Performance assessment of continuous high-grade fugals

Continuous high-grade centrifuging has achieved rapid adoption in the Australian sugar industry as a cost-effective technology. This is despite SOme continuing difficulties, particularly with respect to the ability to produce sugar at high polarisation, the production of wetter sugar than from batch fugals and the increase in the fines component of the size distribution of the crystals. For several years, SRI has conducted investigations into the performance of various continuous high-grade fugal machines. The paper reports on the results of an initial series of performance trials. Overall, continuous high-grade fugals provide benefits in terms of productivity per unit of capital cost, steady power demand, and potential lower maintenance costs. The major processing disadvantage is the difficulty to produce high pol sugars from all high-grade massecuites. The disadvantage arises from the inferior purging and washing performance of continuous fugals relative to batch machines. It is concluded that the greatest improvement would be achieved by improving the purging characteristics of the feed massecuite, primarily by conditioning the material just prior to fugalling to reduce the mother molasses viscosity.