ACCESSION NO: 0212209 SUBFILE: CRIS
PROJ NO: LAB93869 AGENCY: NIFA LA.B
PROJ TYPE: HATCH PROJ STATUS: NEW
START: 01 OCT 2007 TERM: 30 SEP 2012 FY: 2010

INVESTIGATOR: Kochergin, V. N.

PERFORMING INSTITUTION:
AUDUBON SUGAR INSTITUTE
LOUISIANA STATE UNIVERSITY
BATON ROUGE, LOUISIANA 70893

SEPARATION TECHNOLOGIES FOR CANE SUGAR PROCESSING

CLASSIFICATION HEADINGS: R402 . Engineering Systems and Equipment; S2020 . Sugar cane; F2020 . Engineering; R501 . New and Improved Food Processing Technologies

NON-TECHNICAL SUMMARY: Sugar industry in Louisiana have to become more competitive. Sugar quality issues must be addressed. This project investigates innovative separation and purification technologies for high quality sugar production.

OBJECTIVES: Objective 1. Improve removal of suspended solids by designing and testing of new industrial clarifiers by adapting principles of fractal fluid distribution technology that has proved very efficient in various engineering applications. Objective 2. Investigate application of innovative clarification agents providing additional decolorization benefits that will decrease the overall cost of raw sugar production. A combination of juice decolorization and removal of suspended solids will also yield quality improvement of final product as well as reduction of energy use in the milling process. Objective 3. Develop concepts promoting intensification of unit operations, such as sedimentation, filtration, crystallization, ion exchange, etc. Optimize the design features and propose innovative equipment to improve separation and purification of cane sugar solutions in raw mills and sugar refineries. Objective 4. Develop and optimize purification technologies targeting improvements in quality of raw sugar. Investigate methods of production of VHP (very high pol) and very low color (VLC) sugar and its behavior in long-term (about 10 months) storage. Relatively long raw sugar storage period is specific to the Louisiana sugar industry, where the production season lasts for about 90 days.

APPROACH: Task 1a. Carry out bench scale tests to optimize the concentration and the method of addition of chemicals to process juice to maximize decolorization and precipitation conditions. Task 1b. Silica content in the clarified juice and effect of various parameters on the dissolved and colloidal silica in the clarified juice will be studied. Silica along with calcium and magnesium is one of the components affecting scaling characteristics of juice (hence, energy usage in evaporators). Task 2. Perform bench scale tests required for comparison of existing and newly proposed clarification agents, estimate settling parameters, and the effects of clarification path length and directions of fluid flow on clarifier performance. Task 3. Construct pilot prototypes of equipment for flow visualization inside clarification and ion exchange equipment. Using model systems (water, corn syrup or sugar solutions) test fractal fluid distribution network efficiency and compare with the conventional designs. Task 4. Modeling of fluid flows in the fractal distribution network and the clarifiers to compare with observed flow visualization. Optimize main design parameters for fractal fluid distribution network to achieve uniform flow and minimize settling in the distribution channels. Task 5. Devise and implement procedures to illustrate the differences between conventional and proposed designs. Task 6. Design, construct and test new equipment (clarifier and ion exchanger) on a larger scale. Establish the correlation of major parameters, such as settling velocity, juice clarity and mud quality for clarifier tests. Task 7. Provide recommendations on process design required for equipment integration into industrial process. Task 8. Construct and test large scale pilot equipment in one the cane mills during the processing season using similar methodology established in the bench and pilot test programs to assure the scalability of obtained results. Task 9. Calculate material and energy balances and prepare technical recommendations for construction of new equipment and retrofitting existing clarification equipment. Task 10. Samples of seed will be collected from each Louisiana mill along with representative samples of massecuite obtained when particular samples were used. That will allow observing both initial and final crystal population in the massecuite. Influence of seed preparation procedures on the quality of seed and resulting crystal distribution in the pans will be evaluated. The available seed preparation practices will be reviewed and optimized to provide the best crystal population that will result in better centrifugation, molasses handling and exhaustion. Task 11. Collaborate with raw sugar mills to produce sufficient quantities of high quality sugar and set up a program for sample collection to gain understanding of how sugar quality parameters change during storage. Evaluate the technologies required to consistently produce sugar of VHP and VLC quality in a mill- crystallization schemes, washing conditions, etc. Provide a report to the industry.

KEYWORDS: sugar industry; separation technologies; fractal fluid distribution; sugar quality; raw sugar storage; clarification; ion exchange

PROGRESS: 2010/01 TO 2010/12
OUTPUTS: A new clarifier design was implemented in three Louisiana sugar mills. A patent application on a new clarifier design has been published. Four refereed publications, one publication in Sugar Bulletin (stakeholders magazine), ten oral presentations at the National and International meetings. An international Audubon Sugar Short Course on separation technologies in May 2010 was attended by over 50 participants from 12 countries. A seminar for sugar growers was organized in July 2010 (together with Dr.Legendre) to explain the influence of cane quality on mill and refinery operation. Technical support has been provided to 11 Louisiana sugar factories during the crop. A training session has been caried out for Audubon Sugar Institute and Louisiana factory specialists in Sugars TM modeling software. PARTICIPANTS: Vadim Kochergin was the Principal Investigator of the project. Iryna Tichechkina, Research Associate, was responsible for analytical support of the project. Stuart L.Goudeau, Research Associate, was responsible for data colletion for filter trials. Cy Gaudet, student, LSU Chemical Engineering Department, was responsible for modeling, design and data collection for new clarifier trials. Christian Lohrey, Graduate Student, designed and operated installation for heat release from sugar piles. TARGET AUDIENCES: The target audiences were the technical personnel of Louisiana sugar factories and refineries and sugar cane growers. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

IMPACT: 2010/01 TO 2010/12
A pilot rig has been constructed to address potential air bubble entrainment in the clarifier pre-distribution system. Water tests during summer 2010 demonstrated that air entrainment could occur in case of free waterfall in the pre-distribution lines. With the proper pre-distribution, existing design of turbulence reduction devices did not show any problems with flows up to 140 gpm per device (design flow is 100 gpm). A trough type pre-distribution system was designed together with the specialists from Sterling factory. A newly designed 20-foot diameter clarifier with nine turbulence reductions devices has been constructed and water tested during the summer. New clarifier has been operated reliably at flow rate of 750 gpm with a very short 35 minutes residence time. Performance of new clarifier exceeded an SRI clarifier' performance with 45 minute residence time by an average 20 percent. Two special tests have been run, where the clarifier throughput was increased to 1000-1100 gpm without the loss of efficiency. This indicates potential for further improvement. The capital cost of new design was estimated at 30-40 percent compared to conventional designs. Estimated savings due to implementation of new clarifiers in the three sugar mills exceed $600,000. Improvement of raw sugar quality is one of the key targets of sugar producers this season. To release heat from sugar piles an experimental system was designed and installed at Cora-Texas factory warehouse that included a Roots blower and a control system activating the blower at certain air parameters. Air temperature and relative humidity were continuously measured in seven different points across the pile. The conditions were compared with the unventilated portion of the pile in the same warehouse. It was found that cooling takes place in the experimental section while there is a slight upward trend in the non-ventilated portion of the pile. The study is being continued through the end of storage period. Successful completion of the trial will result in new design of a ventilation system that will allow mills receiving premiums for sugar quality. The premiums are estimated on average $400,000 per sugar mill. The performance of a belt type Technopulp mud filter was evaluated in terms of mud desweetening, water usage, etc. The evalution of filter performance was important to producers to evaluate economic efficiency of filter operation. Analytical information and mass balance calculations and comparison with conventional rotary drum filters will be presented at the ASSCT meeting in February 2011.

PUBLICATIONS (not previously reported): 2010/01 TO 2010/12
1. V.Kochergin, K.Miller (2010) Evaluation of target efficiencies for solid-liquid separation steps in biofuels production, published online July 4 ,2010 Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology http://www.springerlink.com/content/w02552374216h107/
2. V.Kochergin (2010) Studies of Long-Term Storage of High Quality Raw Sugar, Proceedings of the 26th Congress of the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, Veracruz, Mexico, March 7-11, 2010 CD (refereed)
3. V.Kochergin (2010) Reduction on Sugar losses in Boiling House Operations, The Sugar Bulletin v.88, No.7 April 2010, pp.17-19
4. V.Kochergin (2010) Studies of Long-Term Storage of High Quality Raw Sugar, Sugar Industry/Zuckerindustrie, 135(60), No.7 (July 2010), pp.419-426
5. V.Kochergin, C.Gaudet, M.Robert (2010) A Juice Clarifier with Turbulence Reduction Devices, Results of First Industrial Trials, Proceedings of the 83th Congress of SASTA, Aug 25-27, 2010, Durban, SA (refereed)
6. V.Kochergin, C.Gaudet, M.Robert, S.Bergeron (2010) Experience with New Design of Juice Clarifier, ASSCT LA Division, Lafayette, LA Feb 2-3, 2010
7. V.Kochergin, I.Tishechkina (2010) Crystal Size Measurements-convenient Tool for Sugar Mill Tune-up, ASSCT LA Division , Lafayette, LA Feb 2-3, 2010
8. V.Kochergin (2010) Studies of Long-Term Storage of High Quality Raw Sugar, Proceedings of the 26th Congress of the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, Vera Cruz, Mexico, March 8-11, 2010
9. K.Miller, V.Kochergin (2010) Flow Characteristics of C-Massecuite in Cooling Crystallizers, Presented at SPRI Conference, New Orleans , LA, March 28-29, 2010
10. K.Miller, V.Kochergin (2010) Dissolved Air Flotation (DAF) for Recovery of Suspended Solids from Pretreated Bagasse Streams,32nd Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals, April 19-22, 2010, Clearwater Beach, Florida, poster presentation
11. V.Kochergin, D.Day, M.Suhr (2010) Algae Production and Sugar Cane Mills: Is There A Synergy, 32nd Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals, April 19-22, 2010, Clearwater Beach, Florida, poster presentation
12. V.Kochergin, C.Gaudet (2010) New Approach to Fluid Distribution in the Industrial Clarifiers,40th Joint Annual meeting of ASSCT Florida and Louisiana Divisions, Panama City Beach, June 16-18, 2010
13. V.Kochergin, M.Suhr (2010) Biodiesel from Algae As An Alternative for Sugar Mill Sustainability, 40th Joint Annual meeting of ASSCT Florida and Louisiana Divisions, Panama City Beach, June 16-18, 2010
14. V.Kochergin, C.Gaudet, M.Robert (2010) A Juice Clarifier with Turbulent Reduction Devices-Results of First Industrial Trials, 83rd Congress of SASTA, Aug 25-27, 2010, Durban, SA
15. V.Kochergin (2010) Sugar Industry: Pathways to Non-ethanol Fuels and Carbohydrate Based Chemicals. Invited plenary presentation 83rd Congress of SASTA, Aug 25-27, 2010, Durban, SA
16. V.Kochergin, C.Gaudet (2010) Device for Turblence Reduction, Patent application, filed September 23, 2010

PROGRESS: 2009/01/01 TO 2009/12/31
OUTPUTS: Studies have continued according to the original work plan (Tasks 3, 4, 5,10 and 11 were accomplished). The pilot tests of a newly designed turbulent reduction device were attended by the representatives from five sugar mills. A provisional patent application has been filed. Based on the results of computerized fluid dynamics(CFD) modeling and physical testing, a clarifier has been retrofitted in a Louisiana sugar mill. Operation of a newly designed clarifier was monitored and compared with two other clarifiers in the industrial environment. Clarifier performance compared favorably with two other designs currently utilized by the mills. The cost of retrofitting was very low compared with other alternatives. Investigation of raw sugar quality improvement options were continued. Monitoring of quality of VHP and VLC sugar produced during 2008 grinding season has been accomplished. Final report with conclusions has been distributed to all Louisiana mills. Results were also reported in the sugar quality meeting organized by Louisiana Sugar Cane Products Inc. (LSCPI) in September 2009. Results of the studies were shared with the stockholder community at the 2009 American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists (2009 ASSCT Annual Meeting, Louisiana Division and the 39th ASSCT Joint Meeting (Florida and Louisiana Divisions)). Four papers have been presented that summarized results of several factory projects during the 2008/09 cane grinding season. Two papers have been published in Sugar Bulletin, a magazine respected by Louisiana sugar growers and processors. Annual reports have been provided to the American Sugar Cane League that provided funding for the project. Newly designed clarifier allowed sugar mill to avoid costly purchase of a new piece of equipment and operated well during the challenging rainy season that was characterized by significant mud levels in cane. PARTICIPANTS: V.Kochergin PI I.Tishechkina -Research Associate C.Gaudet -undergraduate student K.Miller -graduate assistant Partner organization- Amalgamated Rsesearch Inc(Twin Falls, ID) Louisisana SUgar Mills American Sugar Cane League- partner -provided partial funding TARGET AUDIENCES: Sugar cane growers and processors, Louisiana Sugar mill personnel PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

IMPACT: 2009/01/01 TO 2009/12/31
Design criteria for a settling clarifier has been defined as follows: 1) Large scale turbulent eddies created by juice introduction need to be reduced; 2) Velocity in the feed channels should remain relatively high to eliminate plugging/scaling; 3) Uniform distribution of feed inlets and outlets in order to have uniform vertical juice velocities to make full use of the cross-sectional area of the clarifier; and, 4) Minimize any non-vertical flows within a clarifier. A pilot prototype for a turbulent reduction device has been constructed and tested on water using dye tracer. Computerized Fluid Dynamics modeling has been performed (with assistance from Amalgamated Research Inc.) to optimize the design of the prototype. Improved device achieved significant turbulence reduction and was considered suitable for commercial application. Industrial clarifier has been retrofitted with turbulence reduction devices equally distributed around the tank cross-section. Clarified juice turbidity was monitored throughout the grinding season. Observations and data are currently being summarized. As a result of monitoring of quality of VHP and VLC sugar produced, it was concluded that sugar temperature was the main factor affecting storage. Surface layer of the sugar pile (as much as 10 ft. deep) follows the ambient temperature trend, and the sugar quality does not change significantly. Sugar in the core of the pile lacks the ability to release the heat, which results in additional color formation. Further ideas have to be explored to cool sugar prior to storage to below 90F and releasing heat during storage if needed. A new set of temperature-humidity sensors have been installed at the St. Mary mill to accumulate additional data on changes in sugar quality during storage. Sampling procedure has been modified to obtain sugar from the middle of the pile. Boiling studies have been performed in July-August 2009 using the ASI pilot vacuum pan. The effect of seed quantity and uniformity on the grain crystal properties was investigated under controlled boiling conditions to minimize process variations. The pilot tests have been attended by specialists from five sugar mills. A standard boiling operation was simulated equivalent to addition of 4 lbs. of sugar per 1600 cu ft. graining pan. In the mill operations, more slurry is routinely added than it is required from theoretical crystal growth calculations. It was observed that crystal size grew linearly with time during boiling, but the non-uniformity was increasing in the beginning of the boiling cycle. This raises the question if full pan seeding actually occurs or it is accompanied by partial "shock seeding" that provides additional surface area for crystal growth when insufficient amount of crystals are added. Based on the studies, it is recommended to calculate the amount of sugar in the seed slurry not less than 1 lb of sugar per 1000 cu. ft of final C-massecuite.

PUBLICATIONS: 2009/01/01 TO 2009/12/31
1. Kochergin, V. Production and Storage of VHP and VLC Sugar, The Sugar Bulletin, v.87, no.5, February 2009, pp.19-20.
2. Kochergin, V. Optimization of low grade boiling procedures, The Sugar Bulletin, v.87, No.6, Mar 2009, pp.16-20.
3. Kochergin , V., K. Miller, I. Tishechkina, Effect of crystal size and uniformity on low grade boiling and centrifugation, ASSCT annual meeting-Louisiana Division, Baton Rouge, LA, February 3, 2009.
4. Kochergin, V. Storage of VHP and VLC raw sugar: results of the 2007-08 season ASSCT anual meeting- Louisiana Division, Baton Rouge, LA, February 3, 2009.
5. Kochergin, V. Low Raw Crystallization: Is There Room for Improvement, Proceedings of the 35th ASSBT meeting, Orlando, FL Feb 28-March 3, 2009, pp.169-177.
6. Kochergin, V., K. Miller, Evaluation of target efficiencies for solid-liquid separation steps in biofuels production, Presented at the 31st Symposium on Biotechnology for Fuels and Chemicals , May 3-7, 2009 San Francisco, CA
7. Saska, M., V. Kochergin, Quality changes during storage of raw and VLC sugar: Effects of pH and moisture , International Sugar Journal, April 2009.
8. Kochergin, V. Affinity based separation technologies and their role in the current and future sugar industry , First Congress of the European Society of Sugar Technologists (ESST) , Rotterdam, Netherlands, May 17-19, 2009.
9. Miller, K., I. Tishechkina, V. Kochergin The Effect of Sugar Crystal Size and Uniformity on C-Centrifugal Performance, 39th Joint Annual meeting of ASSCT Florida and Louisiana Divisions, Biloxi, MS, June 18-20, 2009.

PROGRESS: 2008/01/01 TO 2008/12/31
OUTPUTS: Results of the studies were shared with the stockholder community at the 2008 American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists(ASSCT annual meeting- Louisiana Division and at the 38 th Joint Annual meeting of ASSCT Florida and Louisiana Divisions (2008). A total of four oral presentations was given where the data on industrial trials of high quality sugar storage were explained to the community of Lousiana sugar processors and growers. Additionally, two annual reports have been provided to the American Sugar Cane League that had partially funded the project. The experimental results contributed to making informative decisions by the sugar mills on production and storage of high quality sugar. PARTICIPANTS: Iryna Tishechkina, Research Associate, assisted in particle size analysis. Analytical Laboratory of Audubon Sugar Institute performed necessary analysis of stoired sugar sample. TARGET AUDIENCES: Target audiences for the rpoject research are sugar technologiststs as well as sugar cane crop producers and processors. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Not relevant to this project.

IMPACT: 2008/01/01 TO 2008/12/31
Analysis of samples of seed crystals and C-massecuites in most Louisiana mills shows rather high level of non-uniformity with a large number of small crystals. Implementation of consistent and repeatable graining procedures proposed as a result of the current project will improve the boiling house efficiency. Following parameters need to be optimized: purity and quantity of footing for the grain charge, purity of syrup added during the grain development, and quantity of seed. A trend has been observed that growing relatively small crystals in C-massecuite (in the range of 180-220 micron) generally results in higher sugar losses. Small crystals are typically less uniform and have typically higher values of coefficients of variation (CV). The median crystal size of C-massecuites should be in the range of 250-260 microns. Steps should be taken for reduction in crystal size seasonal variability in C-massecuite, which will minimize sugar losses in C-centrifuges. This information will be used to monitor crystal size population in the sugar mill and provide feedback to mill operators. Material balance modeling studies indicated that molasses recycle with C-massecuite should normally be reduced, especially for low purity syrup conditions. It is desirable to reduce molasses recycle by improving crystal size distribution rather than by increasing washing. Depending on mill configuration and syrup purities, operational strategies were developed targeting reduction of molasses purity and, hence, improvement of mill profitability. A test program has been set up at two Louisiana sugar mills. Storage conditions in experimental sugar piles of very high pol (VHP) and very low color (VLC) have been monitored. Initial observations show that high quality sugar stores better compared to conventional product. Moisture (and safety factor) remains virtually unchanged and certain pol deterioration was observed, mainly due to inversion. Higher color formation in the core of the piles should be further investigated. If results are confirmed on an industrial scale, significant savings can be accomplished at the mills, because additional dryers would not be required to handle sugar of improved quality. Practical recommendations have been given to the sugar mills on sugar warehouse management.

PUBLICATIONS: 2008/01/01 TO 2008/12/31
1. Kochergin,V., W. Jacob, W. Bornak (2008) Extending life of decolorization resin by aggressive cleaning procedures , International Sugar Journal,110(No. 1313):305-310
2. Kochergin,V., M.Saska (2008) Production and storage of VHP and VLC sugar, Paper #944, Pages 205 to 227 inProc. of Sugar Industry Technologists, Leipzig, Germany
3. Kochergin V., M. Suhr. (2008) Chromatographic applications for optimized sugar processing, Page 55 to 62 in Proc. of 15th Andrew Van Hook Symposium, Reims , France
4. Kochergin,V.(2008)(Abstract)VHP sugar production and storage -ASSCT annual meeting- Louisiana Division, Baton Rouge, LA, February 13
5. Kochergin,V. I.Tishechkina (2008) (Abstract) Seed Preparation Procedures for Low Grade Boiling in Louisiana Mills -ASSCT annual meeting- Louisiana Division, Baton Rouge, LA, February 12-13
6. Kochergin,V. (2008) (Abstract) Influence of crystal size distribution on sugar mill performance, 38 th Joint Annual meeting of ASSCT Florida and Louisiana Divisions, Orlando, FL , June 18-20
7. Kochergin,V. M. Saska (2008) (Abstract) Production and storage of high quality sugars- 38 th Joint Annual meeting of ASSCT Florida and Louisiana Divisions, Orlando, FL , June 18-20

PROJECT CONTACT:

Name: Kochergin, V.
Phone: 225-6420135
Fax: 225-6428790
Email: vkochergin@agcenter.lsu.edu

SUPPLEMENTARY DATA: Institution Type: SAES Region: 2 Process Date: 2007/09/17 Progress Update: 2011/04/01