Domino Sugar Corporation upgraded the Baltimore facility by installing two Putsch membrane filters which replaced the two Eimco rotary vacuum filters. The new automated Putsch membrane niters are used for desweetening and dewatering sluices from the Sweetland presses. The sluices consist of diatomaceous earth, carbon, sugar and water. The Putsch membrane filters are the first membrane filters vised for filtering diatomaceous earth and carbon in the cane sugar refining industry. During the first two years of operation, the amount of sucrose lost in the mud cake, produced by the Putsch membrane filter, was reduced by 65% compared to the mud cake from the rotary vacuum filters. The Putsch membrane filter also provided an environmental advantage, in that it produced a mud cake with an average moisture of 50%, which could be landfilled rather than disposed of in the industrial sewer. The elimination of disposing the mud cake to the industrial sewer provided a large cost savings. Additionally, the suspended solids on the filtrate averaged 40 ppm which allows the refinery to utilize the filtrate for melting the raw sugar. The Putsch membrane filters further provided improvements in performance of the Sweetland presses. One improvement was a reduction in the cycle time. Desweetening is no longer performed by the Sweetland presses but. is accomplished by the Putsch membrane filter, which is more efficient in removing the sucrose from the mud cake and utilizes less water. Pilot scale filters from different manufacturers were tested prior to selecting replacement for the rotary vacuum filter. The Putsch membrane filter was selected because of consistent results on cake thickness, moisture content, sucrose content, and Putsch's experience on using membrane press filters in the sugar industry.
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