UNIVERSITY OF DAR ES SAALAM

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (CoET)

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL AND MINING ENGINEERING (CME)

PRACTICAL TRAINING (PT1) REPORT 2016/17

STUDENT NAME: SYLIVAND, AMEDIUS

REG. NUMBER: 2016-04-01642

DEGREE PROGRAM: BSc. CHEMICAL AND PROCESS ENGINEERING

YEAR OF STUDY: FIRST YEAR

COMPANY NAME: KAGERA SUGAR LIMITED (KSL)

TRAININING OFFICER: ENG. NAIMAN EPHRAIM

SUPERVISOR: MR. DAMSON LEONARD

PT PERIOD: 3rd JULY TO 25th AUGUST, 2017 (8 WEEKS)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all I thank almighty God for keeping my health stable throughout my practical training
for all 8 weeks at Kagera sugar limited. Its only God‟s grace that I have managed to attend the
field sights of all factory sections and finally be able to write an account of what I have achieved.

I would like to give special thanks to PT coordinator of Department of Chemical and Mining
Engineering (CME), Madam Frida for allocating me at Kagera Sugar Limited Company because
it has now became a golden chance as I have learned a lot.

I would like to express my appreciation to Kagera Sugar Factory Manager Eng. Nestory
Rwechungura for granting me an opportunity to explore and learn about the factory processes of
sugar production.

With innermost felt gratitude, I would like to appreciate my Practical training officer (Assistant
Process Manager) Eng. Naiman Ephraim for his heartful training. He was ready to offer technical
skills, knowledge and guidance about the factory and engineering experiences at large. Indeed,
he provided a very crucial contribution to accomplish my practical training.

I also would like to express my sincere thanks to process engineers; Eng. Atugonza Phinias, Eng.
Zachalia Magembe and Eng.Omary Joseph for their readiness to guide and train me about the
factory processes. Moreover I sincerely thank all factory operators for their help and direction
wherever and whenever I needed their presence.

Special thanks also goes to my PT supervisor from the University of Dar es salaam, Department
of Chemical and Mining Engineering Mr. Damson L. Kaungwa for his assessment, guidance and
advice towards the completion of the practical training.

i
ABSTRACT
This report is composed of two main parts; these are weekly report and main report. The weekly
report comprises the summary of tasks performed on each and every day of the week for the 8
weeks of my practical training. The main report contains three important chapters which are; the
Company, the Process and the Major equipment. The first chapter explains the informative
details of the company including the raw materials. The second chapter describes the process of
sugar production divided into two main sections, namely the front end and the process house.
This chapter also includes major utilities. The third chapter describes the major equipment, “the
Evaporator”, its maintenance, conclusion and recommendations.

ii
Table of Contents
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................................... i
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... ii
List of figures .................................................................................................................................. v
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................. vi
1.0. THE COMPANY ................................................................................................................. 1
1.1. Introduction:.................................................................................................................................. 1
1.2. Industrial Background ................................................................................................................... 1
1.3. Kagera Sugar Core Values: ........................................................................................................... 1
1.4. Vision: ........................................................................................................................................... 2
1.5. Mission:......................................................................................................................................... 2
1.6. Organization Structure: ................................................................................................................. 2
1.7. Raw Materials: .............................................................................................................................. 3
2.0. THE FACTORY PROCESS ................................................................................................ 5
2.1. THE FRONT END ....................................................................................................................... 5
2.1.1. Cane weighing....................................................................................................................... 5
2.1.2. Cane storage and feeding ...................................................................................................... 5
2.1.3. Cane preparation unit ............................................................................................................ 6
2.1.4. Extraction plant ..................................................................................................................... 8
2.1.5. Boiler Station ...................................................................................................................... 11
2.1.6. The Power house ................................................................................................................. 13
2.2. THE PROCESS HOUSE ............................................................................................................ 14
2.2.1. Juice weighing..................................................................................................................... 14
2.2.2. Juice heating........................................................................................................................ 14
2.2.3. Liming and phosphoric acid addition.................................................................................. 15
2.2.4. Flashing ............................................................................................................................... 17
2.2.5. Flocculant addition.............................................................................................................. 17
2.2.6. Clarification or Juice settling .............................................................................................. 18
2.2.7. Filtration .............................................................................................................................. 19
2.2.8. Evaporation ......................................................................................................................... 21
2.2.9. Crystallization ..................................................................................................................... 23
2.2.10. Centrifugation ..................................................................................................................... 27
2.2.11. Drying ................................................................................................................................. 29

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 2.2.12. Packaging and Storage ........................................................................................................ 29
2.3. MAJOR UTILITIES ................................................................................................................... 30
3.0. MAJOR EQUIPMENT ...................................................................................................... 31
3.1. Evaporator ................................................................................................................................... 31
3.1.1. Description of the equipment. ............................................................................................. 31
3.1.2. Construction of Robert type evaporator .............................................................................. 32
3.2. Function of evaporator ................................................................................................................ 36
3.3. Reasons for maintenance ............................................................................................................ 37
3.4. Sequence in fault diagnosis ......................................................................................................... 37
3.5. Sequence in shutdown and checkups .......................................................................................... 37
3.6. Ordering and Repairing of replacement parts ............................................................................. 39
3.7. Commissioning of the maintenance equipment .......................................................................... 39
3.8. Conclusion and Recommendations ............................................................................................. 40
4.0. REFERENCES .................................................................................................................. 40
. references

iv
List of figures
Figure 1. The factory organisation structure ................................................................................................. 2
Figure 2. The block diagram for cane preparation ........................................................................................ 7
Figure 3. The main parts of the roller mill .................................................................................................. 10
Figure 4. The block diagram of extraction plant indicating the flow of materials ...................................... 11
Figure 5. The block diagram for clarification section ................................................................................. 21
Figure 6. The block diagram for steam and vapour flow at the evaporator station..................................... 23
Figure 7. The block diagram for sugar boiling house ................................................................................. 28
Figure 8. The Robert type evaporator cross section view ........................................................................... 35

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List of Tables
Table 1. An average composition of a mature cane section wise ................................................................. 4
Table 2. The speeds of turbines for their respective roller mills ................................................................... 8
Table 3. The mill settings.............................................................................................................................. 9
Table 4. Chemicals for boiler feed water treatment .................................................................................... 13
Table 5. Specifications of mixed juice heaters ........................................................................................... 15
Table 6. Different specifications of evaporators ......................................................................................... 31
Table 7. Summary of major scale components ........................................................................................... 38

vi
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS USED IN SUGAR INDUSTRIES (KSL)
 Bagasse; is the residual (left over fibres) obtained after crushing cane in a mill.
 Bagacillo; are very small particles of bagasse separated either from pre-clarification
juices or from the final bagasse for filtration or other purposes (filtration aid)
 Brix; is the percentage by mass of the total soluble solids of a pure aqueous sucrose
solution.
 Crystal content; is the percentage by mass of sugar crystals present in massecuite.
 Cush Cush; is the material removed from mill juice by straining.
 Extraction; refers to the ratio of mass (in tons) of sucrose in mixed juice to the mass (in
tons) of sucrose in cane, expressed as percentage.
 Exhaustion; is the percentage of sugar recovered from sugar solution (syrup or molasses)
in terms of sugar crystals.
 Final molasses; is the mother liquor separated from the final massecuite by mechanical
means.
 Imbibition; hot water of 80-85 temperature which enhance leaching process during
juice extraction.
 Magma; is the mixture of B sugar or C sugar with water.
 Massecuite; is the mixture of sugar crystals and its mother liquor (molasses)
 Molasses; is the mother liquor separated from a massecuite by mechanical means.
 Polarisation (pol); is the apparent sucrose content of any substance expressed as
percentage by mass and determined by the single or direct polarisation method.
 Preparation Index (PI); is the percentage brix in the cells opened when compared to
total brix in the cane.
 Purity; is the percentage ratio of sucrose (or pol) to the total soluble solids (brix) in a
sugar product.
 Reducing sugars; these are sugars which reduce Fehling‟s solution, these are glucose and
fructose.
 Sucrose; is the disaccharide sugar molecule from which sugar crystals are generated.
 Sugar; the main product of a sugar factory made up of sucrose crystals after centrifugal
separation from mother liquors.

vii
1.0. THE COMPANY
1.1. Introduction:
Kagera Sugar Limited Company deals with sugar production from sugar cane in Tanzania. It is
located at north-west of the country in Missenyi district found in Kagera region, 76km from
Bukoba town on road to Mtukula.

1.2. Industrial Background

Kagera Sugar Company was established in 1954. It was private owned by Mr. Grewal Singh.
The area under cane was 4,000 acres. Sugar production by that time was only 10,000 tons of
sugar per year.

In 1973 joint venture took place where the government owned 50% and Grewal 50%. The
Company made a great effort to achieve a production of 60,000 tons of sugar per year but due to
interference of Idd Amin war in 1979 this was not achieved. After the war, production continued
but the performance was declining progressively. In 1999 the company was closed down because
the government could not run it. In 2001 the company was privatized to Super Group Investors.
The new owner first paid attention in rehabilitation and expansion in 2002.

Today with 9000 hectares of cane plantation are under irrigation and rain fed, the company is
looking forward to catch up 15,000 hectares of cane plantation with a sustainable production of
160,000 tons of sugar per year by 2020. The company engage in social and health service to the
surrounding villages like building of schools and hospitals, also it has a football team known as
Kagera Sugar football team. The company also supports out growers by buying their cane.

1.3. Kagera Sugar Core Values:

a) Honesty
b) Integrity
c) Ownership
d) Innovation
e) Teamwork

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 1.4. Vision:
To be the leading sugar producer in the region.

1.5. Mission:
To work with best practices to achieve continuous growth.

1.6. Organization Structure:

CHIEF EXECUTIVE
OFFICER

CHIEF CHIEF FARM MACHINARY

CHIEF FINANCE
AGRICULTURAL OPERATION AND VEHICLES
OFFICER
OFFICER OFFICER MANAGER

CANE HAULAGE FACTORY PROJECT

CIVIL ENGINEER
MANAGER MANAGER MANAGER

BACKEND FRONTEND PROCESS ELECTRICAL

ENGINEER ENGINEER MANAGER ENGINEER

Figure 1. The factory organisation structure

2
 1.7. Raw Materials:
The raw material used by Kagera Sugar Limited factory is sugar cane. These are monocotyledon
grass plants that synthesize their own food (sucrose) which is stored in the stems. In order to get
sugar, processes are carried out to extract the stored sucrose. The extraction of sucrose is done
after opening cane cells in the section of cane preparation.

Kagera sugar factory processes sugar cane obtained from two source:

 Kagera sugar estates

These are produced from the company plantations.
 From out growers
These are produced by individuals in their own plantations and sell to the company.

There are different varieties of sugar cane planted in Kagera sugar estates which are
hybrid species resulted from crossing the cultivated species. These varieties are like; N25,
N19, MN1, CO617, R597, R47, where other more are in trails.
Moreover, there are six major species of sugar cane; these are
i) S.Spontaneum,
ii) S. Robustum,
iii) S. Officinarum,
iv) S.Barberi,
v) S.Sinense and
vi) S.Edule.

Harvesting practices employed by Kagera sugar;

Sugar cane are harvested when they are fully mature by burning them to remove trushes and
getting rid of dangerous animals. All these prepares favourable environment for cutting and
eventually loading the cane ready for haulage. And a mature cane is expected to possess the
following composition on average;

3
Table 1. An average composition of a mature cane section wise

Section of the cane Percentage

Top and trush 30-40
Milleable cane` 50-60
Stubble (left in the soil) 10
Moreover, an average matured cane is expected to possess the following constituents expressed
as percentages;

a) Dissolved substances (15%)

 Sucrose (13%)
 Other substances (2%)
b) Insoluble substances (15%)
 Vegetable fibre (13%)
 Soil (2%)
c) Water (70%)

A good and required percentage of sugar in the sugar cane depends on;

 Cane variety (hybrid)

 Cane age
 Portion of the cane
 Environment
 Cultural treatment

Cane quality

 This is the factor that determines the correct proportions of cane constituents. Cane
quality is affected by the following reasons:
i) Variety and degree of maturity/ripeness
ii) Harvesting practices (burning, trashing, manual or mechanical)
iii) Loading methods (manual, mechanical (tops, trash))
iv) Climate (drought, excessive rainfall and frost)
v) Length of stay in field or cane yard

4
 If cane stays for so long after being harvested leads to deterioration of stored
sucrose. To avoid that phenomenon cane should be processed/crushed within 36 hours
after harvesting.

2.0. THE FACTORY PROCESS

Kagera sugar factory is divided into two main sections. These are;
 Front end, and
 Process house

2.1. THE FRONT END

This section includes cane reception and weighing, cane storage and feeding, cane preparation
and juice extraction plant taking place in mill house. Steam generation at the boiler station and
power house are also included in this section.

2.1.1. Cane weighing

This takes place on the weighbridge located at the entrance to the factory. Cane is weighed for
the purpose of mass balance of input and output of the factory processes. This in turn helps to
minimizes losses determined by considering the cane to sugar ratio. For example, at Kagera
sugar factory, 10 tons of cane should roughly produce 1 ton of sugar.

The net mass of cane is obtained by taking the gross mass (mass of loaded vehicle) minus the
tare mass (mass of the empty vehicle). Cane under measurement is both from out-growers and
from estates owned by the company.

Apart from cane and sugar, other materials under measurement are like; filter cake, fertilizers,
lime, final molasses as well as construction materials. The weighbridge is operated in technology
of load-cell mechanism.

2.1.2. Cane storage and feeding

Cane storage and feeding takes place at the area known as Cane Yard, which has the capacity of
carrying up to 4000 tons of cane at once making the temporary storage known as „buffer stock‟.

As the cane is hauled from the fields and passes at the weighbridge, is then offloaded from the
vehicles (hilos) by two Hilo cranes where the first Hilo crane offloads cane and feed it directly to

5
the first feed table while the second Hilo crane offloads cane to the ground buffer stock. To avoid
deterioration of sucrose in the cane, the cane at this cane yard should be fed for crushing within
36 hours after the time of harvesting.

The two feed tables at this factory can either be operated together at once or one at a time
depending on the amount of cane available at the cane yard. The feed table.1 is fed directly by
the Hilo crane.1 while the feed table.2 is fed by moving vehicle called the „Front loader‟. The
rate of feeding cane to the cane carrier.1 is controlled by an operator in the cane yard control
room.

2.1.3. Cane preparation unit

This section deals with cane cell opening as the prior process to the juice extraction. This process
is governed by the parameter known as Preparation Index (PI) which refers to the percentage
brix in the cells opened when compared to total brix in the cane. The good PI, the more sucrose
extraction is achieved in the extraction plant.

This section is composed by the following main sub units;

 Cane leveller knife

This is the knife responsible for cane size reduction cutting the cane into small pieces and levels
the cane for easy cell opening. This knife receives cane from feed table(s) by cane carrier.1.
Cane leveller knife has 38 number of revolving blades and it is driven by an electric motor with
speed of 585rpm

 Cane knife.1(CK1)

From cane leveller knife, cane enters CK1 where the process of cell opening starts. It has 36
number of revolving blades and it is driven by steam turbine which receives superheated (live)
steam at around 30bar pressure. The turbine rotates at a speed of around 3800rpm, but the
maximum possible speed is 5000rpm, where the speed of revolving blades is around 750rpm less
than that of turbine because of presence of gear box.

 Cane knife.2 (CK2)

This knife is arranged in series with CK1 to ensure opening of maximum number of cells as
much as possible by opening the cells that has not opened by CK1. It has 62 number of revolving

6
blades and it is also driven by steam turbine as cane knife 1. From this knife, prepared cane is
transported by cane carrier 2 driven by conveyor belt to the mill house for juice extraction.

Cane from estates

WEIGHBRIDGE

HILO CRANE.2

GROUND STOCK

FRONT LOADER

FEED TABLE.2 FEED TABLE.1 HILO CRANE.1

Cane carrier.1

CANE LEVELLER
KNIFE

CANE KNIFE.1

Cane carrier.2

CANE KNIFE.2

Prepared cane to
Mill house

Figure 2. The block diagram for cane preparation

7
 2.1.4. Extraction plant
This section deals with juice extraction from prepared cane. The input to this plant is prepared
cane while the outputs from this plant are mixed juice which goes to the process house and
bagasse as by product which goes to the boiler station to be used as fuel for steam generation.

There are four mill machines at Kagera sugar factory arranged in series to ensure maximum juice
extraction. The juice obtained from the first and the second mill is collected together in the
unscreened juice tank from which is pumped to DSM screen which has an aperture size of
0.7mm to get mixed juice which is then sent to process house.

Between the second and the third mill; and between the third and the fourth mill, imbibition
water of around 85 is added which acts as extraction aid ensuring maximum juice extraction as
it facilitates leaching process. The juice obtained from the third mill is pumped from its
maceration tank and recycled to mill no.1 while that obtained from the fourth mill is pumped
from its maceration tank and recycled to mill no.2 From one mill to the other, there is bagasse
inter-carrier for the transfer of bagasse.

All mill machines are driven by steam turbines receiving live steam at around 30 bar pressure
rotating at different speeds decreasing as the number of mill increases to ensure a good
extraction factor.

These speeds are around;

Table 2. The speeds of turbines for their respective roller mills

ROLLER MILLS Speed of respective turbine Speed of rollers after

(rpm) reduction by gears
MILL NO.1 3800 5
MILL NO.2 3500 4.8
MILL NO.3 3200 4.4
MILL NO.4 2700 3.5
Where each mill is incorporated with three gears, namely; gear box high speed, intermediate gear
box and bull gear which altogether reduces speed of turbines to a relatively small speed of roller
mills to enhance extraction parameter. For example, these gear boxes reduces 3800rpm to 5rpm
for the roller mill no.1.

8
Moreover, in order to ensure a good extraction in this plant, the following factors have to be
taken into account,

 Mill setting
 Hydraulic pressure
 Speed of the roller
 Juice drainage
 Roller roughness and
 Good preparation index, PI.
 The hydraulic pressure is exerted on top roller which helps to reduce clearance between
the rollers ensuring squeezing of bagasse.

The following is the mill settings at Kagera sugar factory

Table 3. The mill settings

ROLLER Feed roller set opening Discharge roller set Underfeed roller set
MILLS (mm) opening (mm) opening (mm)
MILL NO.1 54 22 220
MILL NO.2 46 18 180
MILL NO.3 46 18 180
MILL NO.4 45 16 160
Note; the roller settings above has been taken with respect to the top roller as the reference roller.

Observation;

Mill set openings decrease as the number of roller increases. This is so designed to ensure a
good extraction factor as the size of bagasse decreases with increase in number of roller mills
because of series arrangement of mills.

9
 Prepared
Feed chute
cane

Under feed Top roller

roller

Bagasse
scrapers
Feed roller Discharge roller

Trash plate

Juice tray

Figure 3. The main parts of the roller mill

Description;

The mill machine has four major parts, these are;

i) The feed chute

This receives prepared cane and feeds it to the rollers.

ii) Four rollers

These are responsible for squeezing bagasse during juice extraction. The arrangement of these
rollers should be as shown above in the diagram. The chute is perpendicular to and between the
top and underfeed roller.

iii) Trash plate

This provides support on squeezing bagasse. It is placed between the feed and discharge roller.

iv) Scrapers
10
These are metals that are designed to fit in the grooves of the rollers. They removes bagasse that
sticks on the grooves.

Prepared cane

Mill no.1

Cush-cush
Inter carrier no.1

Unscreened juice tank Mill no.2

Imbibition water

Inter carrier no.2

DSM screen Mill no.3 Maceration tank.3

Imbibition water

Inter carrier no.3

Mixed juice to
process house

Mill no.4 Maceration tank.4

Bagasse to boiler
Figure 4. The block diagram of extraction plant indicating the flow of materials

2.1.5. Boiler Station

Boiler is the closed vessel which is made by metal in which water is converted into steam by
using the heat energy of the fuel. Kagera sugar factory has two boilers that are operated one at a

11
time and sometimes both of them. They are all water tube type boilers. There are two inputs;
water and bagasse (as fuel). The bagasse is by product from extraction plant and should have the
following properties in order to have high calorific value during combustion. These are;

 Low moisture content

 Low brix and
 Less ash quantity

The combustion process takes place in a chamber called furnace handling the temperature
ranging from 1500 . The operation of the furnace is enhanced by the presence of
three working fans carrying specific function. These are;

i) Secondary air (SA) fan

This supplies air which enters close to the bagasse feeders and thus it spreads out these bagasse
throughout the furnace.

ii) Forced draft (FD) fan

This supplies air to support combustion in the furnace. The air to the furnace passes through the
heat exchanger system called Air pre-heater where it gains heat from flue gases leaving the
furnace. Now this hot air enters the chamber via the bottom of the furnace ready to support
burning.

iii) Induced draft (ID) fan

This fan is responsible to remove flue gases from the furnace as it sucks upward taking them to
the chimney. On their way to the chimney, passes through cyclone and baffles to remove soil and
other solid particles.

The feed water to the boiler are from two locations, one is the condensate storage tank and the
other is DM tank (soft water tank). The feed water passes through de-aerator tank to remove
oxygen, thereafter enters the hot well tank where chemical water treatment is then handled,
chemicals for water treatment are;

12
Table 4. Chemicals for boiler feed water treatment

CHEMICAL TYPE ITS FUNCTION

ADJ5150 For pH and alkalinity regulation
PQ5068 For phosphate and TDS control
CORTROL IS 3000E/2015 For sulphite and total hardness control

The chemically treated water is then pumped to the boiler via economizer where it is heated up
by the flue gases leaving the boiler. Water enters the steam drum which is joined with mud drum
by tubes running on the walls of the furnace for heating the water inside the tubes. The steam
formed goes to the steam drum where saturated steam is created. From the steam drum, the
saturated steam enters the super-heater coiled tubes for further heating to obtain superheated
steam of around 30 bar as it is actual operating pressure of the boiler at Kagera sugar factory.
The steam temperature is around 400±15 where the steam flow rate from this boiler is around
75 tons per hour (tph).

The superheated steam from boiler is then distributed to three major areas. These are;

i) Power house for generation of electricity

ii) Mill house for running steam turbines of four roller mills
iii) Cane preparation for running steam turbines of CK.1 & CK.2.

2.1.6. The Power house

This is the section of the factory dealing with power generation using live steam generated from
boiler. There are two Turbo Alternators (TA1 and TA2) which are designed to transform energy
of superheated steam into electrical energy in forms of alternating current under the principle of
electromagnetic induction in accordance to Faraday‟s Law.
Each TA has the capacity of generating electrical power up to 2.5mW. The power generated is
distributed to different areas around the factory to cater the electrical energy needs. However, the
power generated by TA is not enough, thus other more power is from TANESCO and a standby
generator of 11kV.

13
 2.2. THE PROCESS HOUSE
This section contains many unit operations that are carried out in order to process the mixed juice
from mill house into sugar as the final product and other by-products such as final molasses. The
section includes the following processes arranged chronologically; juice weighing, juice heating,
liming and sometimes addition of phosphoric acid, flashing, flocculent addition, clarification,
filtration of mud juice, evaporation, crystallization, separation by centrifugal machines, drying,
packaging as well as storage.

2.2.1. Juice weighing

Mixed juice from extraction plant is sent to the mixed juice tank via weighing scale tank. This is
done for the purpose of mass balance between the input (mixed juice) and output (sugar) in terms
of tons of each. This habit helps to minimize losses by improving working parameters or just
controlling the major utilities such as steam, water, air and major ingredients.

2.2.2. Juice heating

Mixed juice having temperature around 40 enters the series arrangement of juice heaters where
primary and secondary heating takes place.

Primary heating rises the temperature of mixed juice up to 70 with the purpose of
precipitating dissolved impurities in the mixed juice.

Then, secondary heating follows up which rises the temperature of primary heated juice up to
103 - with three main functions;

 To kill micro-organisms particularly bacteria which consumes sucrose releasing lactic

and acetic acid.
 To facilitate chemical reaction of lime and acid in the mixed juice, and
 To enhance the amount of flash to be removed from the flashing tank. This is because the
amount of flash is proportional to the difference in temperature between the last heater
temperature and the boiling point of the particular place. This is why principally, the last
heater temperature should be as 5 units of temperature as greater than the boiling point of
the particular place.

To achieve primary and secondary heating of the mixed juice at Kagera Sugar factory, there are
four working juice heaters at a time out of six juice heaters present, where the first four heaters

14
has total heating surface area of 200 for each heater while each of the last two heaters has
total heating surface area of 262 . Moreover in order to enhance heating process, each heater
has the following specifications;

Table 5. Specifications of mixed juice heaters

Tube materials Brass

Tube external diameter (mm) 45
Tube thickness (mm) 1.626
Number of passes for juice circulation 22
Number of tubes per each pass 18
Total number of tubes 396
Heat transfer coefficient of tubes 750
(brass) (kcal/m2K)

The working principle

The juice heaters operates under the principle of heat transfer. The juice circulates through the
tubes, and the vapour from the first effect evaporator (Kestner) and the second effect evaporator
(Robert type) enters outside the tubes. In so doing, the vapour losses its latent heat which is then
gained by the juice. To maintain the appropriate heat transfer coefficient of the tubes, the heater
is incorporated with incondensable and condensate line which removes out all incondensable
gases and condensates respectively which acts as insulators to heat transfer.

Note; since the mixed juice is acidic, the residence time upon heating should be as short as
possible to prevent high rate of inversion process in the heaters. Because high temperature plus
the above factors facilitates inversion process.

2.2.3. Liming and phosphoric acid addition

After heating the juice to the required temperature, the liming process follows up where the milk
of lime (Ca ( is introduced in the heated with the following reasons;

i) To rise the pH of the heated mixed juice from slightly acidic ranging 5.2-5.5 to neutral or
slightly alkaline. The change in pH to neutral/slightly alkaline reduces inversion process.

15
 ii) It also causes coagulation of some impurities and forms a precipitate of complex
compound which contains insoluble lime salts and coagulated impurities.

The pH of the juice should be maintained almost at neutral conditions because both low and high
pH has negative effects to the juice, these are;

 Effect of low pH; this allows inversion process

 Effect of high pH; this leads to degradation of reducing sugars which eventually affects
the colour of both clear juice from being golden yellow to blackish juice and sugar from
being brown to blackish as well. But also degradation of glucose and fructose will leads
to poor crystallization of sucrose. The presence of these sugars prevents the solubility of
sucrose.

To ensure complete reaction of lime and acid contained in the heated mixed juice, there is a U-
shape structure called static mixer that increase the time of reaction and thoroughly mixing of the
two. By design the static mixer should have 8m, where this distance ensures complete reaction
for 3 seconds.

The following is the chemistry behind liming process;

 Milk of lime in the juice:

Ca (OH) 2 (aq) Ca2+ (aq) + 2OH-(aq)

 Phosphate in the juice

K2HPO4 (aq) 2K+ (aq) + HPO42-(aq)

 Reaction of and phosphate in the juice

Ca2+ (aq) + K2HPO4 (aq) CaHPO4 (aq) + 2K+ (aq)
2CaHPO4 (aq) +Ca2+ (aq) Ca3 (PO4)2 (aq) + 2H+ (aq)
Ca3 (PO4)2(aq) + Ca (OH) 2 (aq) 2Ca5OH (PO4)3(aq)
Complex precipitate (ppt)

Therefore the fourth reaction above suggests the set point of pH at the liming point to have the
range of 7.5-8.0 which will be reduced to neutral by the release of .

16
At this point, phosphoric acid from its storage tank is sometimes added in the juice if it is found
that there is less than 80ppm (for KSL) of in the mixed juice. This is done to ensure the
reaction of lime and phosphate ions.

2.2.4. Flashing
Flashing practice of the treated juice is handled before allowing it to enter the clarifier. This
practice removes air from the juice, thus allowing settling to take place in the clarifier. Flashing
also makes an even distribution and constant temperature in the limed juice. This prevents
thermal currents in the clarifier and promotes good settling.

Principally to achieve the reasonable amount of flash to take place at the flashing tank, the
temperature of the heated and limed juice should be as 5 units of temperature as higher than the
boiling point of the particular place. But this is seldom handled at Kagera sugar factory as the
last heater temperature ranges from 103 instead of maintaining this temperature at
around 101 since the boiling point at the location of this factory is 96 and 88kPa
atmospheric pressure. However, the operation at this higher temperature is handled at this factory
to ensure maximum flashing as the amount of flash (air) to be removed from the juice is
proportional to (temperature difference between that of the heated juice and boiling point of
the place).

2.2.5. Flocculant addition

In order to enhance flocculation and coagulation processes which in turn facilitates settling of
impurities in the clarifier, the flocculant is added in the juice. Flocculant is the long chain
synthetic polymer which has active sites that are negatively charged while impurities possess
positive charges. This conditions allow the migration of impurities in the juice towards the active
sites of the flocculants where large and heavy flocs are formed. These flocs tends to fall under
the influence of gravity taking other suspended impurities down at the bottom of the clarifier
leaving the juice clear of impurities. The falling velocity of these flocs is governed by Stoke‟s

Law equation which is V= .

The qualities of a polymer to be used as flocculants during clarification are;

i) Number of active sites on the polymer chain

17
 ii) Strength of the polymer chain
iii) Length of the polymer chain.

For the good performance of the polymer (flocculants), the following factors are taken into
consideration;

 Time of agitation of stock solution

 Solvent ionic strength
 Polymer solution concentration and solution pH
 Influence of precipitate, and
 Concentration of calcium in clear juice

The preparation of flocculant solutions involves two tanks, one for mixing the flocculant (in
powder form), and the other for ageing the solution for 2-4 hours. Clean water that is free of
impurities avoiding the coverage of active sites on the polymer chain and of about 55
temperature is used to prepare the solution.

To avoid destruction of the polymer chain, the following care to the flocculant solution should be
taken into account;

 Avoiding excessive turbulence by mixing the solution gently in order not to destroy the
polymer chain
 A low-shear metering pump should be used in case of pumping
 Plastic piping of about 25mm bore should be used with no sharp bends or other
restrictions.

2.2.6. Clarification or Juice settling

Clarification refers to the process of removing impurities from mixed juice of pH 5.2-5.5 to get
clear juice of golden yellow colour of correct pH ranging from 6.9 to 7.1 with very minimum
loss of sucrose, fructose and glucose in the juice. This process is achieved by involving the steps
of juice heating, liming and flashing as the prior steps before pumping the juice into the clarifier.
The flocs are separated from the juice in this vessel.

18
The clarifier in use at Kagera sugar factory is of Rapi-Dorr 444 type (400 , where it means
there are four juice inlets, four clear juice outlets and four mud juice outlets. This clarifier has
four compartments where each compartments operates like independent clarifier. The Rapi-Dorr
clarifier is operated on the counter-flow principle. The juice is allowed to enter at the top Centre
and moves out towards the periphery where it is extracted at the point of lowest velocity at each
compartment. The separated mud is collected on the trays and is pushed by means of scrapers
until it falls to a thickening chamber where it is compacted before being withdrawn at the bottom
of each compartment.

From each compartment, clear juice enters the header from which the pipe takes it to the clear
juice tank. Similarly mud juice outlets from each compartment joins to the header pipe and
pumped to the mud mixer ready for filtration.

2.2.7. Filtration
The mud juice from the clarifier contains about 90% of clear juice which tells the presence of
high amount of sucrose and 10% of impurities. This is why it is so economical to employ
filtration technic to extract sucrose in the mud juice.

To enhance filtration process, the mud juice is pumped from the clarifier to the mud mixer where
bagacillo which is separated from final bagasse pneumatically is added to control the porosity of
the cake. Agitators are employed for proper mixing of the two in this mixer. The mixture is then
pumped to Rotary vacuum filter.

Working mechanism of vacuum filter:

The rotary vacuum filter consists of a rotating drum covered with perforated metal plates, which
dip into a trough containing the mud feed. As the drum rotates, suction generated by vacuum
pumps is applied continuously to the different segments, forming a thin cake on the filtering
surface where hot water (85 is poured on it to allow leaching process to take place. The cake
is removed by scrapers to a conveyor belt transporting it to the vehicle ready for hauling it to the
farms while the filtrate juice is pumped to mixed juice tank.

To carry out that mechanism, the vacuum filter possess three different zones, these are:

1) Zone of low vacuum (15-20kPa)

19
This is the zone that is found at the trough containing mud juice. Mud pick up and cake build up
occurs in this zone.

2) Zone of high vacuum (50-60kPa)

In this zone, hot water is poured on the rotating drum to dissolve sucrose facilitating leaching
process.

3) Zone of no vacuum

There is no vacuum in this zone for easy removal of filter cake by means of scraping.

20
 Mixed juice

MIXED JUICE SCALE

MIXED JUICE TANK

MIXED JUICE HEATERS

Lime

FLASHING TANK

Flocculent
Filtrate Mud
juice
MUD FILTER CLARIFIER

Filter cake
CLEAR JUICE TANK

CLEAR JUICE HEATER

clear juice to evaporators

Figure 5. The block diagram for clarification section

2.2.8. Evaporation
This is process that is carried out in the evaporator using exhaust steam or vapour to concentrate
sugar solution (clear juice) of brix 12-13% to get syrup of brix 65-70%. Evaporation is the prior
process to crystallization. Thus it is necessary to evaporate excess water in clear juice to form a

21
nearly saturated solution (syrup) which will be easier to boil it to the point of super saturation for
crystal formation during pan boiling.

Kagera Sugar factory has four effects where the fourth effect has two evaporators connected in
parallel in terms of vapour entrance. The evaporation station has a long tube evaporator
(Kestner) as the first effect and five short tube evaporators (Robert type). These evaporators are
arranged in series in terms of juice feeding where exhaust steam as the source of heat is only fed
to the Kestner, while the vapour produced from each effect is fed to the next effect as the source
of heat. This arrangement is called multiple effect evaporation.

Working mechanism of evaporators

These evaporators employs tube and shell heat exchangers mechanism where the juice is allowed
to enter the tubes and the steam (vapour) outside the tubes in the region called calandria. Thus
the steam will then condense by transferring its latent heat to the solution where the solution will
boil and drive off solvent (water). The evaporated product is collected together and leaves the
evaporator via the duct called downtake to the next effect. The vapour line is connected to the
next evaporator as well. To improve heat transfer coefficient, incondensable gas and condensates
are instantly removed. Above the vapour space, there is entrainment separator/poly baffles to
remove any juice droplets entrained in the vapour driven off the boiling juice or syrup.

Note: the fourth effect (the last two evaporators) operates under vacuum in order to lower the
boiling point of the sugar solution because the vapour reach to this effect at lower temperature.

22
 Clear juice

CLEAR JUICE TANK

CLEAR JUICE
HEATER Pan floor and
Exhaust steam Mixed juice heaters

1st EFFECT
condensate KESTNER

Mixed juice Vapour 2

heaters 2nd EFFECT
condensate

Vapour 3
3rd EFFECT
condensate

condensate
4A EFFECT

Evaporator vapour
condenser

4B EFFECT
condensate

Syrup

Figure 6. The block diagram for steam and vapour flow at the evaporator station

2.2.9. Crystallization
Crystallization takes place in two stages; these are

1) Crystallization by evaporation (pan boiling)

2) Crystallization by cooling

23
Pan boiling

Refers to the process of crystallization which is carried out in a single effect evaporators
designed for handling viscous solutions and known as vacuum pans. The vacuum pan is
therefore an evaporative crystallizer. To form sugar crystals the solution is heated to the point of
super saturation which is controlled and maintained by evaporating solvent (water) as solute
(sucrose) crystallizes out.

There are six vacuum pans at Kagera sugar factory all operating in a batch process mode. These
pans operates under reduced pressure (vacuum) of 72-73kPa so that the mixture can boil at low
temperature ranging 60-63 for C pans and 65-70 for A and B pans. This low temperature
prevent sucrose crystals from dissolving during heating.

Working principle

Syrup from the multiple effects is fed in the vacuum pans to 150HL and then heated up to the
super saturation point which tends behave like dynamic equilibrium system. It is at this point
which allows crystallization of sucrose to take place, thus seed materials (slurry/magma) is
instantly fed allowing migration of sucrose molecules from the supersaturated solution to the
introduced seed, generating sugar crystals. From there syrup will be timely added up to 340HL
of pan where it is assumed to be full ready to strike.

Striking the pan follows the procedures here below;

 Brixing up the pan

This involves shutting off the feed to the pan and allowing evaporation to continue. The super
saturation of mother liquor will increase and crystallization continues giving improved crystal
yield.

 When the brixing is complete, shut off steam to the calandria.

 Close up the vacuum system
 When the pan has reached atmospheric pressure, open the discharge door ready to send
the heated product called massecuite or mother liquor-the mixture of sugar crystals and
molasses to the crystallizers for further crystal growth.

Massecuites differs from one another according to the materials used to prepare it. These are;

24
 i) A massecuite

It is the mixture of A grade sugar crystals and A molasses. It is prepared using syrup where B
magma is used as seed material. Moreover melt (B and C magma after melting) is sometimes
mixed with syrup to enhance production. It takes about 2.5-3hours during pan boiling in order to
achieve the desired A sugar crystal size (0.65-1.0mm) and brix of 92.5-93 before pan striking.

ii) B massecuite

It is the mixture of B grade sugar crystals and B molasses. It is prepared from A molasses and
slurry. However, syrup can sometimes added in case of low purity A molasses. To achieve the
recommended size of B sugar crystal (0.35mm) and brix of 94-95, B massecuite takes about 4
hours during pan boiling.

iii) C massecuite

This is the mixture of C sugar crystals and C molasses (final molasses). It is prepared using A
and B molasses.

The procedures for C massecuite boiling are given below as an example of massecuite boiling;

i) First 150Hl of A molasses is introduced in the pan and then concentrated by heating to
super saturation
ii) 2000ml of slurry is added to start grain growth
iii) Then A molasses is added till the level of vacuum pan is 340Hl
iv) Cutting is done to reduce 220Hl of the solution to the vacuum seed tank
v) To the remaining 120Hl, B molasses is timely added up to 340Hl then the mixture is
further evaporated for crystal growth and when the required crystal size is achieved the
striking process is done to release the massecuite to the crystallizers.
vi) The 220Hl we cut before is brought and B molasses is added until 340Hl then 170Hl is
cut and reserved later.
vii) B molasses is added to the remaining 170Hl up to 340Hl then grains are grown and
finally released to the crystallizers
viii) The last 170Hl is brought to the pan and B molasses is added up to 340Hl then
crystals are grown. The massecuite is released to the crystallizers.

25
To achieve the required size of C sugar crystal of 0.25mm and brix of above 97, C massecuite
takes about 6 to 8 hours during pan boiling.

Crystallization by cooling

This takes place in the crystallizers by cooling the discharged massecuite from boiling pans. The
habit of maintaining super saturation state is also significant in this type of crystallization. The
cooling process takes place slowly allowing sucrose in the mother liquor to continue depositing
on sugar crystals for further crystal growth. To achieve this, each crystallizer contains agitators
responsible for stirring the massecuite to facilitate cooling and reasonable exhaustion of sucrose
in the mother liquor. There are 11 number of crystallizers at Kagera sugar factory where 4 of
them are called A crystallizer receiving A massecuite, 2 B crystallizers for B massecuite and
there are 5 C crystallizers for C massecuite.

To enhance exhaustion of sucrose, there is recommended residence time for which massecuites
shall principally stay in crystallizers. It is 6 hours for A massecuite, 48 hours for B massecuite
and 72 hours C massecuite. This is seldom maintained at this factory due to lack of enough
crystallizers for B massecuite and because of production reasons.

There are factors affecting the rate of crystallization, these are;

i) Purity of massecuite

Crystallization rate decreases as purity decreases.

ii) Degree of super saturation

Increase in super saturation increases the rate of attachment of sucrose molecules onto the
crystal.

iii) Viscosity of massecuite

A more viscous massecuite offers more resistance to the movement of sucrose as they migrate
towards the crystal.

iv) Temperature

26
Sucrose crystals grow faster at fairly higher temperature.

2.2.10. Centrifugation
This is the process of separating sugar crystals from its mother liquor. This is achieved by the
application of centrifugal force created in the machine called centrifugal. Therefore this machine
is basically a separator.

A centrifugal machine consists of a spindle with a perforated basket connected to it. The spindle
and basket are driven by an electric motor. A screen is inserted inside the basket, alongside its
inner circumference. Massecuite from the crystallizers is fed at the centre of basket. Now as the
basket with screen rotates at very high speed of about 2000rpm, the mother liquor (molasses) is
forced to pass through holes and goes on through perforations on the basket ready to leave the
machine via molasses outlet to it storage tanks. The screen keeps back sugar crystals.

Note; hot water of about 70 is added during operation to enhance complete separation.

There are two types of centrifugal machines at Kagera sugar factory, these are;

Batch centrifugal machine

In this machine, massecuite is fed and separation is fully achieved before the next feeding. It is
the machine for separating A sugar from its mother liquor. In this machine, a cake is formed
from which the molasses drains under the high centrifugal force. There are still remains a thin
layer of molasses around the crystals, thus a washing stage is incorporated where water and
steam are applied in the centrifugal basket to wash the molasses off the crystal. A molasses is
pumped to its storage tank, A sugar is released on the screw conveyor on the way to the rotary
drier to dry it as it is the only grade of sugar among the three which is saleable.

Continuous centrifugal machine

Inputs to and outputs from this machine, are continuously fed and discharged respectively. Both
B and C sugar are separated from their respective mother liquors in this type of centrifugal
machine. The crystal moves continuously up the sloping screen as the result of centrifugal force.
However, the crystal remains on the screen for a very short time of the order of a few seconds.
Water and steam are generally added instantly as the massecuite enters the machine.

27
From there, B molasses is pumped to its storage tank and C molasses (final molasses) is also
pumped to its temporary storage tank before being pumped to final molasses tanks. B and C
sugar from this machine are released to their respective magma mixers where water is added to
get B and C magma which are used as seeds during pan boiling and the rest respective magma
are pumped to the melter forming the so called melt used as syrup in vacuum pans.

Note; C massecuite pass through massecuite re-heater before being fed to the centrifugal
machine for heating up to 50 with the purpose of lowering its viscosity.

Syrup

B MAGMA TANK SYRUP TANK

C MAGMA TANK Slurry

B PANS A PANS C PANS

B CRYSTALLIZER A-CRYSTALLIZER C-CRYSTALLIZER

B CENTRIFUGE B molasses A-CENTRIFUGE C-CENTRIFUGE

A Sugar
MACHINE MACHINE MACHINE
Final
A molasses molasses

B SUGAR C SUGAR

B MAGMA C MAGMA

MELTER

Melt

Figure 7. The block diagram for sugar boiling house

28
 2.2.11. Drying
This is the process of removing moisture contained in sugar from the centrifugal machine. The
moisture content of sugar leaving the machine at Kagera sugar factory ranges from 0.2% to
0.5%. This amount of moisture is enough to cause deterioration of sugar if not reduced. The
factory uses horizontal rotary drier which reduces the moisture content up to the range of 0.12%-
0.15%. To achieve this, there are three different fans;

 Hot air fan- supplying hot dry air to the drier as it rotates to enhance even
distribution of heat. Thus the drier utilizes the principle of mass transfer.
 Rotor clone dust collector fan-this removes dust and moist air from the drier
during operation.
 Cold air fan-this supplies cold air to cool sugar when being discharged from the
drier.

Drying is done so as to meet the following advantages;

i) To prevent sugar from caking during storage

ii) Dry sugar is easier to handle
iii) The market also has requirements for moisture content.
iv) To prevent microbial activity

2.2.12. Packaging and Storage

From the drier, sugar is transported by a conveyor belt and bucket elevator to sugar bins. Then
sugar is released to the bagging point at which bags are subjected to the bag cramp ready for
feeding sugar. Sugar reach at this point via a weighing machine to measure the mass of sugar
according to the required size of sugar bags. The overall reason of taking measurement is for
material balance to determine the cane to sugar ratio. The factory pack sugar bags of different
sizes including 25kg and 50kg. When the bags are well packed, they are transported by a
conveyor belt to the sugar store before being transported by vehicles to the market.

29
 2.3. MAJOR UTILITIES
The major utilities to sugar industries, Kagera sugar limited being the factory under description
are water, steam, electricity and compressed air.
1) Water
Water is most important is any sugar industry. It is used as raw/treated cold or hot water
depending on the purpose.
At kagera sugar factory, water is applicable in the following areas as follows;
i) Mill house; as imbibition water for leaching purpose
ii) Boiler; treated water is used to generate steam
iii) Process house; water for washing/cleaning vessels and heating surfaces such as tubes of
evaporators and juice heaters.
iv) Condensers; raw water is used to cool vapours from evaporation and pan station to create
vacuum.
v) Cooling purposes; raw water is also used to cool moving parts of different machines such
as bearings.
The source of water at this factory is Kagera River from which water is pumped to the water
treatment plant for removing dissolved and suspended impurities before being distributed to
different areas to cater the requirements.
2) Electricity
Electrical power at Kagera sugar factory is mainly from three sources;
 Electrical energy from TANESCO
 Electrical energy generated by steam turbo alternators in power house and
 A standby generator which can produce up to 11kV.
The power obtained from these sources is used to run machines such as electric motors,
automatic temperature and pressure systems, laboratory equipments such as refractometer and
saccharimeter and workshop machines.
3) Steam
Steam is also important utility in sugar industries, steam is generated from boiler. There are two
water tube boilers at Kagera sugar factory. The superheated steam is of around 30 bar pressure
and 400 temperature.
Uses of steam
(i) To run steam turbines of cane preparation knives
(ii) To run steam turbines of roller mills at extraction plant
(iii)To generate electrical power by turbo alternators in power house
(iv) Exhaust steam for boiling in first effect evaporator (Kestner).

30
 4) Compressed Air
Compressed air at this factory is prepared by a rotary compressor of 7 bar pressure capacity
being driven by an electric motor of 15 hp. The compressed air is used to run all pneumatic
systems such as;
(i) To control damping valves such as fan dampers of boiler
(ii) To control turbine governors
(iii)To control chute levels during bagasse feeding to the roller mills
(iv) To operate bag pusher and bag cramps during sugar packaging

3.0. MAJOR EQUIPMENT

The chosen major equipment from this factory is evaporator.

3.1. Evaporator
3.1.1. Description of the equipment.
There are two types of evaporator at Kagera sugar factory, these are Kestner which is used as the
first effect evaporator (body1) and Robert type evaporators which are 4 in number acting as the
second, third, 4A and 4B effect evaporators that is body 2 to body 4B. These evaporators have
the following specifications;

Table 6. Different specifications of evaporators

Specifications Kestner (body1) Body 2 Body 3 Body 4A Body 4B

Tube material Brass Brass Brass Brass Brass
Number of tubes 3218 4256 4256 4256 4256
Length of tubes 6.36 2.5 2.0 2.0 1.5
(m)
Tube external 45 45 45 45 45
diameter (mm)
Tube thickness 1.626 1.626 1.626 1.626 1.626
(mm)
Total heating 2511 1350 875 650 650
surface areas ( )

31
The type of evaporator which will be described here is of Robert type.

3.1.2. Construction of Robert type evaporator

The following are the parts of the equipment and their respective functions;

a) Calandria

This section is connected to steam source. The steam is supplied in this section where by once
the steam temperature is higher than boiling point of the solution (clear juice) two things will
occur;

 The steam will condense and will transfer the latent heat to the solution.
 The solution will boil and drive off solvent (water).
b) Tube side- this is partially filled with a solution to be evaporated.
c) Deflector plate –this is the plate that ensures distribution of juice solution into
tubes and reduce flow of juice into laminar.
d) Down take-this is wide tube located at the centre of calandria. It collects
evaporated product.
e) Juice box-the juice enters at this section before reaching the deflector plate
f) Incondensable line-this is the pass that removes incondensable gases from both
the calandria and the body. These gases lowers heat transfer coefficient once
allowed to accumulate in the evaporator.
g) Condensate line-it is the pass that removes condensates from the calandria.
h) Vapour space-this is the space that lowers the velocity of vapour from the juice
solution for maximum extraction of energy (latent heat) when used in the next
evaporator/effect. By design, height of vapour space is equal to 2.5 times the
height of tubes.
i) Entrainment separator- these are baffles like structure that removes any juice
droplets entrained in the vapours driven off the boiling juice/syrup.
j) Level indicator-this shows up the juice level in the tubes during evaporation for
level control.
k) Pressure and temperature gauges-these indicates pressure and temperature of the
boiling solution/juice as well as exhaust steam or vapour.
l) Safety valves-they release pressure in case of excess pressure.
32
 m) Sight glasses-for observing the level of the boiling solution in the evaporator.

For effective operation of the evaporator, there are crucial parameters to be monitored during
evaporation, these are;

 Exhaust steam pressure and temperature. For example, pressure should at least be 85kPag
and temperature of 125-135 .
 Vacuum for the last vessel should be 15kPaa (-73kPag)

Others are like;

 Clear juice flow should be in such a way that the syrup from the last effect is in the range
of 65-70% brix.
 Condensate removal from the calandria
 Incondensable removal from the calandria and the body.
 Ensuring visibility of evaporation on the first sight glass.
 Juice level in the tubes;

The level of juice in the tubes has a great influence to heat transfer coefficient during
evaporation, thus it is necessary to control it to the optimum level.

 If the juice level is too low, the boiling juice cannot reach the top of the tubes. There will
then be no circulation of juice in the calandria.
 If the level is too high, the tubes will be drowned or fully submerged; there will then be
no climbing film.

Experiments were conducted and met the conclusion that the change in evaporation rate or in
coefficient of heat transfer is a function of the hydrostatic level of the juice in the calandria. This
gives a very definite maximum at the point where the juice level reaches 35% of the length of the
tube, measured from the bottom.

It may be considered that heat transmission is at a maximum for juice levels between 30 and
40% of the height of the tube. It is often stated simply that the optimum level to be maintained
corresponds to one-third of the height of tubes.

33
34
 Vapour
Man hole outlet
Entrainment separator or Poly baffles

Vpour
space

Incondensable gases
outlet
Man hole

tubes
Calandria

Calandria

Steam/vapour
inlet
Downtake

Condensate Deflector plate Condensate

outlet outlet

Juice inlet

Juice outlet

Figure 8. The Robert type evaporator cross section view

35
 3.2. Function of evaporator
The function of the equipment is to concentrate sugar solution (clear juice) by removing excess
water using exhaust steam or vapour as the source of heat.

Working principle of Robert type evaporator

The equipment employs tube and shell heat exchangers mechanism where the juice is allowed to
enter the tubes and the steam (vapour) outside the tubes in the region called shell or calandria.
Thus the steam will then condense by transferring its latent heat to the solution where the
solution will boil and drive off solvent (water). The evaporated product is collected together after
rising/climbing film mechanism in the tubes and leaves the evaporator via the duct called
downtake to the next effect. The vapour line is connected to the next evaporator as well. To
improve heat transfer coefficient, incondensable gas and condensates are instantly removed.
Above the vapour space, there is entrainment separator/poly baffles to remove any juice droplets
entrained in the vapour driven off the boiling juice or syrup.

The fundamental heat transfer equation which describes how heat is transferred across the
heating surface (tubes) is:

Q = U.A.∆T

Where, Q is the heat transferred in W

U is the heat transfer coefficient in W/m2K

A is the heating surface area in m2

∆T is the temperature driving force in K.

∆T is the difference between the saturated temperature of the steam (vapour) in the calandria and
boiling temperature of the solution. This formula clearly shows how the heat transfer coefficient,
U, and the heating surface area, A, are closely linked. For example, a 10% drop in heat transfer
coefficient is directly equivalent to a 10% loss of heating surface area.

Thus, the evaporator tubes should be kept clean of scales so as to maintain heat transfer
coefficient.

36
 3.3. Reasons for maintenance
Maintenance for the equipment is very important because of the following reasons;

i) To increase heat transfer coefficient through mechanical and chemical cleaning.

ii) To increase heating surface area of the equipment through re-tubing of the
plugged/blinded tubes.

3.4. Sequence in fault diagnosis

The fault diagnosis or unscheduled maintenance is carried out due to evaporator mal-
performance. The following investigations are done in case of mal performance;

 The steam temperature and pressure are checked to see whether they are either below or
above the set point, if there is any deviation, resetting the parameters is done.
 The vacuum from the last effect is checked and if it is found to deviate from the range of
72-74kPag, the following minor diagnosis is handled;
 The vacuum pump performance is checked
 Checking for leakage on the vapour line and around the evaporator, e.g. through
man holes
 The quality and system of injection water to condenser is checked
 Checking tube cleanliness
 Checking for incondensable gas venting
 Checking for condensate drainage by investigating condensate pump status/performance.
 Checking the juice level
 Testing sugar traces in condensate, and if they are found, then two things are
investigated,
 Tube leakage and
 Entrainment separators performance

3.5. Sequence in shutdown and check-ups

For scheduled maintenance, the equipment is chemically and mechanically cleaned after every
10 weeks and 3 weeks respectively. The essence of chemical cleaning is to remove scales
developed in the evaporator tubes by the use of caustic soda (NaOH) while raw water is used for

37
mechanical cleaning by pumping water into the tubes then brushes/cutters or scrapers are used to
scrap off the accumulated impurities resulted from fouling inside the tubes.

Steps for chemical cleaning:

i) Caustic soda is pump from its preparation tank to the tubes of evaporator.
ii) Boiling of caustic soda in the tubes to soften the scales for 8 hours.
iii) Caustic soda drain back.
iv) Rinsing the evaporator. Water is used
v) Evaporator scraping and fixing blinds and
vi) Finally, evaporator inspection, boxing and cleaning U-legs as well as syrup strainers.

Chemical cleaning takes 32 hours while 16 hours for mechanical cleaning.

There are checkups that are done on the equipment involves;

 Leaking tubes. This is done through „hydro testing‟ where water is pumped into the
calandria up to 2 bar.
 Tube cleanliness. This is checked after chemical and mechanical cleaning.

The scales developed in the evaporator tubes originates from various sources as summarized
below;

Table 7. Summary of major scale components

COMPOUND FOUND IN SCALE SOURCE

Silica Raw water, cane. Fine mud/silt
Magnesium oxide Lime
Amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) Lime and phosphate in cane, or added
phosphate
Hydroxyl apatite (HAP) Lime and phosphate in cane, or added
phosphate
Calcium oxalate monohydrate Ca from lime, oxalate may be from cane or
degraded sugar
Calcium oxalate dihydrate Ca from lime, oxalate may be from cane or
degraded sugar
Organic matters Degraded sugar, waxes in cane

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 3.6. Ordering and Repairing of replacement parts
Repairing of the equipment mainly involves the replacement of leaking tubes. Nowadays, the
tubes used for replacement are those of stainless steel at this factory. These tubes are ordered
outside the country where the company is recently ordering the tubes from India and South
Africa. The ordered tubes arrives at the factory after 3 months, thus the stock of not less than 50
tubes is maintained.

Steps involved in replacement of tubes are;

i) Calandria hydro test

ii) Leaking tubes identification
iii) Removing and re-tubing the leaking tube(s)
iv) Hydro test after re-tubing.

3.7. Commissioning of the maintenance equipment

When commissioning the maintenance equipment, hydro test of the calandria is handled to
ensure that there is no any tube leakage for proper functioning of the equipment.

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 3.8. Conclusion and Recommendations
Conclusion:
The effective operation of the evaporator mostly depends on the heat transfer coefficient of the
tubes. The presence of impurities resulted from fouling of tubes lowers the heat transfer
coefficient. Moreover, accumulation of both condensates and incondensable gases in the shell
(calandria) has a greater impact on lowering heat transfer.

However, the equipment will perfectly work if the working parameters such as temperature,
pressure, juice level and juice flow rate will be controlled to its optimum points.

Recommendations:

The following recommendations are made with respect to the drawn conclusion;

 The schedule for mechanical cleaning of the equipment should be shortened to at most
after every 2 weeks instead of 3 weeks. This is in accordance to the claims of operators
that, the equipment performs poorly in terms juice heating in the third week.
 The line for removing both condensates and incondensable gases should regularly be
checked to ensure the constant removal so as to maintain heat transfer coefficient.
 Measurements and recording of the evaporator parameters while it is working at optimum
conditions will enable problems to be located even quicker.

4.0. REFERENCES

Charles.G.M.Perk. (1973, ). , The Manufacture Of Sugar From Sugar Cane. CGM Perk.

Cullen, R. (2003). Cane Preparation And Milling Course. Sourth Africa.

E.Hugot. (1986). Handbook Of Cane Sugar Engineering Third Edition. Elsevier Science
Publishers, New York .

Rein, P. (2007). Cane Sugar Engineering. Berlin: Verlag Dr, Albert Bartens KG.

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