MODELLING A CONTINUOUS PAN INSTALLATION USING SUGARS™ FOR WINDOWSreg;

摘要

The installation of a continuous pan for the Sugar Cane Growers Cooperative of Florida factory was modelled using the Sugars™ computer program to evaluate changes in the process and potential changes in revenues. A model was constructed of the existing factory, and factory data were used to define the performance of equipment in the model and to estimate the solubility characteristics of the syrup by determining the coefficients for the Vavrinecz solubility function. Balance calculations from the model were then compared to the actual operation to verify the model. Next, the model was modified to use a continuous pan for 50% of the ''B'' boiling and reduced sucrose supersaturation for the ''A'' and ''C boilings to compensate for the reduced loadings in these boilings from the installation of the continuous pan. The reduced loading in the ''A'' boiling would occur because an existing ''B'' batch pan would be moved to the ''A'' boiling when it is replaced by the new continuous pan, and the ''C boiling would be reduced because of a load reduction. Results from the simulation showed that the factory could expect an increase in process revenues with decreases in the final molasses purity and the bagasse consumed by the boilers. ''B'' centrifugal performance was then increased to see if the effect of more consistent crystal size variation in the ''B'' massecuite from the continuous pan would improve factory performance. It was found that improvements in ''B'' centrifugal performance were not as significant as the performance improvements from the lower supersaturation values used in the ''A'' and ''C boilings.