Wood is 5,625 of the cluster's 6,179 toe. Its CO2 is biogenic, so diesel and power make the fossil figure, about 2,120 t (estimate).

## Who bakes what

- About 130 bakeries with about 250 ovens: 78 make biscuits and pastry, 32 rusk and cake, 20 paav.
- About 90 have a turnover under Rs 1 lakh a month.
- More than 80% bake in wood fired ovens; rotary ovens burn diesel.
- Energy is about 25% of production cost, raw materials about 45%.

## A day's fuel in three oven types

- Wood fired oven: 250 kg of wood and 4 kWh; 22.6 toe a year.
- Rotary oven: 50 litres of diesel in the oven, 5 litres in the generator, 32 kWh; 16.5 toe a year.
- High end rotary oven: 15 litres in the oven, 18 in the generator, 530 kWh; 23.1 toe a year.
- Bread and buns bake near 250 C, cakes and pastry at 180 C, biscuits at 150 C.

## The wood oven looks clean on paper

Because wood CO2 is biogenic, a wood oven's fossil figure is little more than its 4 kWh. Switching to a rotary oven, about Rs 4 lakh with about 150% more output, raises fossil CO2 per day while cutting fuel per kg baked. Show a buyer both numbers: fossil CO2, and wood burnt with its biogenic CO2. Methane and nitrous oxide from burning wood still count in Scope 1.

## Savings TERI listed

- Biomass gasifier on wood ovens: up to 50% less wood.
- Lighter racks with steel mesh trays: about 20% less dead weight, 5 to 10% less fuel.
- Recuperative burners on diesel ovens, and hot face insulation keeping the outer surface within about 20 C of the room.
- Thyristor control on electric ovens: 7 to 15%.
- Direct coupled mixers, IE3 motors for 3 to 7%, and cogged V-belts.

## One day per oven, and the cluster (estimate)

- Wood oven: 4 kWh x 0.675 = 2.7 kg fossil CO2; 250 kg wood at 0.3 toe per tonne x 41.868 GJ x 112 kg = about 352 kg biogenic
- Rotary oven: 55 L diesel x 2.645 = 145 kg, plus 32 kWh x 0.675 = 22 kg: about 167 kg fossil
- High end rotary: 33 L x 2.645 = 87 kg, plus 530 kWh x 0.675 = 358 kg: about 445 kg fossil
- Cluster: diesel 462 kL x 2.645 = 1,222 t, power 1.335 million kWh x 0.675 = 901 t: about 2,120 t fossil
- Cluster wood: 5,625 toe x 41.868 GJ x 112 kg = about 26,380 t biogenic

Fuel figures from TERI's Allahabad bakery profile (2014-15). Wood CO2 uses the IPCC 2006 default for wood; diesel 2.645 kg per litre; grid factor from CEA for FY 2025-26.

## What Senseible does here

Senseible reads diesel slips and power bills into monthly CO2 at published factors, which is your bakery's fossil figure, each line traced to its bill for a hotel or retail buyer.

- [Your carbon number for buyers and banks](https://senseible.earth/msme-carbon-number)
- [Bakery oven CO2 per kg of bread](https://senseible.earth/answers/bakery-oven-emissions-per-kg-bread)
- [Biomass gasifier vs LPG furnace](https://senseible.earth/answers/biomass-gasifier-vs-lpg-furnace-emissions)
- [Biomass boilers still have Scope 1](https://senseible.earth/answers/biomass-boiler-ch4-n2o-still-scope-1)

Sources: [TERI, Cluster profile: Allahabad bakeries (SAMEEEKSHA, 2014-15 data)](https://sameeeksha.org/pdf/clusterprofile/Allahabad-Bakeries-Uttar-Pradesh.pdf), [IPCC 2006 Guidelines, Volume 2 Energy](https://www.ipcc-nggip.iges.or.jp/public/2006gl/vol2.html), [CEA, CO2 Baseline Database for the Indian Power Sector, version 22.0](https://cea.nic.in/cdm-co2-baseline-view?mappingId=234&lang=en)

Last reviewed 2026-10-31.