A

SEMINAR REPORT
ON

SUGAR PRODUCTION
PREPARED AND SUBMITTED BY
NEKRAM SINGH
B.TECH- FINAL YEAR
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
1104351019
SESSION 2014-2015

UNDER THE GUIDANCE OF

Er. R.K.NIRANJAN
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
BUNDELKHAND INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY, JHANSI
(U.P)
BUNDELKHAND INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING
AND TECHNOLOGY,
JHANSI (U.P)
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that seminar titled SUGAR PRODUCTION has been successfully
delivered by NEKRAM SINGH
(B.Tech,Fear year, 1104351019) under my guidance in the partial fulfillment of the Bachelors
degree in Chemical Engineering from BUNDELKHAND INSTITUTE OF ENGINEERING
AND TECHNOLOGY, JHANSI. during the academic year 2014-2015.
DATE:

SEMINAR GUIDE:
Er. R. K. NIRANJAN

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express my sincere thanks and deep sense of gratitude to all the faculty members
of Chemical Engineering Department who have not only helped me in enhancing my technical
knowledge about this topic but along with this; have also taken me up to that zenith where I could
effectively present my views among others.
I would also like to give special thanks to Er. NEERAJ KUMAR
for giving his enthusiastic views on the preparation of Reports and Presentations. Im indebted
to Er. NEERAJ KUMAR for enlightening me with the guidelines of seminar as well as its
presentation.
The most sincere thanks are due to my parents and classmates for boosting my morale and
encouraging me at every step of my endeavour.

CONTENTS
1. Introduction to Sugar industry7
2. Milling Plant..9
2.1. Conveying Section
2.2. Fiberizing Section
2.3. Milling Section
3. Clarification Plant15
3.1. Sulphur Gas Plant...........................................................................
3.2. Lime Station....................................................................................
3.3. Dorr classifier.................................................................................
3.4. Rotary vacuum Filter......................................................................
4. Evaporation Plant19
4.1. Falling Film Evaporator .....
4.2. Robert Type Evaporator ...................
4.3. Syrup Treatment Plant.................................................................
4.4. Syrup and Molasses storage tank.................................................
4.5. Vacuum Pans.................................................................................
4.6. Condensation Plant........................................................................

5. Cooling Curring and drying Plant25

5.1. Crystallizer....................................
5.2. Centrifugal Machine
5

5.3. Grading of Sugar...........................................................................

6. Conclusion32
7. Reference..33

Introduction to Sugar Industry

Sugar industry is one of the most important agro based industries in India and is
highly responsible for creating significant impact on rural economy in particular and
country's economy in general. Sugar industry ranks second amongst major agro
based industries in India.
Cane sugar is the name given to sucrose, a disaccharide produced from the sugarcane
plant and from the sugar beet. The refined sugar from the two sources are practically
indistinguishable and command the same price in competitive markets.
However, since they come from different plants, the trace constituents are different
and can be used to distinguish the two sugars. One effect of the difference is the odor
in the package head space, from which experienced sugar workers can identify the
source. In the production scheme for cane sugar, the cane cannot be stored for more
than a few hours after it is cut because microbiological action immediately begins to
degrade the sucrose. This means that the sugar mills must be located in the cane
fields. The raw sugar produced in the mills is item of international commerce. Able
to be stored for years, it is handled as raw material shipped at the lowest rates
directly in the holds of ships or in dump trucks or railroad cars and pushed around
by bulldozers. Because it is not intended to be eaten directly, it is not handled as
food. The raw sugar is shipped to the sugar refineries, which are located in
population centres. There it is refined to a food product, packaged, and shipped a
short distance to the market. In a few places, there is a refinery near or even within
a raw-sugar mill. However, the sugar still goes through raw stage. The principle byproduct of cane sugar production is molasses. About 10 15% of the sugar in the
cane ends up in molasses. Molasses is produced both in the raw-sugar manufacture
and also in refining. The blackstrap or final molasses is about 35 40% sucrose and
slightly more than 50% total sugars. In the United States, blackstrap is used almost
entirely for cattle feed. In some areas, it is fermented and distilled to rum or industrial
7

alcohol. The molasses used for human consumption is of a much higher grade, and
contains much more sucrose.
Sugarcane characteristics:
Sugarcane contains not only sucrose but also numerous other dissolved substances,
as well as cellulose or woody fibre. The percentage of sugar in the cane varies from
8 to 16% and depends to a great extent on the variety of the cane, its maturity and
condition of the soil, climate and agricultural practices followed. The constituents of
ripe cane vary widely in different countries and regions but fall generally within the
following limits:

Constituent

Percentage range

Water

69.0 75.0

Sucrose

8.0 16.0

Reducing sugars

0.5 2.0

Organic matter other than sugar

0.5 1.0

Inorganic compounds

0.2 0.6

Nitrogenous bodies

0.5 1.0

Ash

0.3 0.8

Fibre

10.0 16.0

Introduction to Process Plant

Milling Plant
Small rail networks and trucks are common methods of transporting cane to a mill.
Newly arrived cane is tested for sugar content and trash percentage. The mill washes,
chops, and uses revolving knives to shred the cane. Shredded cane is repeatedly
mixed with water and crushed between rollers in the milling tandem; the collected
juices contain 10-15 percent sucrose.
The step wise representation of different instrument process involved in milling
operations are as follows: Conveying section
Fiberizing section
Milling section

Conveying Section:
Unloader and cane carriers:Basically Unloader carry sugarcanes from storage to cane carriers that carries
sugarcanes for further processing. Unloader is basically equipment having strong
material of construction with wings to grab the bundle of sugarcanes that lifts it up
and put it on the carrier. This plant is having Cane carriers which are 1980mm in
width 37700mm horizontal loading length and elevated length up to fibirezer having
inclination of 18 and 6 degrees for the portion of 11000 mm and 8000mm
respectively.

Chopper:Choppers are having 32 no of knives having swing diameter of 1660 mm and it

moves at a speed of 288 rpm ,it is connected to motor to drive it.It is called slip ring
motor .It is having gear box and the clearance between knife and tip of slate is 950
mm.chopper moves in anticlockwise direction.
Cane Leveller:It is basically used to provide uniform loading on the carrier it moves in clockwise
direction it removes the level of sugar cane which is more than the factor of safety.
It contains 48 knives and 1660 mm swing dia and the clearance between knife and
the tip of the slate is 300 mm.
Level Sensor:Specified level of sugar cane is maintained by this sensor it uses computer
automation to control the level whenever the level is more than the required level it
slows down the conveying to matain the uniform feed in the fibrizer.
Pusher:It is a drum like structure that is mounted on a shaft before fibrizer to push the extra
material back to the conveyer. It is having diameter of drum 1640mm.
Rake type carriers are used for carrying fiberized cane from fibrizer to mill or from
one mill to other.

10

Fiberizing Section
It is a rotating type machine equipped with small swing type hammers fitted with
replicable do mite tips which are 144 in no. and free to move as the fibrizer rotates
at the specified speed the sugarcane is fibrized between the hammers and fiberizing
cover the spacing between the hammers at front rear and top side is 1, 5 and 10 inch
respectively which is calculated by formula. It is rotated by a motor here two motors
are of 1500 hp and 1000 hp which is used as a backup motor they are having rpm of
745 this fibrizer moves in anticlockwise direction .

Fibrizer
It is very important to have the uniform feed because high or low loading may cause
severe damage to the plant machinery. Fibrized material is fed to the milling section
by rake type conveyers which move the fibrized cane from one mill to other rake
type carrier .It is 27640mm long and 2118mm wide.
11

Milling Section:
It is made by NHEC (National heavy engineering co-operative ltd.), it contains four
mills each having three rollers of different design for different role. Hence there are
twelve rollers (1065mm dia *1982mm length with 100% underfeed roller 1065 dia
*1982mm length).All V grooves, chevrons on top and feed & mess heart on feed
roller.
When the cane goes into the mill it is pulverised to break open all the sugar rich juice
cells in the cane. The cane is then crushed between large rollers called mills to
squeeze out the sugar juice. Rocky Point has 4 mill units to extract as much of the
sugar juice out as possible, and protect the equipment. The Mill is highly automated
with many different computer systems to operate the milling train as efficiently as
possible.
As nothing is wasted in a sugar mill, the fibre left over after all the juice is squeezed
out called bagasse, is transported to the boiler to burn and produce steam for the mill
and electrically for export. As the cane re-grows each year, bagasse is classed as a
renewable fuel.

Pitch
Angle of
groove
Top
Feed
Discharge
U.F.R

I
60mm

II
60mm

III
30mm

IV
30mm

50
40
45
40

50
40
45
40

50
40
45
40

50
40
50
40

12

Depth of Groove:Top
Feed
Discharge
U.F.R

54mm
70mm
62mm
45mm

54mm
70mm
62mm
45mm

26mm
34mm
30mm
25mm

26mm
34mm
26mm
25mm

Mill setting in mm (tip to root):-

Feed

45mm

50mm

44mm

40mm

Discharge

21mm

20mm

18mm

13mm

Trash Plate

63mm

71mm

73mm

63mm

U.F.R

185mm

170mm

165mm

140mm

In milling section the chopped and fibrized sugar cane is sent to the upper roller of
the first mill by rake carrier where it is pressed hydraulically by the roller and cane
is squeezed between first and second, second and third roller respectively the
squeezed cane is again transferred by rake carrier to the second mill while juice is
sent after filtration to the rotary press assembly after processing juice is collected in
the storage tank which is sent to boiler plant for heat treatment.
Squeezed cane(bagasse) is mixed with the juice from the third mill which is sent by
the rake carrier to second mill and same squeezing operations are performed but
there is slight difference between the design of the grooves of the different rollers
according to different working required but the basic operation performed are
same.Grooves on the rollers of first mill are bigger and deeper in comparison with
the second mill and similarly the grooves become narrow and less deep in the rollers
of third and fourth mill.
13

Juice from the second mill is transferred to rotary filter assembly which is stored in
storage tank after processing. Bagasse from the second mill is mixed with juice from
the fourth mill which is then carried to third mill by rake carrier again it is squeezed
and after filtration juice is sent to first mill and bagasse mixed with hot water nearly
80-85 degrees Celsius which is further sent to the fourth mill again rollers squeeze
it more thoroughly and most of the juice from the cane is recovered in this step and
the filtered juice is sent to second mill while bagasse is sent to the furnace in the
boiler section which is used as a fuel in the furnace.

Process Flow Diagram milling section:-

14

Clarification Plant:
Sulphur Gas Plant
In Sulphur Plant our aim is to produce sulphur di oxide gas at temperature nearly 70
degree centigrade by the reaction of air and melted sulphur. We have solid sulphur
as a raw material for this process and air is taken from atmosphere.

Sulphur Di Oxide Generation Plant

In this plant there are four furnaces in which two are continuous type and the other
two are film type the furnaces are kept at a temperature nearly 500 degree centigrate
to have sulphur in molten form the molten sulphur is contacted with air in a specific
manner in a specially designed chamber .Air is compressed in a compressor called
twin lobe type air compressor before contacting with molten sulphur. Basically there
are two types of air compressors having capacity 800 meter cube per hour at a speed
15

of 1475 rpm which is driven by 50 horse power motor and the other having capacity
of 400 meter cube per hour and is driven by 30 horse power motor at a speed of 1440
rpm .Pressure in the compressor is generally around 1kg per cm square.
Compressed air comes in contact with molten sulphur to produce sulphur di oxide
which is at a high temperature since furnace temperature is nearly 500 degree cent
grate so it required to cool the sulphur di oxide gas to the juice temperature in order
to have sulphated juice which is nearly 70 degree cent grate so we cool the SO2 gas
in a cooling chamber to have SO2 at 70 degree centegrate.SO2 is mixed with juice
to have the required bleaching action.

Lime Station
In Lime station basically we use lime with sulphur and juice to have the mud
precipitation to get the clarified juice. Clarification is done by milk of lime so at first
we prepare milk of lime from lime in lime tank having diameter 3240mm and
2750mm height by lime slacker having diameter 1000mm, 6mm thick and 4300mm
long at 5rpm with capacity 1200 kg lime per hour. The lime tank are two in numbers
with 1220 mm diameter vibrio screen for screening milk of lime having 60 mesh SS
Screen and SS retainer ring. Lime is mixed to maintain the pH in the vicinity of 7.It
is necessary for the reaction of compressed air with molten sulphur.

16

Lime Station
The juice from the milling section is at 25-30 degree temperature is contacted with
compressed air lime which produce sulphated syrup retention time for the product
in sulphating tank is nearly 7 minutes.By the action of milk of lime on sulphated
brine the mud is formed as precipitate but due to low retention time it does not settle
down. Juice from the sulphiter is taken out in two steps firstly from 70-85 than 85104 degree Celsius.

Dorr Classifier
For classifying the syrup it is sent in to the Dorr classifier which is in the form of
four compartment in which there is a vertical shaft on which the blades are mounted
at a certain angle from the vertical shaft which rotate at a slow speed nearly at 1/20
rpm due to which the precipitate settles down in layer which is basically mud with
17

some amount of juice in it .It is separated and send to the rotatory filter press
assembly in which vacuum is applied to have the filtering action it takes 4.5 minutes
to complete a rotation.

Rotary Vacuum Filter:

In this filter the juice is extracted from the mud at its periphery which is like a screen
that assemble mud in the form of cake screen which is scraped off from the surface
of the screening periphery and juice is collected inside the filter which is mixed with
juice from the upper portion of Dorr agitator and sent to evaporator.

18

Evaporation Plant
In sugar industry multiple effect evaporator is used to concentrate the syrup. In a
multiple-effect evaporator, syrup is boiled in a sequence of vessels, each held at a
lower pressure than the last. Because the boiling temperature of syrup decreases as
pressure decreases, the vapour boiled off in one vessel can be used to heat the next,
and only the first vessel (at the highest pressure) requires an external source of heat.
Multiple effect evaporation commonly uses sensible heat in the condensate to
preheat liquor to be flashed. In practice the design liquid flow paths can be somewhat
complicated in order to extract the most recoverable heat and to obtain the highest
evaporation rates from the equipment. Multiple-effect evaporation plants in sugar
beet factories have up to eight effects.
Here five evaporators are used in multiple effect fashion in which two are falling
film evaporators and the rest three are Robert type evaporators having following
characteristics:-

Type

Heating
surface
(m*m)

No.
tubes

of ID

OD

Length

FFE

2000

1876

42

45

8000

II

FFE

2200

2050

42

45

8000

III

Robert

900

3404

42.6

45

2000

IV

Robert

300

1136

42.6

45

2000

Robert

300

1136

42.6

45

2000

19

Falling Film Evaporator 1:In first FFE exhaust steam from boiler is directly feed at the bottom end of evaporator
for heating the syrup before feeding the steam in the evaporator the non-condensable
gases like ammonia are removed in a chamber. The temperature of exhaust steam is
nearly 115 degree Celsius.
Juice is fed at the upper end of the evaporator having concentration about 13 degree
Bx which flows into the tubes made of stainless steel and steam flow outside the
tubes heat transfer occurs between the two fluids as a result of which the water
content in juice is evaporated by the steam with some amount of juice which is used
in the next effect for heating purposes and condensate is send to the boiler for further
use. The concentration of juice increases from 13-17 degree Bx in the first effect
FFE.

20

At the bottom of the evaporator there is a hopper having 35% area of the total surface
area which divides the vapours of the juice in two parts the 35% juice carrying part
is sent to next evaporator and the rest is recycled to have efficient concentration of
the juice.

Falling Film Evaporator 2:In FFE 2 the juice vapours used for heating is at temperature nearly 102 degree
Celsius .As same as FFE 1 juice vapours are provided at bottom and juice at the
upper section. In this evaporator the juice is concentrated from 17 to 21 degree
Bx.The vapour of juice is divided into two part again in 35% and 65% by the hopper
at the bottom of tower having 35% of total area this part is sent to the next evaporator
and used as heating medium.
Robert Type Evaporator 3:In this type of evaporator the path of juice and vapours are opposite to that of falling
film evaporators so juice enters at bottom and juice vapours are fed from the upper
section due to heating of juice in the tubes it evaporate and rise upward slowly there
is a provision of down comers for it by which juice is sent to bottom after
concentration and sent to the fourth Robert type evaporaor.In this evaporator juice
vapours enters at a temperature about 90 degree cent grate by which juice is
concentrated from 21 to 30 degree Bx.
Robert Type Evaporator 4:In this fourth evaporator the path of juice and vapours are opposite to that of falling
film evaporators so juice enters at bottom and juice vapours are fed from the upper
section due to heating of juice in the tubes it evaporate and rise upward slowly there
21

is a provision of down comers for it by which juice is sent to bottom after

concentration and sent to the next fifth Robert type evaporaor.In this evaporator
juice vapours enters at a temperature about 75 degree cent grate by which juice is
concentrated from 31 to 45 degree Bx.
Robert Type Evaporator 5:In this last evaporator the path of juice and vapours are again opposite to that of
falling film evaporators so juice enters at bottom and juice vapours are fed from the
upper section due to heating of juice in the tubes it evaporate and rise upward slowly
there is a provision of down comers for it by which juice is sent to bottom after
concentration and sent to the pan for boiling to make the juice supersaturated. In this
evaporator juice vapours enters at a temperature about 62 degree cent grate by which
juice is concentrated from45 to 60 degree Bx.

Syrup Treatment Plant

In this plant sulphited syrup is prepared by contacting syrup from the last Robert
type evaporator in a reaction chamber with sulphur dioxide gas which is cooled to
70 degree cent grate before feeding to the chamber because juice is nearly at the
same temperature than reaction proceeds and sulphited syrup is prepared. This
chamber is continuous type VRL make syrup sulphiter having capacity 75
HL ,diameter 3000mm ,working height 1500 mm with detail pH indication system
of syrup.

Syrup and molasses storage tank

Syrup and molasses tank are there to store molasses and syrup these are 11 nos. MS
rectangular tanks of capacity 300 HL each .There are two syrup storage tank. The
22

syrup proceeds in the pans as per the requirement and as the pan become empty the
syrup is taken from this storage tank. For molasses produced from the centrifuges
processing A type massecuite the molasses storage tanks are there so that it can be
used as per the requirement.

Vacuum Pans
There are six number of calendria type Pan of 80 ton capacity. Vacuum gauge and
temperature gages have been provided in each pan. Here vacuum is created by means
of hydraulic pressure for which one pipe is connected from each pan to a connection
having a pump which pumps water downwards in the line due to water's velocity
and pressure in the line the air in the pan is easily extracted so vacuum is created in
this manner and due to which boiling can occur at much lower temperature so that
the material used is not harmed by high temperature heating.
By using these pans we boil the syrup and it becomes supersaturated three type of
massecuite A, B and C types. Two pans process A type massecuite, two pans process
B type massecuite and one pan process C type massecuite and one pan is used for
graining.

S N HS
Strike
Capacity Total no ID(mm)
(m*m) capacity (ton)
of tubes

OD Length
(mm) (mm)

(S/V)

385

560

80

1634

98.8

102

800

6.87

385

560

80

1634

98.8

102

800

6.87

385

560

80

1634

98.8

102

800

6.87

385

560

80

1634

98.8

102

800

6.87

385

560

80

1634

98.8

102

800

6.87

385

560

80

1634

98.8

102

800

6.87

23

Condensation Plant
This plant is having total seven numbers single entry multi jet SS Condenser for Pan
with 1300mm diameter which are six in number and one number 750 mm diameter
for evaporator. Here we have a special mechanism for condensing the hot water
which is hot due to the air extracted by it from pans or due to hot vapours extracted
from pans by spraying it into the water it is being cooled and used again for pumping
through jet condensers.
There are three water injection water pumps having capacity 1600 m*m*m per hour
which are used to apply vacuum in vacuum pump these are cheaper than vacuum
pump so mostly used in industries. There are two priming pump having capacity 80
m*m*m per hour which are used to prime the pump so that pump can work correctly
priming of pump is necessary in industrial application.
Three spray pumps are also provided with capacity of 1500 m*m*m per hour these
are used to spray water for cooling by spraying water gets cooled and again used for
the same cause. It acquire a large surface area and after ejection from the spray it
comes in contact with cool air and simultaneously it expand due to which it cools
down and again pumped to the lines where it is used to maintain the vacuum in the
pans.

24

Cooling, Curring and Drying Plant

Crystallizers:Crystallizer is the equipment used to have crystals from a supersaturated solution by
different means. There are different process by which super saturation is achieved
according to which crystallizers differ from each other.
In Sugar industry generally following types of crystallizers are used: U shape air cooled crystalliser
U type dry seed crystalliser
Closed vacuum crystallizer

U Type Air Cooled Crystallizer

25

In this plant supersaturated syrup is transferred from pans which is at boiling

temperature in the respective pans at vacuum it moves to respective air cooled
crystallizers which are eight in numbers and they are U type, air cooled with 85 ton
capacity .It cools down by contact with cool air and crystal formation starts in this
phase of the process.
As crystal begin to grow in crystallizer there is a horizontal central shaft which
rotates at a specific speed that cause the crystal to move through the crystallizer from
inlet to the outlet and also prevent formation of unusually large crystals which can
be formed by the addition of different small crystals and make a solid mass which
obstructs the passage of other crystals.
Construction feature:

Heavy duty pipe for centre shaft

Heavy duty bearings for drive end & non drive end
Strong stirrer and arm
Mild steel in construction
Total number of crystallizers used in this plant are twelve in which three are closed
vacuum crystallisers of 60MT capacity each for A, B and C grain respectively. In the
first vacuum crystalliser crystals formed by A type massecuite are stored since
vacuum in the crystallizer prevent the deformation of crystal size. There is a shaft
which rotates at a specific speed and when crystals are required it can be taken from
this crystalliser.

26

Other two vacuum crystallizers are used for storage of crystals from B and C type
massecuite and as vacuum is maintained it also prevent deformation in crystal size
and it also helps in moving crystals to the pans when required by removing vacuum
in the pans so pressure difference is created between the pan and the vacuum
crystallizer that cause the crystals to move to pans. We always store crystals required
by three pans in the vacuum crystallizer and they are taken out we make new crystals
and make crystals required by three pans in the crystallizer as a factor of safety for
continuous processing.
One U type dry seed crystallizer of 60MT capacity in which seeds are prepared
from very small size crystals these crystals are recycled from grading screens to the
seed crystallizer after that they are moved to the crystallizers processing A type
massecuite.
In these seven U type air cooled crystallizer three are used of A type massecuite and
two receiving crystallizers for B type massecuite and the rest two are receiving
crystallizer for C type massecuite ,all of these crystallizers are driven by planetary
gear box,5.5 Kw,1450 rpm of motor.
One mono vertical type crystallizer of two fifty ton holding capacity for B
massecuite treatment and twin vertical crystallizer of 350 ton holding capacity for C
massecuite treatment are also used in this plant.
In Crystallizer crystals of different size are formed that are not uniform in size that's
why there is a need of classification of crystal so each crystallizers are followed by
a section made of screen that divides crystals into different grades that is used further
as per the demand.

27

Centrifugal Machine
Centrifugal Machine is the part in which the molasses is separated from the crystals
formed. In centrifugal machine the mixture of liquid and solid (molasses with solid
crystals) is feed at the upper end of the centrifuge after which centrifugal action
occur.
The periphery of the tank rotates at a high speed so that the lighter liquid flows
through the wall in the downward direction due to centrifugal force acting on the
liquid particles towards the wall of the tank and solid particles due to their heavy
weight and less mobility remains in the middle part and get separated.
In this way solid crystal are separated from the molasses. The maximum speed of
rotation of centrifuges is 1450 rpm.There are centrifuge in the series from the
crystallizer processing A type massecuite the mixture of crystal and mother liquor is
sent to three centrifuges which separates the sugar crystals which are sent by a
conveyor to grading and further for bagging section. While conveying crystals
comes in contact with cool air which make it dry and cool.
Mother liquor from these three centrifuges is sent to the crystallizer this is B type
massecuite and mother liquor required taken and rest is sent to molasses tank for the
storage again after crystallization four centrifuges processing B type massecuite
separate mother liquor and crystal. Crystals are send Crystallizers processing A type
massecuite and mother liquor for further processing to crystallizers processing C
type massecuite.

28

After processing this C type massecuite again crystallization occurs after which it is
sent to three centrifuge and crystals formed are sent to crystallisers processing A type
massecuite and mother liquor is sent to distilleries where alcohol is produced from
the left molasses by proper refining of alcohol. Molasses produced in this step nearly
contains no sugar almost all sugar is extracted in this cycle of processing A , B and
C type massecuites.
In case of high work load other centrifuge which is not used generally, is also used
and it is having capacity to process 10-12 tons material per hour and other
centrifuges are having capacity to process 8-10 tons of material per hour.

Centrifuge

29

Grading of Sugar
Grading of sugar is very important since sugar crystal are obtained in different sizes
and different sizes are required for different uses. To separate sugar crystals we
arrange a deck of six screens in which each screen is at a certain angle from the
horizontal and in the ascending order of mesh size so the different size fractions of
sugar of different sizes are separated in a separate container.
Commercially produced market sizes are M 30 and S 36 other sizes are either used
for specific needs and the crystal which are too small in size or exist in the form of
powder or unusual shapes are recycled to the crystallizer and some crystals are used
for seed preparation.

30

Overall Process Flow Diagram for obtaing sugar from sugar

Cane
Sugar cane is firstly cut down by cane cutter than it is send for milling plant where
bagasse and juice are separated which is then mixed with lime and sent to the
decanter than filter by rotatory filter by which sludge and juice are seperated,Then it
is passed through evaporator to concentrate the juice and obtained syrup is then
crystallised in air cooled crystallizer to form crystals .Which is sent to the centrifuge
by which mother liquor and crystals of sugar are seperated.Molasses is send to
distillery and bagasse is used as a fuel for boiler.

31

Conclusion
Sugar production is a process in which a series of steps are followed and a series of
phases occur by which at last we get the sugar. Sugar is produced from sugar canes
in the sugar industries which are cut down into small pieces than fibrized before
passing it to the sugar mill.
In the milling section the juice is squeezed as much as possible and bagasse is
separated from it.Bagasse is used as a fuel in the boiling house plant which produces
steam and then juice is transferred to clarification plant.
In the clarification plant it is treated with sulphur di oxide and lime in order to bleach
and precipitate the mud and then passed to evaporaors.Evaporators concentrates the
juice so that concentrated juice is sent to the pans which boils the juice and juice
become supersaturated.
Supersaturated juice is than passed to the series of crystallizers which cools the syrup
and form crystals these crystals with mother liquor is passed to the series of
centrifuges which separates the mother liquor with the crystals.
Some crystals of appropriate size are proceeded further others are recycled to the
appropriate crystallizers which again form the crystals. The crystals proceeded
further are passed through a series of screens which classify the crystals into some
grades market grades are send to bin storage other are recycled for seed
preperation.Bin storage is connected with automatic weighing and begging
machinery which pack sugar crystals into 50 kg or 100 kg bags which is sent to the
market for selling

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References
1. www.sugartech.co.za
2. www.zauba.com/
3. http://www.preservearticles.com/2012030625157/complete-information-onsugar-industry.html
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar_cane_mill

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