نظرة عامة على عملية دورة معالجة السكر

The initial crushing phase is where most of the sugar juice is squeezed from the fibers of the foot long long sugar cane sticks, usually in a multi-stage milling operation. At each stage, the juice is consolidated with previous stages then drained into a large mixing tank.

At this point, the cane juice still contains some dirt, cane fiber, and other unessential materials, but easily transferred using low to medium capacity EDDY Pumps.

The leftover cane fiber after separation is transported by conveyor to a furnace for burning. The cane fiber, or “bagasse”, is further dried before entering a furnace. This drying process maximizes the thermal energy of the bagasse in order to create steam for later stages in the sugar milling process. Furnace ash or fly ash, a byproduct of this process, is stockpiled and later pumped away for disposal or combined with another process byproduct. Fly ash pumping is often difficult and costly due to its abrasive nature.

Mud extracted from the clarifier tank enters a rotary vacuum filter before being stockpiled for re-application as a fertilizer on the cane fields. Fly ash from the bagasse combustion process may also be combined at this stage to create mill mud. Mill mud is high in moisture content, quite viscous and forms with a low angle of repose and it is used extensively in the cane field as a natural fertilizer. Due to the difficulty to handle the mill mud, an EDDY Pump slurry pump would be an ideal solution due to its ability to pump high solids and highly viscous material with much high efficiency.

The consistency of the mill mud makes it unsuitable for common centrifugal pump transfer methods and to date the EDDY Pump system has been the among the most efficient of pump loading methods. Distribution of the mill mud over the cane field is usually performed with a specially adapted road truck fitted with a rotating paddle at the rear of the truck.

Continuing the sugar process, the clear cane juice is pumped from the clarifier to a series of steam evaporators designed to remove water content of the juice, producing a heavy and sticky liquid called “sugar liquor”. This material is then transferred to a vacuum pan where the heavy liquor is re-combined with a crystallized sugar called “massecuite”, a material of low moisture and low fluidity. This massecuite combines with the sugar crystals in a large centrifuge where it is mixed with an additional quantity of water to help separate the sugar crystals from the sugar liquor, much like a washing machine spin function, converting the liquid to molasses. The molasses is then transferred to storage vats, where it may be used for combining with cattle feed or to be used in the process of making rum and other alcohol-based products.

Molasses is also a difficult material to pump by conventional means but the application of heat has proven in some instances to make the material more fluid and able to be pumped easier by employing the use of a heavy duty EDDY Pump solution.

وبعد ذلك يتم نقل بلورات السكر المتبقية إلى مجفف دوار، عادةً عن طريق ناقل ثم يتم نقلها مرة أخرى إلى منشأة تخزين لتحميلها سائبة أو في أكياس إلى السفن، أو نقلها إلى شاحنات خاصة لنقل السكر على الطرق البرية لمزيد من المعالجة.