KYAMBOGO UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF SCIENCE

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN CHEMICAL AND PROCESS ENGINEERING

BWENDERO DAIRY FARM LIMITED

STUDENT’S NAME: DDAMULIRA WILSON

REGISTRATION NUMBER: 18/U/CHE/7693/PE

YEAR OF STUDY : THIRD YEAR

SUPERVISED BY: MR. AMOS MUGABE

AN INDUSTRIAL TRAININING REPORT SUBMITED TO FACULTY OF SCIENCE,

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE
REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF BACHELOR OF
SCIENCE IN CHEMICAL AND PROCESS ENGINEERING OF KYAMBOGO
UNIVERSITY

PERIOD OF TRAINING: 10TH APRIL TO 22ND MAY 2022.

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DECLARATION.
I DDAMULIRA WILSON registration number 18/U/CHE/7693/PE do declare that the contents
of this report have been researched and complied by me and this report has never been presented
to any institution of higher learning for any award.

Signature: …………………………………….

Date……………………………………….

Contact: 0703963298 or 0788801034

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APPROVAL.
This is to certify that this Industrial Training Report submitted by DDAMULIRA WILSON to
the department of Chemistry, Kyambogo University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the award of the Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering is correct to the best of our
knowledge. The training was carried out under special supervision and within the time frame
prescribed by the syllabus.

Approved by:

MR. ORONE JOSEPH (Internal supervisor)

Signed……………………………………

Date……………………………………….

MR. BITUURA ALBERT (Human Resource Manager)

Signed……………………………………

Date………………………………………

MR.AMOS MUGABE (University supervisor)

Signed………………………………

Date……………………………….

DEDICATION.
I would like to dedicate this report to my parents Mrs. NALWADDA ESTHER and
Mr.BUYONDO ALOYZIUS for the enormous love and support they have given me during the
training. I would like to dedicate it to my friends:ALONYO VIVIAN,CHEBET

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MICHAEL,OSIRE SILVER,OKOYA SENTULYO MARVIN for the knowledge and guidance,
support and love through the training period.

I also dedicate it to my internal supervisor Mr. ORONE JOSEPH in appreciation for his endless
correction of my mistakes while training in BWENDERO DAIRY FARM and my university
supervisor MR. AMOS MUGABE for the great advice.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to acknowledge GOD for his grace and favor upon me while in the training and
through the entire life.

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A great thanks goes to the entire sugar processing department who were endlessly welcoming
and selfless in their knowledge. I would like to thank Mr. Orone Joseph, the processing manager,
Mr. kabale Godfrey, Mr kiza joseph others who helped me learn outside school

I would like to acknowledge the Laboratory analysis department more clearly the lab chemists
that spared their time to explain more about the laboratory section of the factory, particularly,
Mr. Mujuni Junior, Mr. peter, Mr. Eriab.

I would also acknowledge the safety manager Mr kareem Ajuma Amooti who greatly welcomed
me in the industry and greatly emphasized a lot on my safety concerning the factory. His advice
was greatly because there were no accidents that occurred to me in the factory arising from
safety issues.

Table of Contents
DECLARATION..............................................................................................................................................ii
APPROVAL...................................................................................................................................................iii
DEDICATION................................................................................................................................................iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT..................................................................................................................................v

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ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................................ix
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................................1
1.1 Location of the company.............................................................................................................1
1.2 Mission........................................................................................................................................1
1.3 Background of the company........................................................................................................1
1.4 Aims and objectives of industrial training...................................................................................2
CHAPTER TWO: CANE HANDLING, PREPARATION, MILLING AND PROCESS...............................................3
Sugarcane................................................................................................................................................3
2.1 Composition of sugar cane...........................................................................................................3
2.2 Cane handling..............................................................................................................................4
2.3 Harvesting....................................................................................................................................4
2.4 Transportation..............................................................................................................................4
2.5 Cane weighment..........................................................................................................................4
Reasons for weighing cane......................................................................................................................5
2.6 Cane preparation..........................................................................................................................5
2.7 Cane feeding................................................................................................................................5
2.8 Design of tables...........................................................................................................................6
2.9 The cane carriers..........................................................................................................................6
2.10 The cane carrier...........................................................................................................................7
Factors affecting juice extraction basing on the cane preparation process...............................................7
2.11 Mill house....................................................................................................................................8
2.12 Mill equation.............................................................................................................................10
2.13 Juice handling............................................................................................................................10
Primary heating.....................................................................................................................................10
2.14 Design of the juice heaters.........................................................................................................11
Juice treatment.......................................................................................................................................12
2.15 Specifications of the treated juice tank......................................................................................13
Specifications of the treated juice pump............................................................................................13
2.16 Reasons for liming.....................................................................................................................14
Secondary heating.................................................................................................................................15
Reasons for secondary heating..............................................................................................................15
2.17 Clarification...............................................................................................................................15

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 2.17.1 Preparation of flocculant solution......................................................................................16
2.17.2 The major components of the clarifier...............................................................................16
2.17.3 Importance of clarification.................................................................................................17
2.17.4 Filtration................................................................................................................................18
2.18 The Rotary Drum Vacuum filters..............................................................................................19
2.19 CLEAR JUICE HEATING........................................................................................................21
2.20 EVAPORATION.......................................................................................................................22
Evaporators............................................................................................................................................22
2.20.1 Learning areas at the evaporator........................................................................................26
2.20.2 Sulphitation of the syrup....................................................................................................26
2.20.3 The Sulphur burner............................................................................................................27
2.20.4 The sulphitor......................................................................................................................28
2.21 PAN BOILIING........................................................................................................................28
Methods of boiling................................................................................................................................30
Seeding method.................................................................................................................................30
Waiting method.................................................................................................................................30
Shocking the pan or slurry method....................................................................................................30
A Pan boiling.........................................................................................................................................32
B Pan boiling.........................................................................................................................................32
C-pan boiling.........................................................................................................................................33
2.23 Centrifugation............................................................................................................................34
2.23.1 Centrifugal Machines........................................................................................................34
2.24 Sugar drying, bagging and storage.............................................................................................38
2.24.1 Storage of the sugar...........................................................................................................38
CHAPTER THREE: STEAM GENERATION AND POWER HOUSE....................................................................39
3.1 Boiler auxiliaries....................................................................................................................40
3.2 Design specifications of the boilers at SCOUL......................................................................41
3.3 Circulation.............................................................................................................................41
3.4 Water level control.................................................................................................................41
3.5 Water analysis........................................................................................................................41
3.6 Power House..............................................................................................................................42
3.6.1 The design of a turbine......................................................................................................42

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CHAPTER FOUR: THE EFFLUENT TREATMENT PLANT OF THE SUGAR FACTORY........................................43
4.1 Importance of effluent treatment................................................................................................43
Waste water treatment process..............................................................................................................43
4.1.1 Oil separation.....................................................................................................................43
4.1.2 Screening...........................................................................................................................43
4.1.3 Grit chambers.....................................................................................................................44
4.1.4 Equalization lagoon...........................................................................................................44
4.1.5 The neutralization pond.....................................................................................................44
Aerobic lagoon..................................................................................................................................44
CHAPTER FIVE: QUALITY ASSURANCE.......................................................................................45
5.1 Terms used in quality assurance................................................................................................45
5.2 Analysis in the laboratory..........................................................................................................45
5.2.1 Routine analysis.................................................................................................................46
5.2.2 Special analysis..................................................................................................................46
5.2.3 Types of juice analyzed in the lab..........................................................................................46
5.3 The spectrophotometer..............................................................................................................46
5.3.1 Mode of operation..............................................................................................................46
Methods used to determine the moisture content of a material..............................................................47
5.4 The moisture analyzer................................................................................................................47
5.4.1 Mode of operation of the moisture analyzer.......................................................................47
The Eynon and Lane method for determining reducing sugars in a given sample.................................48
2.Determination of sugar colour............................................................................................................51
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................................53
RECOMMENDATIONS................................................................................................................................53
REFRENCES................................................................................................................................................54

ABSTRACT.

This report contains an overview of Bwendero dairy farm with the location and background of
the company.

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It then goes ahead to talk about the main and only raw material for the factory which is
sugarcane and its chemical composition.

It also contains the treatment of the sugar cane as it gets into the factory, how juice is extracted
from it, how the juice extracted is the boiled to how it is crystallized to get the final product
sugar.

The report also explains how Bwendero Dairy Farm generates its own electricity through the
bagasse to run the machines in the industry.

It also contains the experiments carried out in the lab to maintain the quality of the sugar
produced throughout each stage in the industry and this is called Quality Assurance

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Location of the company.
Bwendero Dairy Farm Limited is located 10km from Hoima Butiaba road in western Uganda.
The factory is approximately 1.5 km off the main road of Hoima kigorobya road.

1.2 Mission
‘To produce the best quality sugar in Uganda that satisfies our consumers and provides fair
return on the capital employed.’’

1.3 Background of the company

Bwendero dairy farm started in 2018 by a business man by the names of john Magara

Presently BDF comprises of agricultural land of over 11,000 hectares, a sugar plant, a distillery
and carbon dioxide plant. In addition to sugarcane produced in the estates, BDF also buys
sugarcane from out growers. The sugarcanes are processed in the factory to produce sugar and
molasses (bi-product). Molasses is further processed in the distillery to produce Extra Neutral
Alcohol(ENA) and Technical Alcohol(TA). The raw carbon dioxide gas produced from
fermentation of molasses is sent to carbon dioxide plant for purification.

A strong team of managers under the Chief Executive runs the company. Currently, BDF
produces light brown and brown sugar that meets the East African sugar standard (EAS 749).
The target market being the whole of East Africa including neighboring countries. Sugar is
distributed through whole salers who in turn sell to retailers and retailers to consumers.

The competitors on the market are Kakira Sugar Works (1985), Kinyara Sugar Works Ltd,
Mayuge Sugar Ltd, Kaliro Sugar Ltd, GM Sugar Ltd, Ssezibwa Sugar Ltd and imported sugar.

Safety is considered first at this company. The company provides heavy leather gloves, long-
sleeved overalls, welding shields, welding tongs, over-coats, helmets, safety belts while working
at heights and all workers in the factory must buy and wear safety or industrial shoes.
Supervisors are very strict at workers to ensure every worker puts on his/her safety shoes and
helmet.

1.4 Aims and objectives of industrial training.

Enables students to get a hands-on on the theory taught in class.

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Exposes students to the working ethics and the worker environment for instances team work,
discipline, code of conduct management skills, safety rules among others.

It enables students to acquire practical skills in the course of industrial training.

Training enables students through experiences shared with engineers, chemists during the
training periods to plan of what projects to come up with for research.

CHAPTER TWO: CANE HANDLING, PREPARATION, MILLING AND PROCESS

This chapter gives a detailed view of sugarcane and how sugar cane is handled and prepared for
juice extraction and it also covers the milling process and all process leading the production of
sugar up to its storage.

Sugarcane
At Bwendero Dairy Farm(BDF), Sugarcane is a raw material from which sucrose(sugar) is
extracted

Sugarcane is a perennial subtropical and tropical crop that prefers lots of sunshine and water but
its roots should not be water logged. The botanical name of sugar cane is Sacchrum spontaneum
(wild cane). Sucrose (Saccharose, Cane Sugar, Beet Sugar) is a carbohydrate of the brutto
formula C12H22O11 it is a disaccharide, consisting of two monosacchridic components: D- glucose
and D – fructose. In plants, the carbohydrates (sugars, starch and cellulose) are formed in a
process known as “photosynthetic assimilation process” The process is catalyzed by the
chlorophyll. The carbon dioxide taken from the air is equivalent to the oxygen given to the air. It
seems that first phosphoglyceric acids, triose phosphates, and hexose phosphates are formed, and
that the sucrose is the first free carbohydrate in the plant, formed prior to the free glucose and
fructose and The formation takes place in the green parts of the plants, but sucrose is found also
in stalks, roots, fruits. Sucrose by far the most widespread, frequently the most abundant, sugar

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present in the sap of plants. More than 17 percent of sucrose are contained in the sap of Sugar
Cane. Leafy tops of sugarcane contain higher percentage of reducing sugars and a lower
percentage of recoverable sucrose except when ripened under ideal conditions. Sucrose in steams
increases up to maturity and is usually highest at the base. Sugar is a non-reducing disaccharide.
The average maturity time for can is 16 – 18 months at an average purity of 84% the different
varieties of sugar cane red grown in SCOUL are specifically CO945 (very high sugar content
and resistant to drought), CO617 and CO421.

2.1 Composition of sugar cane

Sucrose comprises of sucrose, water, reducing sugars, glucose and fructose, fats, wax,
phosphates and nitrogenous bodies.

The different processes involved in production of sugar from sugar cane and handling the
produced sugar respectively at BDF are the following;

Cane handling, cane preparation, milling, juice handling, juice treatment, clarification, filtration,
evaporation, sulphitation, pan boiling, crystallization, centrifugation, drying, bagging and
storage.

2.2 Cane handling

Cane handling includes harvesting of the sugarcane, loading, transportation, weighing, and
offloading (at the cane yard).

2.3 Harvesting
Harvesting of sugar cane is done manually by using special knives known as machetes.

The sugarcane is cut from the ground level(bottom) and the last internode (top). Trash and
extraneous matter are removed and the cut cane is collected, tied into bundles manually and
loaded to the trucks and lorries manually or mechanically by using bucket loaders.

2.4 Transportation
BDF uses a system of transport known as Motor Cane Transport (MCT) . The allowed specific
transport time is given below.

Burnt cane: 36 hours

Fresh green cane: 48 hours.

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2.5 Cane weighment
This is done at the weigh bridge. The weigh bridge computer system, printers and the weighing
scale are found at this section. The most common item whose weight is noted at the weigh bridge
is the sugar cane from both estate plantations and out growers. To ensure that the cane supplied
is of good quality, inspectors move around the cane yard checking on the maturity, freshness of
cane and the amount of trash on the cane.

When the bins reach the marshalling yards, consignment notes are collected and the details are
entered into the weigh bridge computer system. When the bin reaches the tippler, it is weighed,
tipped into the hopper below, then weighed again when empty. The difference between the gross
weight and the tare weight is the net weight of the cane which is allocated to a particular grower
by the computer system.

Reasons for weighing cane

 It provides statistical information regarding yield per hectare per field and performance of
different varieties of cane.
 It helps in payment of farmers and planters for the sugar products from their cane.
 It helps in calculating the bi- products and final products during processing.
 It helps in production efficiency maintenance.
 To analyze transport statistics through determination of tones per kilometer costs of the
vehicles.

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2.6 Cane preparation
After weighing the cane, it is temporarily stored (kept) at the cane yard. Here, the sugar cane is
received and offloaded from the trucks. The devices used for unloading and feeding the cane
include, hydraulic off loaders, the gantry crane mechanical off loader sling bars and bucket
loaders. There are two hydraulic off loaders and one mechanical off loader. The lorries are either
unloaded on to a pile by using a crane or they are self-discharging. the cranes such as the gantry
crane and the sling bar cranes are usually used for unloading. The cranes use hydraulic pressure
to lift one end of the metallic baffles of the truck and pour the cane on to the feeder table. The
height of the sling bar varies from 1 to 14metes and its capacity is 8 to 15 tones. The gantry
crane is suitable to feed cane which has been stocked in bulk and its capacity is 5 tons of cane.

The mechanical off loader is static and uses both hydraulic and mechanical energy to offload a
non-tipping vehicle (not self-discharging) whose cane are temporarily stored on the ground. The
bucket loader a moving vehicle that feeds sugarcane straight away onto feeder table.

Time is managed between harvest and crushing to ensure minimum detoriation of the sugar.

2.7 Cane feeding

Cane feeding at BDF is done by the gantry crane, sling bar cranes and bucket loaders which
deposit the cane on the feeder table and keep up the supply to it as it discharges.

The feeder table comprises of devices kickers, that help to level the amount of cane on the table,
the cane carrier, knives, motors and gear boxes. There is one set of feeder table at which all
have kickers to ensure that canes are leveled on feeder table to prevent choking of canes. The
table is inclined, wide and short and have a variable speed drive. The cane from the feeder is
released into the carrier by means of a motor whose speed is controlled by an attendant in the
cane yard.

2.8 Design of tables

They have inclination angles varying from horizontal to 35 degrees with installation of a drag
like chain with steel slat bars (speed 0.2 to 0.35m/sec) to help in automatic recovery of cane
spillage hence little maintenance is required on these tables.

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The table has a kicker which consists of shaft fitted with arms arranged in helix along its length.
The kicker has a direction of rotation opposite to that of carrier to ensure regular and uniform
quantities of cane are delivered to the cane carrier.

What drives the cane tables?

An Electric motor as a prime mover, that drives a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic motor. The
operator controls the speed of the hydraulic motor

2.9 The cane carriers

There are three cane carriers that is A, B1, B2. The feeder tables 1,2,3,4 are established along A,
along B1, there is a fibrizor that has hammers which aid in hammering sugarcanes into prepared
cane. Along B2, calcium hypochlorite is added on the fiber after the fibrizor to reduce on the
microbial activity. Cane carrier A carries unprepared cane, B1 carries semi prepared cane and B2
carries prepared cane.

The cane has to be transported from yard level to a height sufficient to ensure effective feeding
of the first mill. There are three sections; the horizontal, inclined (between 15 to 22 degrees to
prevent cane slipping on the conveyor and head which delivers cane to the first mill.

The width of the cane carrier depends on the length of the mill rollers and is generally made the
same as that of the mill.

The speed of the main cane carrier is related to the peripheral speed of the mill. To avoid chokes
at the knives, the speed of the carrier is automatically reduced when the knives are overloaded.

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Fiberizer

2.10 The cane carrier

Cane preparation starts from the cane carriers. The cutters along the cane carriers chop the cane
in to pieces and also level the cane bed on the carrier. The cane is then taken to the fiberizer
which reduces the cane into fibrous material (shredded cane) and ruptures the juice cells. The
shredded cane is then fed into the mill for crushing.

Cane preparation is important in achieving higher crushing rate with improved pol extraction in
minimum power consumption

Factors affecting juice extraction basing on the cane preparation process

 Preparative index. This is an analysis done on the prepared cane sampled on the conveyor
belt after the fibrizor but before it enters the mill for crushing.
 The quality of cane; some can have got high values of fiber percent cane while others
have got low values of fiber percent cane. A high fiber content means that less juice will
be extracted.

At the end of a successful cane preparation process, the following are achieved:

 Better feeding to the mills.

 Crushing rate capacity is boosted.
 Less power consumed by mills.

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  Better extraction results.

2.11 Mill house

This is where juice is extracted from prepared cane. At BDF, a four mill tandem is fed by
intermediate carriers is used. This consists of four rollers namely; the feed roller, top roller
discharge roller and the underfeed roller. The rollers have a shaft with grooves that ensures
proper extraction of juice (facilitate drainage of juice. The four different rollers have the
following functions.

 The feed roller ensures proper feeding of the prepared cane for juice extraction.
 The underfeed roller supports the feed roller by preventing the bagasse from falling.
 The discharge roller ensures proper discharge of bagasse from one mill to the next.
 the top roller enables the revolution of the remaining rollers.

Other equipment or devices found in the mill house include;

 motors and gear boxes which drive the mill

 coupling and bearings; connect the motor to the top roller.
 scraper which removes the bagasse from the grooves of the roller, and scraper arm which
holds all the scrappers in position.
 Trash plate; collects and directs the extract juice to the collection area.
 Head stalk; where rollers are placed.
 Hydraulic cap which maintains and regulates the pressure independent of the lift of the
rollers. It compacts the rollers to get enough extraction. Each mill has two hydraulic caps.
pumps. Centrifugal or impeller pumps are used.

The juice extracted by mill the first mill is called and it is collected and directed into the primary
juice tank. The primary juice determines primary extraction.

Biocides or chemocides are added to primary juice.

Juice extraction takes place at pressure points between the feed roller and the top roller and
another between the top roller and the discharge roller.

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Below the mill is a trash plate which collects and directs the extracted juice to the collection area.
Between the three major rollers (feed, top and discharge rollers) is a trash plate which cleans the
feed roller and prevents cane from falling off.

 Roller pinions; These are the pinions (sometimes called "crown wheel") fixed on the end
of the roller shafts, which permit the two lower rollers to be driven by the top roller. They
may have from 14 to 21 teeth. The smaller their number, the larger and longer are the
teeth, and the greater the range of settings for which a practicable engagement of the teeth
can be obtained when the rollers become worn. The Donnelly chute allows bagasse to be
forced into the

mill under its own weight in conjunction with the feeder rollers.

primary juice is pumped to the rotary screen to separate bagasse from the juice and the resultant
bagasse free juice flows to the mixed juice tank. The residual bagasse still contains sucrose and
therefore it is taken to mill number 2 by means of inter rake carrier and the same juice extraction
process goes on as in mill number 1.the juice extracted here is also collected in a tank similar to
the at mill number 1 and also screened and directed to the mixed juice tank. The residual bagasse
is taken to mill number 3 and ins juice is collected in a tank similar to the one at the previous

9
mills. Imbibition water at a temperature ranging from 65 – 70 oC but most preferably 66oC is
added to the bagasse leaving mill number 3 to improve on sucrose extraction. The juice from
mill number 3 is recycled back to bagasse leaving mill number 1 and the bagasse from this mill
is carried to mill number 4. The juice from mill number 4 is first collected in a tank and then
recycled back to mix with the bagasse leaving mill number 2. The bagasse from this last mill is
elevated for distribution to the boiler furnaces. It is picked up by a bagasse elevator for
distribution into a horizontal conveyor and taken to the bagasse yard for storage.

Centrifugal pumps are used because they handle a large volume of low viscosity fluids in a low
pressure environment.

2.12 Mill equation

Prepared cane + imbibition water = juice + bagasse

Juice handling and treatment

2.13 Juice handling.

Raw juice (mixed juice) from the mixed juice tank at about 40oC and with a ph between 5.5 and
5.6 is pumped into the vapor line juice heater (VLJH) where it is preheated to 50 oC. this raw
juice now in the VLJH is heated using vapors generated from the last body of the quadruple
effect evaporators. After raising of temperature, juice is pumped to primary heaters that heat the
juice between 70-75 oC using exhaust steam or vapors from vapor cell. There are two VLJHs that
are used one at a time while the other is left for maintenance.

There is a jet type condenser near the VLJH which serves the purpose of getting rid of the non-
condensable gasses. This condenser also creates the vacuum required by the evaporators.
Vacuum is produced by condensation of vapor by water from the cooling ponds.

Primary heating
There is a pair of primary heaters also called raw juice heaters(RJH) used one at a time. Here, the
raw juice from the VLJH at 50oC is heated to attain temperatures between 70 and 75oC. This
heating destroys microorganisms and enzymes that would lead to loss of sucrose by micro
biological activity. juice contains non-sugars like proteins and coagulation of these particles will
only occur as a result of heat hence will aid in clarification. This heating also increases the rate

10
of reaction in the reaction vessel, increases the solubility of sucrose in the impure solution, and
enhances the ph.

2.14 Design of the juice heaters.

All the heaters in BDF sugar factory boiling house are the shell and tube heat exchangers.

A heater consists of tubes of height 4m and 35mm diameter. The primary heaters have
11compartments down and 12 compartments up where the inlet and outlet is situated. Each
compartment has 52 tubes and juice moves from up to down from one compartment to another
and by the time it leaves the last compartment, it has attained the required temperature.

The primary heaters use exhaust steam from the turbine for their operations. The exhaust steam
enters the vessel on the steam side where it swirls around the tubes and condenses on the cooler
surface of the tubes and releases heat to the juice. Steam enters the tubes in the calandria, loses
its heat to the tubes and condenses. The condensates are removed and are collected in the
condensate receiving tanks to avoid hammering which can cause damage to the tubes.

Glass wool (lagging) is the put around the heaters to prevent heat loss to the surrounding and
gaskets are placed on the covers of the heaters to prevent heat loss by conduction.

Vents, which remove non-condensable gases such as ammonia which would form films of air
around the tubes to reduce heat transfer, are provided.

11
Juice treatment
the raw juice from primary heaters then moves to the reaction vessel (a displacement reactor)
through a pipeline system of stainless steel. Before the juice enters the reactor, it first enters the
tower of lime which is directly connected to the reactor at the bottom. In the tower of lime, there
are plates which increase the turbulence as the juice mixes with the milk of lime (M.O.L). The
milk of lime and later phosphoric acid are the reactants added as reactants for charge balance.
The lime helps to increase the ph of the juice from 5.6 to between 7.2 and 7.8. the phosphoric
acid is added to ensure faster reaction. Since juice itself contains some phosphates, the
phosphates from the acid supplement the already existing phosphates. Lime (food grade) which
is calcium oxide is a universal defecant in sugar manufacture and therefore the treatment of juice
with lime is called defecation. The calcium hydroxide is supplied by Tororo cement with about
60% calcium oxide and is mixed in water and made available for use as M.O.L.The milk of lime
is prepared in the lime preparation tank by adding 50 bags of lime to 3000 liters of water. The
M.O.L the overflows to the service tank from which it is pumped to the receiver above the
reaction vessel. The receiver tank is part of the lime proportioning unit which is connected to the
tower of lime and it is responsible for the proportional addition of lime to the raw juice entering
the tower of lime. The concentration of the calcium hydroxide solution is between 70 to
72degrees Baume.

CaO + H2O Ca(OH)2

3Ca(OH)2 + 2H3PO4 Ca3(PO4)2 + 6H2O

The phosphate ions react with the calcium ions in lime to form the calcium triphosphate complex
as shown below.

Ca2+ + PO 3−¿ 4 [Ca3(PO4)2]-

the reaction vessel has the following specifications; a height of 5.7m and a diameter of 3060mm and it is

designed to have 20% of its volume free of the fluid while in operation.

12
it has an agitator driven by a motor which ensures uniform distribution of the components in the fluid and

facilitates reaction. though the juice comes with a temperature of 70Oc, it reaches the reaction vessel when its

temperature has dropped to 65OC. the retention time of the juice in the reaction vessel is 9.206 minutes.

2.15 Specifications of the treated juice tank.

It has a capacity of 20m 3 and has a conical base. It is designed to hold a volume of fluid of 60%
of that held by the reaction vessel.

Specifications of the treated juice pump

It is designed to have a Net Positive Suction Head between 200 and 300m. and head of 300m3

Care is always taken to ensure that lime used is of a good quality. This is why analysis of lime is
one each time the lime is supplied.

The quality of lime used is very important and it is recommended that lime containing more than
2% MgO or oxides of iron and aluminum is avoided because the impurities cause deposits in the
evaporators. A good quality lime should test 90 – 95% of CaO and this pulverized lime is mixed
with water.it is this milk of lime which is mixed with the juice and its mixing is much more rapid
and its action is much more rapid compared to when lime is added in solid form. The action of
lime and heat yields a precipitate from the calcium present in the lime and the phosphates which
naturally occur in the juice. Calcium triphosphate precipitate entraps impurities as it compacts
and settles. The separation of this precipitate from the juice depends on the formation of the
precipitate throughout the bulk of the juice. Phosphoric acid is added depending on the amount
of juice being treated to generate phosphate ions which boost on already existing phosphates in
the juice.

2.16 Reasons for liming

Lime is added purposely;

13
  To raise the PH of the juice from (5.5-5.6) to (6.8-7.2) which around neutralization. This
high PH does not favor the activity of Leuconostoc Mesenteroids bacteria which cause
sugar inversion in the clarifier.
 To provide the calcium ion that precipitates out the phosphate ions in the juice which
traps the suspended particles in the juice.
 For proper clarification in the clarifier to prevent sugar destruction in the process.

Care is always taken to ensure that lime used is of a good quality.

The operational parameters for a good quality lime are,

Lime percentage (CaO) 90- 95 %

Density (5-6) Baume

MgO – Less than 1%

Free of; iron, Al2O3 and sand.

However, liming has to be controlled in order to obtain a stable ph of the treated juice. To obtain
this, the following points should be aimed at;

 Low variation of juice flow

 Stable concentration of the milk of lime.
 Complete mixing of lime and juice.
 Milk of lime should be sieved to get rid of sand or foreign mater, which can damage the
pH electrode.
 Use of pH electrode that can withstand high juice temperature.

The pH electrode must be calibrated at regular intervals against a laboratory pH meter.

Check the cleanliness of the pH electrode. Often a nice regular pH graph is the consequence of a
fouled electrode.

Secondary heating
This is one in secondary heaters also referred to as treated juice heaters(TJH)

14
From the reaction vessel, juice flows by into the treated juice tank and then pumped to the
secondary heaters where it is heated to a constant boiling temperature and at atmospheric
pressure. The TJHs are similar to the RJHs in design. The treated juice enters the TJH with
temperatures between 65 and 68 and leaves with a temperature of between 104 and 111oc but
most preferably 105oc.

Reasons for secondary heating

 Secondary heating is done to lower the density of the juice. This reduces the viscosity of
the juice by removing gums from it. This makes the density of particles be more than that
of the juice thereby enabling settling of the particles in the clarifier.
 Treated juice is heated to the temperature slightly above 100oc to coagulate proteins and
some fats, gums and waxes. It also makes the reaction between the calcium ions and the
phosphate ions complete thus precipitating insoluble calcium phosphate.
 This heating also entirely eliminates microbial presence.

2.17 Clarification.
Clarification is the process by which maximum amount of impurities are removed from the juice.
The most clarifying agents are lime and heat. Treated heat juice from the secondary heater passes
through the flash tank to prevent turbulence and floatation of small particles in the clarifier. The
juice is first allowed into the flash tank before it enters the clarifier.

The juice enters the clarifier tangentially and flows down to the plates of the flash tank which
further reduces its turbulence. It also takes the vapors and the non-condensable gases and its
tangential in order to ensure that the juice flows in the clarifier at reduced speed.

The juice at constant temperature then enters the clarifier by gravity from the tangential
connected to the flash tank as that in that in the treated juice heater. Along the tangential, treated
juice flows, a high molecular weight polymer called magna floc is added to it before it enters the
clarifier. this polymer is known as the flocculants and it serves to bring small particles together,
making them larger(agglomeration) and enabling more rapid settling due to gravity. The settling
precipitate is called mud and exits the clarifier at the bottom. Mud from each compartment is
drained using a valve into the mud boot and flows to the mud recirculation tank from where it is
pumped to the mud mixer at the filter station.

15
2.17.1 Preparation of flocculant solution
The flocculants used has a great efficiency depending on the care with which they are utilized.
The following precautions must be taken when handling a flocculant;

2.17.2 The major components of the clarifier.

 Central valve; the compartments of the clarifier operate as one in case this valve is open,
but when it is closed, each chamber works independently of other.
 Scrapper; it helps in moving the mud into the mud vent.
 Distribution coils; these collects the clear juice into the flow box.
 Stirrer; it rotates all other compartments and also ensures proper settling of the impurities.
Stirrers are attached to the shaft driven by a motor at the top of the clarifier. the stirrers
also move and direct the mud into the mud boot.
 Mud corks; this helps in checking the mud level.

The type of clarifier used at BDF is the Rapidorr 444 clarifier. it consists of four independent
units or compartments super imposed in the same tank. Each unit has a tray and mud
compartment. The retention time of the juice in the clarifier is 2hours and 45 minutes. During
this time, the mud which came with juice settles down each compartment and the clear juice
overflows to the clear juice boots and then it flows by gravity to the clear juice tank.

The clarifier has corks or taps at varying heights to enable the operator to check the mud level.

There are three zones that make up a sedimentation system;

16
A Rapi Dorr 444 Clarifier

2.17.3 Importance of clarification

 Prevents loss of sucrose in final molasses when impurities are eliminated through.
clarification, they go as filter cake which has a low sucrose content of 0.3% of sucrose in
filter cake.
 Reduces viscosity caused by impurities. Viscosity has a great impact on process station
capacity and molasses exhaust.

17
  Increases sugar quality as impurities are eliminated, the sugar color and filterability is of
good range.

Essential conditions to obtain good clarification

 Constant juice flow

 Constant quality and concentration of additives (lime, flocculants)
 Constant temperature
 Constant pH
 Sucrose inversion.

2.17.4 Filtration.
The aim of mud filtration is to recover the residual sugar in the sediment mud.

Mud is withdrawn from all compartments to the mud boot. Mud withdrawn is 10% of the
clarifier capacity.it flow by gravity to the mud recirculation tank in a 10-inch pipe. The
recirculation tank capacity is 13 cubic. The mud is pumped up into the mud mixer which is 70%
of the clarifier capacity. Mud is pumped at a temperature between 70 and 80oc to prevent
microbial attack. The mud pump pumps at 15cm3/h. there is no retention time in the mud mixer.
Above the mud mixer is a bagacillo cyclone. Bagacillo flows by gravity into the mud mixer. The
mud mixer has an overflow boat, which lets out mud mixed with bagacillo by gravity into the
circulation tank. The bagacillo must have a minimum pol of 0.1.

The bagacillo cyclone is important for the following;

 It introduces bagacillo homogeneously for efficient mixing.

 It separates air from bagacillo.

The bagacillo is made available from bagasse by the bagacillo system with a principle name:
“vibro screen belt conveyor” whose purpose is to screen bagasse to aid in mud filtration.

It comprises of an aperture screen mesh, a vacuum pump which sucks pressure below
atmospheric value, a blower (centrifugal blower) which actuates vacuum on the suction side
below atmospheric value and blows delivery above atmospheric value. The bagasse mud mixer
header is connected to the mud boot which is of the same capacity with the mud tank. The

18
capacity must be over 30% of the drum diameter. The mud tank is 13cubic. The mud boot
capacity equals capacity of the mud tank and must cover 30% of the mud tank and due to
viscosity of the mud. The residence time is 4minutes to minimize microbial inversion. Proper
mixing is done to prevent settling of the mud and sub cooling. Grader and shaft mixers are used.

2.18 The Rotary Drum Vacuum filters/

The continuous rotary vacuum filters.

The filter is made of a hollow drum rotating about the horizontal axis. The filtering surface is
made up of independent screening sections around the circumference. These sections are
arranged symmetrically on both sides of the vertical center of the horizontal drum. Each filtering
section is serviced by manifold along its length which is individually connected to a distribution
head at both ends of the drum.

Each filtering station is covered by a stainless steel screen provided with some perforations. The
distribution head at both ends of the drum is in fact an automatic valve comprising three
components; rotating part to which the juice manifolds are connected, wear plates to allow
wearing from the rotation of parts, fixed part provided with vacuum/juice ports connected to: a
low vacuum of between 12-25cm mercury, a high vacuum of between 42-50cm mercury, and a
section under atmospheric pressure.

Vacuum from the vacuum pump is introduced by the rotary valve. This facilitates vacuum
delivery as well as filtrate delivery. The vacuum free zone provides for the rotation of the valve.

The filter drum is partly submerged in the feed through which contains the mud and bagacilo
mixture to be filtered, called the filter feed. As the filter rotates in a counter clock wise direction,
low vacuum is applied to the filtering sections which pick up the feed and cake formation takes
place on the surface of the screens. The first filtrate is really dirty due to suspended solids and is
directed to the cloudy filtrate receiver. As he drums continues its rotation, the cake thickens and
wash water from sprays is applied. The water displaces the filtrate through the cake and the
filtrate is directed to the clear filtrate receiver. The cake is then made to dry by draining water
and filtrate through it. The vacuum is cut off and the filtering sections come into contact with the
atmosphere. The cake detaches itself from the screen surface and falls off when it meets a rubber

19
scrapper which directs it to belt conveyor. A vacuum is again applied and a new cycle is started.
Vacuum filters have a maximum rotation of 20 revolutions per hour and a minimum of 6 mph.
However, it is necessary to vary the mph to obtain optimum results.

Note; all mud feed, filtrate piping as well as mud mixer and feed trough should be properly
lagged to keep the temperature of the fluids above 80 degrees ahead of the filtrate receivers to
prevent wax solidifying in the cake and so educing porosity. Filtrate pumps re centrifugal pumps
and should preferably be of stainless steel and of sufficient capacity to handle both volumes of
filtrate in an emergency.

Structure of Rotary Vacuum filter

20
2.19 CLEAR JUICE HEATING
Clear juice coming from clarifier is between 95oC to 97oC before it enters the evaporators. It is
beneficial to heat the same up to boiling point (100oC), as such it is heated in a clear juice heater.
The heater is just as the convectional juice heater. With exhaust steam pressure of about 0.8 to 1
kg/cm2 and a temperature of about 120oC. direct steam is not used because; using exhaust steam
reduces back pressure to the turbine and it facilitates steam economy. The juice is heated to
about 105oC. Juice with high temperature enters into the vapor cells. This helps to increase
efficiency of evaporator set.

Note: The temperature of clear juice is less than that of the treated juice because of the heat
losses due unlagged pipes, the clarifier is not 100% lagged and it is also exposed to atmosphere.

2.20 EVAPORATION
Vapor cells.

In BDF, there are three vapor cells one bigger in size and the other two are small in size. When
the juice flow rate, only the bigger Vapor cell is made use of and incase the juice flow rate is
high, then the bigger vapor cell is used with one other smaller vapor cell. These vapor cells use
the exhaust steam from the turbine section.

Juice from the vapor cells flows into the vapor cells into the tubes in the calandria. Exhaust
steam is supplied around the tube and heats up the already hot juice hence evaporation here takes
only Avery short time. From here the juice flows to the header where it is pumped to the first
body of the evaporators.

Evaporators
Design of evaporators

21
Initially the juice consists of sugar dissolved in water together with certain impurities. Theses
impurities are removed as far as possible in clarification process and what remains is mainly to
remove the water and this is the object of evaporation.

The clarified juice from the clear juice receiving tank is umped to the clear juice heater where
it’s heated to boiling point. It is then transferred to the vapor cell then later to evaporators.

Evaporation is done mainly because it increases the brix (Bx) concentration of clear juice from
around 12o up to brix of 60 o by boiling off water to promote growth of sugar crystal. Crystal
growth can only take place in syrup above the brix of 78 o so for this reason the Bx figure of 72 o is
never exceeded in evaporation. The water is removed by boiling of the juice in a series of
evaporators.

Evaporation by heating in a single vessel is called evaporation in single effect. If the vapor
produced by this vessel is taken for boiling in a second vessel, then it becomes a double effect.
The same way with three vessels it becomes triple effect. And so on in turn, a quadruple, a
quintuple, a sextuple. There are thus as many evaporator vessels as effects. In they become
multiple effect evaporators.

22
A typical multiple effect evaporation is carried out using up to 5 vessels in series. Steam is fed
into the 1st vessel only, then by creating lower pressure in the last vessel a cascading of pressures
is obtained from the 1st to the last vessel. Vapor produced from the 1 st vessel is the used to boil
the juice in the 2nd. Vapor from the 2 nd is used to boil juice in the 3 rd and so on until the vapor
from the 5th or last vessel goes into a condenser where it is condensed by cooling water.

But BDFonly has five vessels for boiling juice, of which two are double effect and three triple
effect

Note: At the top of each vessel is a save all whose function is to reduce on entrainment (escape
of juice in the vapors) by suddenly changing direction of flow of the vapor by condensing the
juice which then falls back into the body through pipes.

In operation, the evaporators are operated under vacuum and in multiple effects configuration
where by vapor space of one vessel is connected to the heating surface of the next throughout the
set. This gives a maximum efficiency in evaporation and steam usage.

Vapor cells are mainly single effect evaporators and the vapors produced are bled to the pans and
juice heaters.

The juice in vapor cells is boiled to a maximum of two glasses and then transferred to the first
body of the evaporator by juice transfer pumps.

In BDF, there are two sets of evaporation station of which are multiple effect working in parallel.
Usually one set of evaporators is used at a time and the other set can undergo cleaning and
maintenance. The juice in body 2, 3 and 4 in each set boil under vacuum.

23
Boiling under vacuum is very energy efficient because it permits evaporation to be carried out at
temperatures proportionally less dangerous, from a point of view of inversion and of coloration
of the juice as the juice becomes more concentrated and viscous. And also increases the total
difference in temperature between steam and juice by quantity equal to the drop in boiling point
of the juice between the pressure of the first and that of the last vessel.

Juice in vapor cell and body 1 boil under atmospheric pressure and this means there is no
vacuum in them. Exhaust steam is used in body one and the rest of the bodies got vacuum in the
increasing order. It is noted that as vacuum increases, temperature decreases. To ensure
movement of juice from one body to another, the vacuum in the bodies must be equal to that at
pumps and this is called vacuum equalizing connection.

The table below shows the temperatures and vacuum pressures of the evaporation bodies.

Evaporation bodies Temperature(oC) Vacuum (inHg)

body 1 120-125 0-0.2

body 2 90-100 5-8

body 3 70-80 12-18

body 4 55-60 22-25

During evaporation a certain amount of vapor is drawn off the bodies and used for heating and
pan boiling. This called vapor bleeding and results in steam saving. Therefore, vapor bleeding
the vapor 1 is drawn from vessel 1, vapor 2 is drawn from vessel 2 and so on.

24
Since body 2 is under vacuum, juice will move from body 1 to body 2 by opening a valve on a
pipe connecting both bodies. The juice is heated by vapors bled from body 1, and body 3 is on a
higher vacuum than body 2 so by opening valve connecting both bodies, juice will move to body
3 where it is heated using vapor bled from body 2. From body 3 juice is admitted to body 4
which is at the highest vacuum and from the vapor from body 3 is used to heat juice in body 4.
Juice is boiled at a maximum level of two glasses in all the evaporator bodies to prevent
entrainment. The vapor from body 4 passes through vapor line juice heater, before it’s condense
by spraying cold water from pound on it there by establishing the vacuum in evaporator set.

NOTE; The vapor cells and bodies all have the same characteristic as the juice heaters that they
have calandria tubes. So during boiling, vapors heat outside calandria tubes as juice inside these
tubes boils hence there is heat exchange. The vapors then tend to condense outside the tubes due
to heat exchange and let out into a condensate tank. Condensates from vapor cells, pan boilers,
body 1 and body 2 are pumped into a big condensate tank while condensates for body 3 and 4 are
pumped into the sweet water tank and are used at the imbibition process at the milling house
since they contain some sugar in them and also for washing purposes at filter station and
centrifuges. The condensate from body 2 can be used for any of the two purposes.

2.20.1 Learning areas at the evaporator

In any equipment in which steam or vapor is condensed, it is necessary to continuously withdraw
the accumulation of non-condensable gases. At BDF, these non-condensable gases are vented out
to the atmosphere from body 1 and 2 because the pressure in these two bodies are high. But

for body 3 and where low pressure exists, the non-condensable gases are connected to the
condenser and the gases sucked out by means of vacuum.

Condensates are also pumped from calandria of evaporators to the condensate receiver tanks,
otherwise these would reduce the temperature of the incoming vapors and later on cause
hammering which would damage the tubes of the calandria.

As juice boils in one body boils vigorously, the juice jumps up and falls into the central down
take that directs it to the next evaporator vessel. In condensable gases are tapped of the
evaporators otherwise they would interfere with the heat exchange.

25
2.20.2 Sulphitation of the syrup
Syrup from last body is pumped by syrup extraction pumps and taken to the sulphitation tank
where sulphitation process takes place.

As syrup leaves the evaporators it assumes some turbidity due to suspended offloading particles,
which are more soluble in this juice and insoluble in syrup and dark colorization as a
consequence of overheating and caramelisation of some of its constituents at higher
temperatures.

At BDF, single sulphitation is adapted where Sulphur dioxide gas is used as a bleaching agent.
The Sulphur dioxide reduces the ferric salts in the syrup which formed during contact with steel
machinery and which are highly colored, to ferrous salts which are less colored and do not form
crystalize together with the sugar in acid syrup.

Saturating of a colored solution with Sulphur dioxide gas results in a reduction of color or
bleaching. Sulphur dioxide is produced by combustion of Sulphur in the presence of excess air
according to the reaction equation;

S(s) + O(g) SO2(g)

2.20.3 The Sulphur burner.

In the Sulphur burner (furnace), the Sulphur is ignited as thus burns at high temperature between
300 0C to 500 oC to form Sulphur dioxide gas which then cooled down to about 100 oC by the
primary coolers and to temperatures of 70 oC or less than that preferably 60 oC by secondary
coolers after which it is channeled to the sulphitor for sulphitation of syrup.

The gas temperature is controlled by adjusting the cooling fins.

Sulphur dioxide gas has to be cooled to about 60 oC in order to avoid caramelisation of sugar in
the sulphitor, this gas enters the sulphitor through a U- bend pipe to reduce on its velocity and
allow adequate bleaching effect.

At high temperatures the sulphurdioxde formed can react with the excess air(oxygen) to form
sulphurtrioxide gas which later reacts with water to form sulphuric acid. The sulphuric acid

26
formed is very dangerous because it is corrosive and that is that is why there are plastic sheets at
the Sulphur burner section. The equations are as below;

SO2(g) + O2(g) SO3(g)

SO3(g) + H2O(g) H2SO4(g)

2.20.4 The sulphitor

This gas enters the sulphitor (a diffusion reactor) through a U- bent pipe to reduce on its velocity
and allow adequate bleaching. In the sulphitor, the syrup flows from up and the Sulphur dioxide
flows from down to ensure proper mixing of the gas with the syrup. This kind of motion is
termed as counter current flow.

The sulphited syrup is pumped to a syrup storage tank from which it is transferred to supply
system. This syrup is an essential raw material for commercial sugar boiling (‘A’ sugar from ‘A’
massecuite.

2.21 PAN BOILIING

This is done using Pans. Pans are vessels used for boiling and they operate under vacuum hence
referred to as vacuum pans. A vacuum pan is essentially a single effect evaporator and thus made
up of a heating surface area and a body connected to a vacuum system. For the proper
functioning of a vacuum pan, other connections are also required. There are two types of pans
which include;

 Batch vacuum pans. This built on the same principle as the calandria or Roberts
evaporator vessel.
 Continuous vacuum pans. This consists of horizontal cylindrical vessel in which is
arranged a heat exchanger along the length of the apparatus.

Parameters involved here at the pan stage are; vacuum, steam pressure and temperature.

Normal boiling vacuum range is 500 – 600 mmHg. Normal temperature of all pans is ranging
from 50 to 60 oC and when the temperature is below 40 oC boiling does not take place in the
pans. Normal boiling steam pressure is 0 – 5 kg/cm2.

27
The product of boiling is known as massecuite.

The different grades are designated by letters (A, B, C).

The molasses purged from them takes the same symbol (e.g. A-molasses for A- massecuite.)

Also sugars yielded by the respective massecuite are called A-sugar, B-sugar, etc.

Batch vacuums pans (calandria)

Continuous vacuum pan

The principal benefits are

 Increase in capacity. Can be at least 25% with the appropriate boiling procedures and
control

28
  Savings in steam, Less steam-out, re-evaporation, & re-processing
 Reduction of sugar losses, since almost no entrainment occurs
 The pan operation is easy to automate, Reduction in manpower as one operator is able to
handle more than one pan at a time
 Operating parameters, such as steam flow, temperature, pressure is quite steady without
occurrence of peak values

Methods of boiling
Seeding method
This method is mostly applied in pan A boiling where B-seed obtained from curing B-massecuite
in the b-centrifugal machines is used in addition to the syrup. The B-seed the B-seed crystals
added are small in size, so the syrup added tends to increase the crystal sizes. This crystal size
increases by adsorption.

Waiting method
Here the material is added for some time until it concentrates or becomes tight and at this point
water is added in the pan. Therefore, the operator in charge has to wait until crystals begin to
form hence called the waiting method. The three boiling types A, B and C have got different
materials used. Water is added to harden the crystals and also eliminates false grains.

Shocking the pan or slurry method

Here sugar is melted and mixed with spirit. Icing sugar is mostly used and mixed with spirit and
the resulting solution is called slurry. This method is mostly used in B and C boiling.

The resulting semi liquid mass of sugar crystals and molasses is called Massecuite and therefore
it’s the product of pan boiling.

The different grades of massecuite are designated by letter A, B and C, the molasses purged from
them takes the same symbols for example A-molasses for A-massecuite, B-molasses for B-
massecuite and C-molasses for C-massecuite and also sugar yielded by the respective massecuite
are called A-sugar, B-sugar and C- sugar respectively.

29
Note; during starting of pans, footing method is used; here syrup (brix between 50-60) is fed into
the pans, it is super saturated to brix between 65 – 75, here nuclei are not formed with required
vacuum.

Above brix of 75, nucleic crystals will be formed (vacuum 500-600mmHg), below this vacuum
there will be melting.

When renaturation takes place, there is deposition. Factors determining deposition are;

The material brix, developing nucleic, temperature of boiling and surface of the body.

Super saturation

This is a state of stable equilibrium which for sugar is reached neither rapidly or easily. If a
solution is concentrated by evaporation, or if it is cooled beyond saturation point, the crystals do
not appear immediately in the material. The sugar still remains in solution and is termed as
supersaturated.

The sucrose super saturation coefficient(S) is the weight of sucrose percent water contained in a
saturated solution to the weight of sucrose per cent water which would be present in a saturated
solution having the same temperature and purity.

sucrose per cent water containe ∈a super saturated solution

S=
sucrose per cent water present ∈a saturated solution

According to super saturation coefficient, sucrose may be classified into super saturation zones.

These zones include;

Metastable zone. The super saturation coefficient is high enough for added crystals to grow
while new crystals will form. Sugar boiling is generally carried out here.

Intermediate zone. The super saturation coefficient is high, where added crystals will grow and
new crystals will form but only in the presence of existing crystals.

Labile zone. The super saturation coefficient is very high, new crystals will form spontaneously
and crystals’ growth is rapid. This implies that in this zone existing crystals grow, and new
crystals can form even in the absence of existing crystals.

30
Rate of crystallization of a massecuite depends on;

 The viscosity
 The temperature (which influences the viscosity)
 The super saturation
 The purity of mother liquor.

Boiling of the massecuite is under vacuum. The use of vacuum is important because of the
following reasons;

 It helps in holding the material inside the pan and plays an important role in cooling the
temperature of the pans.
 Since the boiling point in is lower at the pan section, there is a reduction in sugar losses
and color development.
 The boing rate is higher due to a better heat transfer coefficient.
 The use of low pressure steam is made possible.

A Pan boiling
Three batch pans (pan 5, pan 6 and pan 7) are used for A-massecuite boiling. The materials used
for A-massecuite boiling include; B-seed, melt, A-light molasses(AL), water and sulphited
syrup. These materials are used at A-boiling because they have a high purity. High materials
easily enhance faster crystallization.

All pans have got different boiling hours and boil under vacuum. A pans take 2 to 4 hours to
boil.

Note; pan 5 and 6 are used for concentrating the syrup and pan 7 is where dropping of the
massecuite takes place.

B Pan boiling
There is one batch pan (pan 3) and a continuous pan (pan 4) for B-massecuite boiling. The
materials used include; slurry (mixture of icing sugar and spirit), A-heavy molasses and water.
The continuous pan has got 10 chambers and the brix value increase from compartment one up to
ten.

31
In continuous pans, each compartment has its own set brix and once the brix goes above the set
brix then A-heavy molasses is added to reduce it to a required range and this takes place from
compartment 1 up to 8 where A-heavy molasses is fed, for the case of compartment 9 and 10 hot
water is added instead because they are near the discharge and dropping valves.

compartmen 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1
ts 0

set brix 86 87 88 89 8 89 9 96 9 9
9 3 7 7

In pan 3, A-heavy molasses is added during starting of the pan and it boiled for about 30 minutes
then hot water is added for tightening followed by slurry, slurry is introduced to enhance faster
forming of crystals, crystals are cleaned by adding hot water until feeling of crystals using the
hand. A- heavy molasses is filled into the pan until four glasses and B-graining is done, half is
cut to the vacuum crystallizers for storage and the remaining half is sent to compartment 1 of the
continuous vacuum pan where B-grains plus A-heavy molasses are boiled till required brix has
been attained. The resulting product which is B-massecuite from continuous pan is finally
dropped into the horizontal crystallizers where further crystallization takes place.

C-pan boiling
There are two batch pans for C-boiling i.e. pan 1 and pan 2. One pan of the pan is used for
graining and slurry is for developing the grains.

For starting pan 1 is used, hot water, A-heavy molasses and C-light molasses are boiled for
30minutes the slurry is added after tightening with water to for faster graining up to certain brix.
False crystals are cleaned using hot water. All this is done to form C-grains.

1
After crystal hardening, B-heavy molasses are added up to 4 - 4 glasses and allowed to boil
2
until designed crystal are formed, half of the C-massecuite is cut and dropped into the vacuum

32
crystallizers for storage and the other half is dropped to horizontal crystallizers for further
crystallization.

NOTE; A-heavy molasses and B-heavy molasses both have blow-up tanks where they are
conditioned from. These conditioners are fitted with stirrer that dissolves the crystals in each
molasses (A-heavy molasses and B-heavy molasses) with hot water and steam being added with
the molasses. Both molasses has separate blow-up tanks.

All pans have cut over valves that are opened during transfer of material from one body to
another an also discharge valves that are also opened during dropping of materials to horizontal
crystallizers.

2.23 Centrifugation.
Centrifuging, Curing or Purging is the removal/separation of molasses from the sugar crystal-
molasses mixture (massecuite) after crystallization. The separation is carried out by a machine,
called centrifugal

For the 3-Boiling system, the separation process consists of three phases:

1. The ‘A’ centrifugal, producing the VHP sugar and ‘A’ molasses

2. The ‘B’ centrifugal, producing ‘B’ sugar and ‘B’ molasses

3. The ‘C’ centrifugal, producing ‘C’ sugar and final molasses

2.23.1 Centrifugal Machines

The majority of centrifugal, commonly called fugal, used in sugar processing are classified by
their mode of operation

1. Batch fugal–usually for high-purity masscults

2. Continuous fugal–for lower purity, higher viscosity masscults

Batch Centrifugal machine.

Description

33
•A batch centrifugal consists of a spindle with a cylindrical perforated basket (open at top to
receive the massecuite).

It has vertical sides, in which a screen is inserted alongside its inner circumference with a
backing screen sandwiched between them. The spindle is driven by an electric motor and rotates
inside housing. The centrifugal force of the spinning forces molasses to separate from the
crystals, and pass through the perforations while the crystals remain inside the basket.

Operation

The basket, rotating at ±50 rpm, is loaded by the top with massecuite, spreading it evenly over
the surface of the screen. As the machine accelerates to high speed of about 1,500 rpm, the
molasses is separated from the crystals. Hot water and steam are applied to the inside of the
sugar wall to remove residual molasses sticking to the crystals. Then an electric brake engages
followed by a mechanical brake that slows the basket down to ±50 p.m. discharge valves opens

34
and the sugar is removed by means of a plough which is lowered into the basket. The sugar falls
through the center of the basket onto a carrier below, while the basket rotates.

Note: rpm means revolution per minute,

In BDF, the batch ‘A’ massecuite centrifugal have got two important steps that is to say, the first
wash and the second wash. In first curing or what is called first wash the obtained molasses are
‘A’ heavy molasses (AH). Meanwhile in the second wash where water is added to sugar crystals
containing some mother liquor, the kind of molasses is ‘A’ light molasses (AL).

The purity of ‘A’ heavy molasses (AH) should range from 67-72% and thus used for pan B
boiling. The purity of ‘A’ light molasses (AL) is greater than 75% and thus used for pan boiling.

Batch cycle

The capacity of the process is measured in cycle time. A cycle is defined as the sequence of
operations from charging massecuite into the basket to the discharging of sugar and is typically
denoted by the following steps

Charging and accelerating 65s

Washing at speed 8s

Drying 36s

Electric braking 15s

Mechanical braking 10s

Discharging 20s

Total time is 2minutes 34seconds. At this rate there should be 17-22 cycles per hour.

Of these times, only the washing and drying times are operational variables under normal
conditions. The washing time can range from 5 to 20 seconds depending on sugar quality.

35
False grains in massecuite would cause major problems as the small grains tend to block the
passage between the main crystals, thus preventing the escape of molasses causing the machine
to vibrate and poor quality sugar

Continuous centrifugal machines

Centrifugal machines B and C are continuous and therefore different from ‘A’ machines. A
continuous centrifugal is designed with a cone-shaped basket, which is usually belt-driven from
below alongside the machine. The inner surface of the basket is fitted with a screen with a
backing screen within them. The basket rotates at a fixed speed of 1,000 to 1730 rpm depending
on the size and duty of the machine. The design maximum speed of these machines at SCOUL
is 1730 rpm.

The Massecuite is continuously fed into the conical basket and the Sugar crystals rise up the
inclined screen whilst molasses is forced through the perforations and exits the process and this
is possible because of the centrifugal forces. The crystals are flung off the top edge of the cone
and strike the wall of the stationary outer housing.

Note: There is continuous spraying of water which makes the massecuite loose’ there is chocking
of the machine in case there is shortage of water.

The B-continuous machine cures ‘B’ sugar and here ‘B’ heavy molasses (BH) are formed. The
‘B’ heavy molasses with purity in the range of 47-52% is pumped for use in the ‘C’ pan boiling.
The ‘B’ sugar is mixed with water to form magma which is termed as B-seed used for ‘A’ pan
boiling.

Meanwhile C-massecuite is double cured. From C-fore worker (CFW) pug mills, the massecuite
enters the first set of centrifugal and is sunned dry without washing and steaming giving rise to
final molasses (FM) which is weighed and sent to the distillery where it is distilled to rectified
spirit. The cured sugar (C-fore worker sugar) is mixed with water to form magma of high purity

36
which then sent to C-after worker (C-AFW) pug mill from where it is then fed into the next set
of centrifugal for the second curing giving rise to C-light molasses of purity of range 58-62% and
C-sugar. The C-sugar is mixed with water and pumped to the C-melter. In the melter, the C-
sugar is mixed with water and the melt formed is recycled to process.

2.24 Sugar drying, bagging and storage

The ready or raw sugar obtained from ‘A’ centrifugal machines has got some small moisture
content and therefore there is need for drying.

A sugar is then sent to the belt conveyor by a hopper which has a magnetic separator to remove
any magnetic particles in the sugar. The belt conveyor sends the sugar to the fluidized bed drier.

The fluidized bed drier contains two compartments; the hot air compartment and cold air
compartment.

Drying is generally done by heating ambient air in a heater and blowing it into the hot air
chamber of the dryer. The air passes around the sugar crystals in either co-current or counter-
current flow within the dryer. As the heated air makes contact with the moist sugar, moisture is
driven off from the liquor covering the crystals.

Once the moisture has been evaporated off, the sugar is cooled. This is usually done within the
dryer whereby ambient air is blown into the cooler section of the dryer.

2.24.1 Storage of the sugar

After drying, sugar is sent to the sugar bin via bucket elevators for temporally storage. Sugar is
automatically weighed as it is fed into the packaging materials that are conveyed for storage in
the store. The target of BDF is to produce light brown sugar. Brown sugar is produced on special
order. Mostly 10kgs, 25kg and 50kg bags are packed.

Counting is done manually and then the bags are loaded on the horizontal the belt transfers the
sugar to the store conveyor belt by men.

37
The bags of sugar are stored on wooden pallets in a block form and others stored on the ground
with tarplet. Sugar is stored for a period which is less than or equal to six months.

CHAPTER THREE: STEAM GENERATION AND POWER HOUSE.

Steam generation is achieved using a boiler.

38
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water is cooled and converted into steam at the required
temperature and pressure. BDF sugar factory has four water tube boilers but three are used at a
time. The boilers are composed of the following:

 The boiler drums; boilers have tubes inside them connected to drums and headers.
 Steam drum and the mud drum; these are cylindrical pressure vessels with smaller
diameters than the headers. Each boiler has at least one steam drum. The steam drum is at
the highest elevation of the steam generating portion of the boiler. The mud drum is
located at the low portion of the boiler. Sediments and solids tend to collect in the mud
drum. Sum of the functions of the drum are listed below.
 Facilitating blow down, mixing and distribution of feed water, remove bubbles from
water volume entering down comer to improve circulation, to produce water free steam
and steam free water.
 Furnace; provides enclosure for combustion of bagasse (the fuel used in the boilers at
BDF)
 Boiler bank; acts as an evaporator by absorbing heat from flue gases by the convective
mode and has tubes called boiler bank tubes.
 Super heaters. There are two super heaters; the primary super heater located at the
downstream where the products of combustion are slightly cooler and the secondary
super heater located at the further where the products of combustion are hottest. The
super heaters are designed to provide the required degree of superheat to steam.
 De-super-heater; these are provided to effectively control super heater outlet temperature.
 Economizer; this provides sensible heat to feed water through a convection heat transfer
section located after the primary super heater. The economizer reduces the temperature of
flue gases to the required temperature in the atmosphere by extracting heat from it to heat
tubes which carry water and thus increasing the water temperature before reaching the
furnace.
 Air heater. This is a heat recovery section which absorbs the low temperature leaving the
boiler. This helps to improve the combustion efficiency.

3.1 Boiler auxiliaries.

39
  Fans, for combustion of bagasse, air has to be supplied into the furnace and gas generated
in the furnace has to be purged into the chimney continuously. The boiler has three fans.
 The forced draft fun: this is a positive draft that sucks air from the atmosphere and blows
it into the furnace from the bottom to support to support combustion of the fuel in the
furnace.
 The induced draft fun: this is a negative draft which sucks the gases and ash from the
chimney which therefore blows it to the atmosphere.
 The secondary air fun. This is used to spread bagasse in the furnace.it sucks air which is
rich in oxygen from the atmosphere to the furnace which supports the combustion of
bagasse.
 Boilers work on a balanced draft system. The correct pressure is always maintained by
coordinated operation of the forced draft fun at the air inlet and the induced draft fun at
the combustion product outlet. The induced draft fun handles greater volume flow rate at
less efficiency than the forced draft fun because the gas stream at the air outlet has greater
volume and less density than the gas stream at the inlet.
 Boiler pumps: these are designed to pump the desired feed water to the drum at the
desired pressure. These pumps are multistage centrifugal pumps.
 Soot blowers: during the operation of the boiler, there is there is a possibility of slag build
up on heating surfaces of the boiler depending on the fuel characteristics. Therefore, soot
blowers are provided as on load cleaning devices that are used regularly to overcome
slagging.
 The soot blowers have nozzles which are carefully aligned so that superheated or dry
saturated steam passes between the tubes.
 Deaerator: this removes dissolved oxygen in feed water which would lead to corrosion
and pitting of pressure parts.
 Valves and fittings. Values are essential for control and regulation of steam or water flow
and also prevent their excess build up. The safety valve among other valves prevents the
pressure in the boiler from exceeding the design pressure.

3.2 Design specifications of the boilers at BDF

Capacity: 35 tons per day

40
Pressure: 35 kg/cm2 and operational pressure is 32kg/cm2.

Temperature: 400oc

3.3 Circulation
Boilers rely on circulation which is driven by the density difference between hotter and cooler
water. Cooler water is mixed with the incoming feed water, flows down a portion of the down
comer tubes connected to the steam drum. Hotter and less dense water flows upward in
generating tubes located in hotter areas of the boiler.

The difference in temperature between banks provides the driving force for the flow.

3.4 Water level control.

The water level in the steam drum is maintained to achieve the correct water level. This is
because steam is a much less effective heat transfer medium than water. If the water level is too
high, the separators inside the drum will flood and if it is too low, the top ends of the tube will be
dried and overheat. The use of water level gauge is important.

3.5 Water analysis

Some of the feed water analysis done in the boiler laboratory include: ph, total hardness,
presence of silica, presence of oil, alkalinity.

41
The table below shows the water requirements.

pH 8.5-9.5

Total hardness(mg/l) <2

Oil -

Dissolved oxygen(mg/l) < 0.05

Total dissolved solids(mg/l) < 2000

Suspended solids(mg/l) < 50

Silica (max)(mg/l)(mg/l) < 0.4 of caustic alkalinity

Total alkalinity (max) (mg/l/CaCO3) 500

Caustic alkalinity (min)(mg/l/CaCO3) 200

Water before circulation is purified at the demineralizing plant (DM plant) sand filtration, carbon
filtration and water softening is done here. The two softeners use sodium hydroxide and
hydrochloric acid respectively.

3.6 Power House.

The power house consists of turbines and is where electricity for the factory is generated for the
industry. A turbine is a device which converts internal energy of a fluid to mechanical or useful
work. The turbine used in the industry is driven by super-heated steam.

3.6.1 The design of a turbine

A turbine consists of alternate sets of nozzles and rotating blades through which steam flows in a
steady state expansion process. The expansion of a gas in the nozzle to produce velocity stream
is a process which converts internal energy to kinetic energy which is in turn converted to shaft
work when the stream impinges on blades attached to a rotating shaft. The shaft work produced
is then used to rotate the shaft of alternator which converts the turbine mechanical energy into
electrical energy by the principle of electromagnetic induction. The alternator is a source of a
three phase power usually connected in a star connection.There is one turbine in the powerhouse.
This generates 2MW.

42
TURBINE SECTION

43
CHAPTER FOUR: THE EFFLUENT TREATMENT PLANT OF THE SUGAR
FACTORY.
Definition of terms used:

 Effluent refers to treated or un treated waste water that flows out of a treatment plant or
industrial outfall as defined by the united states environmental protection agency.
 Effluent treatment plant (ETP) is the process design for treating industrial waste water for
its reuse or safe disposal to the environment.
 Sludge is the solid part separated from waste water during effluent treatment.
 Sedimentation is the tendency for particles to settle out of fluid in which they are
entrained.
 Anaerobic digestion is a collection of processes by which microorganisms breakdown
biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen.
 Aerobic digestion is decomposition process requiring free or dissolved on oxygen.
 Equalization is a method of retaining waste so that the effluent discharge is fairly uniform
in its characteristics.

4.1 Importance of effluent treatment.

 To safe guard the environment against pollution.
 To meet the standards for discharge as set by the government authorities.
 To cut expenditure on water procurement.
 To reduce usage of fresh water.
 To treat industrial effluent and recycle it for future use.
 Treatment levels and mechanisms
 The treatment levels include; preliminary, primary, secondary, tertiary.
 Treatment mechanisms include; physical, chemical, biological.

Waste water treatment process

The process includes; oil separation, screening, grit chamber operations, equalization lagoon,
neutralization pond, anaerobic lagoon, aerobic lagoon.

4.1.1 Oil separation

Here, oil is trapped from waste water since oi; and water are immiscible.

4.1.2 Screening
Here, physical treatment is carried out. Bottles, stones, polyethanes bags are removed.

The liquid passes through the screens while the large particles are trapped back. This removes
relatively large solids to avoid abrasion of mechanical equipment. The separated particles are
removed manually.

44
4.1.3 Grit chambers
Physical water treatment process using gravity to remove suspended solids from the water. The
design aids settlement of grit, solutes that partially dissolved in the water. Particles that escaped
through the screen are also given time to settle as the remaining oil and bagasse remains on top.
This separation is achieved due to the differences in the densities of the materials and water.

The chambers ensure maximum trapping of oil. Clear water passes at the v – notch where
measure of flow rate and temperature is achieved. Here, water from boiling house mixes with
that of mill house.

4.1.4 Equalization lagoon

The purpose of this lagoon is to;

 Equalize the flow rate.

 Equalize organic concentration.
 Dilute the impact from inhibitory compounds.
 Neutralize the ph.
 Even out temperature fluctuations.

Continuous mixing eliminates settling of solids, the lagoon can be operated at constant volumes
which results in a variable outflow. It can also be operated at variable volume which results in
constant outflow.

4.1.5 The neutralization pond.

This ensures pH correction of the effluent to raise the pH to a range of 6-8.

Lime is added to neutralize the pH of the effluent. This favors bacterial activity.

It is also a requirement to meet national standards.

4.1.6 Anaerobic lagoon

This utilizes microorganisms that do not require oxygen. It involves four processes; hydrolysis,
fermentation, acetogenesis, methanogenesis. Methane gas is given off after this last process.

Aerobic lagoon
This involves Waste treatment is completed through oxidation by help of atmospheric oxygen.
Here, aerobes assimilate organic impurities into carbon dioxide, water and sludge.

CHAPTER FIVE: QUALITY ASSURANCE

experiments carried out at different levels of the sugar manufacture process in order to monitor
the losses in the company some of which are known and others unknown hence to ensure the
products meet the standard required.
Examples of known losses include;

45
  Inversion
 Loss of sucrose in bagasse
 Loss of sucrose in molasses
5.1 Terms used in quality assurance.

 Instrumentation – this is the use of instruments for observation, monitoring and control.
 Instruments – these are devices that measure a physical quantity such as flow,
temperature, level and pressure.
 Refractometer- instrument used to determine brix.

 Pol – apparent sucrose present in a solution.

 Brix is the total percentage weight of dissolved solids in a solution.
 Polari meter– instrument used to determine pol.

 Purity – ratio of sucrose or pol to brix expressed as a percentage.

Purity=(pol/brix) x 100%
 Ovens – these are used to determine moisture in bagasse, filter cake and final sugar.
 Moisture analyzer– used to determine moisture in bagasse, filter cake and final sugar.
 Distillation set up – this is a set up for distilling water in special analysis.
 pH meter – instrument used to determine pH of any solution.
 Rapi pol extractor – machine aiding in determining bagasse pol and also preparative
index. Its work is to crush the bagasse enough to produce juice.
 Tumbler – machine used to determine preparative index.
 Vacuum pump filter – machine used to filter solutions used to determine sugar color.
 Spectrophotometer –instrument used to determine the absorbance of a sugar solution so
as to calculate sugar color.
 Cane crusher machine – a used to extract juice which is taken to the lab for determining
brix or purity.

5.2 Analysis in the laboratory.

There are two types of analysis that is routine analysis and special analysis.

5.2.1 Routine analysis

This is analysis carried out every two hours in the lab by lab technicians. These include; pol, pH,
brix.

5.2.2 Special analysis

This is the analysis carried out once or twice in a week. These include;

 Determination of sugar color.

46
  Determination of reducing sugars in juice and molasses.
 Determination of preparative index.
 Determination of calcium oxide in lime.
 Determination of percentage of phosphoric acid. Among other analyses.

5.2.3 Types of juice analyzed in the lab.

Primary juice; This is the juice that is got from the first mill. It is also called first expressed juice.

Mixed juice; This is the juice that is a combination of all the juices for all mill rollers.

Last mill juice; this is the juice obtained from the width of the discharge roller of the last mill.

Treated juice; This is the juice that contains chemicals of lime and phosphoric acid.

Clear juice; This is the juice that is collected from the overflow chambers of the clarifier.

Syrup; This is the juice which is obtained after finally concentrating the juice from the fourth
body. However, there is sulphited syrup and unsulphited syrup. Sulphited syrup is majorly
analyzed for the lab.

Filtrate juice; This is the juice obtained after filtering the mud at the filter station.

5.3 The spectrophotometer.

There are 4 main components of the spectrophotometer that is to say, the light source to emit a
high and constant amount of light energy of over the full wave length range, a sample holder and
a light detector and a method of separating light into discrete wave length.

5.3.1 Mode of operation.

Light from the pre- focused halogen (7300) or pre- aligned xenon (7305) is focused on to the
granting with 1200 lines per millimeter which separates the light into discrete wave lengths.

The diffraction separation of light passes through further slit and lens arrangement before
passing through the sample in the sample chamber from left to right.

The light which is not absorbed by the sample is transmitted through a collecting lens onto the
signal detector. The photo – diode detector is mounted directly on to the detector PCB and is
used to calculate the transmittance. The result is expressed either as a percentage transmittance

47
or absorbance on the instrument display system.

The picture of the spectrophotometer is shown above.

Methods used to determine the moisture content of a material

There are many methods used to determine the moisture content of a material but they are
categorized into two:

Absolute methods and deductive methods.

At BDF, absolute methods are used. When absolute methods are used, the moisture content of a
material is directly determined by the weight loss of the material on drying or heating which is
registered by the analyzer. The drying methods include; the oven drying, the infra-red energy
drying among others and all these are gravimetric.

5.4 The moisture analyzer

It is a machine used to determine the moisture content in solids liquids, and paste of a material
by thermos gravimetric principle.

Principle.

The moisture content of a material is often mistakenly equated to the water content, however, the
moisture content of a material includes all volatile components which are given off when the
material is heated. These volatile components include: water, alcohols, oils, products of
decomposition especially, when the sample is heated.

48
5.4.1 Mode of operation of the moisture analyzer.
The machine consists of two essential parts that is to say, the weight analyzer and the heater.

The sample is put in the weight analyzer plate and the weight analyzer captures the initial
weight.

Infra-red heat energy is used to heat the sample by the heater, during the test, the heating is done
until when the sample no longer losses weight. The analyzer shuts off the heat and it directly
calculates the moisture content of the material.

Care and maintenance

 Avoid exposing the machine to severe temperature fluctuations.

 Switch off the machine after every experiment to avoid exposing the machine to high
moisture fluctuations.
 Do not expose it to high vibrations.

The above is a picture of the moisture analyzer.

The Eynon and Lane method for determining reducing sugars in a given sample

This method is used for precise determination of reducing sugars in sugar products with high
reducing sugar ranges that is to say ≥ 10%.

49
This method is not suitable for determining reducing sugars in beet molasses because beet
molasses have low reducing sugar percentage and high colour values.

In this method, the main part of the solution containing reducing sugars is added to a strongly
alkaline copper complex salt.

The liquid is boiled, more of the reducing sugar solution is added until when all copper (ii) ions
are reduced to copper oxide when the deep blue colour disappears. The end point can be
accurately determined using methylene blue as it undergoes discoloration at the end point. 3
drops of indicator are added.

Calculations

0.05128 x 100
% of reducing sugars =
BR x FF x DF

Where FF is Fehling’s factor, BR is the burette reading and DF is the dilution factor.

12.5 50
DF = X =0.01
250 250

For total reducing sugars, the same formula as in percentage of reducing sugars is used but the
dilution factor changes and about 5 drops of the indicator are added.

15 50
DF = x =0.00375
1000 200

Lead acetate is used for clarification of the sample.

The de-leading solution is used to remove the interfering calcium ions. Calcium ions form a
complex with reducing sugars.

Source of errors in the experiment

 Complexed calcium ions interfere with the reaction rate.

 Sucrose in the solution is partly inverted due to high ph of the reaction mixture.
 Presence of noon sugar substances affects the accuracy of the results because their
removal of subsequent deleading is not recommended by ICUMSA.

50
Precautions

The titration must be done within 2 minutes from the time of boiling.

The tip of the burette must be out of the conical flask to prevent atmospheric oxidation of
Fehling’s solution.

Recommendation: EDTA should be used for the removal of calcium ions because it forms a
strong complex with them.

Selected sample results about special analysis experiments.

1.Determination of phosphoric acid %

Reagents used; standard sodium hydroxide 1N, Bromocresol green indicator (0.1g in 100ml of
rectified spirit).

Procedure:

5g of the sample were accurately weighed in a flask and diluted with 60ml of distilled water to
ph. The solution was titrated against sodium hydroxide using bromocresol green indicator to the
end point from green to blue.

Results

Ph: 1.24

Titer value: 47.4ml

Calculation

9.8 x V x N
Formula:% phosphoric acid =
W

9.8 x 4.7 .4 x 1
% phosphoric acid =
5

Where, V is volume in mls of sodium hydroxide used, N is normality of sodium hydroxide, W is

the weight of the sample used.

51
% phosphoric acid = 92.904.

Analysis of lime:

Method used: sucrose method.

Procedure:

5g of finely powdered lime sample was weighed accurately on a watch glass and then transferred
into a 250ml volumetric flask with 90ml of freshly boiled distilled water. The solution was
boiled gently on a hot plate, shaking with a rotary motion was done to break up the lumps if any.
The flask was cooled to room temperature. 40g of pure sugar were dissolved in 40ml of freshly
boiled distilled water and then added to the flask with lime.

The solution was shaken vigorously with rotary motion keeping the lime in suspension then the
volume was completed with freshly boiled distilled water up to the mark and the solution was
shaken well.

The solution was filtered using watman no.1 filter paper and the first 25ml were discarded.

25ml of the filtrate were pipetted into a cleaned 250ml Erlenmeyer flask. 5 drops of
phenolphthalein indicator were added and the solution titrated to the absence of the pink colour
with 2.8N sulphuric acid.

Results

% of the available CaO = mls of 2.8N sulphuric acid used x 2

= 31.90 x 2

= 63.8%

2.Determination of sugar colour.

Aim; To determine the color of sugar in ICUMSA (International Commission Uniform Methods
of Sugar Association) units.

Procedure

A sample of sugar was got from the bagging section.

52
30g of the sugar sample were weighed accurately in a 250ml clean and dry beaker.70ml of
distilled water was measured using a measuring cylinder. The sugar was stirred until it
completely dissolved. The pH of the sugar solution was adjusted to 7.0+0.1 using 0.1N sodium
hydroxide solution or HCL. The solution was carefully filtered using a vacuum filter through a
0.45micrometer membrane filter paper. The first filtrate of about 20ml was used for rinsing the
flask. For efficient filtration, the 20ml of sugar solution was poured into the filter at a time. The
filtrate was taken out in another clean dry 100ml beaker. The absorbance of the filtrate was
measured at 420nm and the spectrophotometer was calibrated using distilled water as the blank
solution. The same filtrate was used to determine the brix. The results and calculations were as
follows.

ICUMSA at 420nm = (A * 100000)/BC

Where A is absorbance, B is cell length, C is concentration of the solution = brix of the solution
* specific gravity of the solution.

ICUMSA at 420nm = (0.15 x 100000)/ (1*(30.70x.1333)

= 431 ICUMSA units.

The result above falls between the acceptable colour range of light brown sugar which is 401 to
700 ICUMSA units. The brown sugar is due to use od unsulphited syrup or at times it could be
due to the rainy season as the sugarcane may come with a lot of mud which leaves the sugar with
a brown color. Light brown means there was use of sulphited syrup. However, at times there is a
lot of liming which greatly affects the sulphitation process as it would be hard to remove the
brown color from the sugar.

3.Determination of preparative index

Method

Samples of prepared cane were withdrawn from the entire cross section of the cane belt conveyor
1 and further sub sampled by quartering.

Analysis

A representative sample of the prepared cane was divided into two parts and the two parts were
treated as follows.

First part (tumbler)

53
500g of the prepared cane were weighed and placed into a plastic bottle and 3000ml of water
were added and the lid was screwed. This was done with two bottles.

The bottles were tumbled for 30 minutes at 18 rpm.

The extract was poured out of the bottle and filtered.

The brix B1 was determined.

Second part(extractor)

333g of the prepared cane was weighed and transferred into the extractor and 2 liters were added.

The extractor was run for 20 minutes and the brix B2 of the extract was determined.

Results and calculation

B1 = 1.83, B2 = 2.08

brix of thetumbler extract

PI = x 100
brix of rapi polextract

B1
PI = x 100
B2

1.83
PI = x 100=87.98 %
2.08

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Challenges

The biggest challenge I got was that in some sections like pan floor, the workers were not
allowed to interact with the trainees for more than 5 minutes.

The other challenge I faced was that most of the workers who were available and willing to
interact with us were just operators and could not explain technically I expected.

Language barrier was also another challenge because most of the worker could only explain to
me in lunyoro which I did not understand.

A lot of heat generated from the boiler section and and juice treatment and clarification was also
another challenge faced by me while in Bwendero Dairy Farm.

CONCLUSION

The industrial training gained me excellent and rewarding experience at the Bwendero Dairy
Farm Limited (BDF),I was able to relate the theoretical work covered at the university to the
practical work done in the factory, particularly in areas of chemical analysis, mass transfer, heat
exchange, fluid mechanics, mechanical separation techniques among other course units The
industrial training has helped me to gain practical skills, has made me familiar to the working
environment and has helped me to get new friends. Thanks to the management of BDF.

55
RECOMMENDATIONS
1.To BDF:

 Any other student who is interested in training at BDF should apply and follow up early
enough consistently to avoid disappointment.

 I recommend that more strictness is put to the workers in the plantations to use the
shortest possible time to harvest and deliver the cane to minimize microbial inversion of
sucrose.

 I recommend that the quality assurance section supervises the laboratory technicians as
the sample for analysis in order to improve on the accuracy of results.

 I recommend that the expired chemicals in the laboratory should be separated and
removed from the shelves such that are not mistakenly used in analysis.

2. To kyambogo university

 I recommend that as the university supervisors come to supervise us while we are on

training, they should be provided with envelops having the kyambogo logo such that the
internal supervisors make the assessment marks are kept confidential.
 The university should gives students enough time while doing industrial training
regardless of the bad situation like covid so that students gain practical skills and
knowledge and know more better.

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REFRENCES.

1. E. Hugot,1986, Handbook of cane sugar engineering,3rd edition.

2. Pieter Honig,1953, Principles of sugar technology, volume 1, Elsevier publishing
company.
3. J.M. Smith,” introduction to chemical engineering thermodynamics”,7th edition.

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