THE EFFECT OF GREEN CANE HARVESTING ON A SUGAR MILL

摘要

The main consequence of processing green cane is expected to be an increase in the quantity of leaves and tops accompanying the cane. This affects recovery of sugar, the effective capacity of the mill and milling costs. Other consequences such as the potential for receiving fresher cane are considered. An attempt is made to estimate the magnitude of some of these effects. There are two scenarios to consider. In the more common case, the objective is to produce clean fresh cane and the issue is managing the extraneous matter content of the cane. In the second case, where a mill wishes to maximise the biomass input for cogeneration or byproduct purposes, the leaves and tops have significant value and are required at the mill. To achieve maximum profitability in both cases, the options of incentives, cane payment system changes and separating the leaves and tops before processing are considered.