Influence of drying conditions on the caning and compactation of stored sugar

Abstract

The occurrence of caking and compacting phenomena in the sugar industry, because of controllable internal factors of the concluding steps of the production process, random external factors, or to a combined of both types, causes significant financial and operative damages. Astudy on the optimization of the controllable operation conditions in the drying step allows minimizing these inconveniences. By using the evaluation of the different effects on the stored crystals final moisture with the time as the main evaluation criteria, the results allowed the identification of the more convenient magnitudes of flow rate and temperature of the air introduced to the dryer installed in the sugar refinery of a mill of the region of Valle del Cauca for each one of the typical ambient conditions of the three daily production shifts. Statistical testing of a established rule based on the conclusion's study reveal the obtaining of crystals with a final moisture content below the maximum specified limit of 0.05 %, the almost full elimination of the compression phenomena in two of the three shifts, and significant decreasing of caking in all situations.