Microbial sugar losses in cane mills are typically in order 0.1 to 1 %. Much of these losses could be saved by the use of effective biocide in conjunction with good housekeeping.
The colouring matter in sugar cane juice is an undesirable impurity due to its adverse effects on crystallization process and finished sugar products. The organic non sugars are colouring matters in sugarcane and raw juice.
Cationic polymers can be used to bind and facilitate precipitation of colour bodies from juice, syrup & refinery melt liquor by way of the negatively charged colour bodies being attracted to the positively charged polymer hence forming an insoluble precipitate that can be easily removed from the juice, syrup & refinery melt.
Evaporator fouling or scaling results from the decreasing solubility of juice impurities as the juice concentration increases. The deposits formed retard heat transfer, reducing the efficiency of the evaporator. The result is that more energy is required to concentrate the juice and / or, the time required to concentrate the juice must be extended. This slowing down of the evaporation process affects total factory operations, and reduces production efficiencies.
Foam in the syrup tank and syrup clarification in the sugar factories is highly complicated problem. Foam is formed due to surface active substances such as saponins, proteins or peptides present in it. And even when the brix is low excess foam is generated. To combat the problem of foaming, the use of an antifoaming of fatty acids is advisable. The excessive foaming retards the floatation of scum as it is lighter than the scum. It is also an essential part to control the abnormal level of foam to find out the high productivity.
Molasses exhaustion is very important in crystallization process. The rate of growth of sugar crystals in a massecuite during boiling and crystallization process depends directly on the degree of super-saturation of the mother liquor surrounding the crystals. At high degree of super-saturation, instead of increase in the rate of crystallization, formation of ‘false grain’ occurs. This is due to concentration of non-sugars which affect the solubility of sugar and increase VISCOSITY when such massecuite is used. The final molasses purity becomes very high. It is therefore an important consideration to keep the viscosity low throughout the pan boiling.
Chemical cleaning program based on the nature/type of scale present in the evaporator body. If the scale tendency is more generally, we have to increase the dosage or concentration of sodium hydroxide but there are many draw backs. The solubility of Na2C03 decreases with increasing NaOH concentration and therefore sodium carbonate cannot be used at high concentrations.