Sugar factory rules of thumb for equipment sizing
The following equipment sizing guide is based on sugar factory installations in Southern Africa, and is adapted from MJ Reid, South African Sugar Factory Plant Installations 1995, Sugar Milling Reasearch Institute, Durban.
The factory capacity in tonnes cane per hour [tch] or tonnes fibre per hour [tfh] used in the calculations to prepare this data is the nominal capacity of the factory, not the design capacity nor the maximum capacity nor current actual capacity, but the estimated normal capacity.
In the histograms below the vertical axis shows the relative frequency with which the parameter in question appears. The horizontal axis shows the various brackets into which the parameter is placed. For example in the cane prepartion section below, 24% of the factories had a total specific cane prep power of less than 62kW/tfh. In the next bracket 27% of the factories had total specific powers between 62 and 86kW/tfh. The next bracket; 86 to 110kW/tfh accounts for 36% of the factories and so on.
Cane Preparation Equipment
The total specific power in kW/tfh. That is knife power plus shredder power divided by the tons of fibre processed per hour
Minimum | Average | Maximum |
45 | 84.12 | 165 |
Diffusers
The specific screen area in m2/tfh.
Minimum | Average | Maximum |
6.6 | 10.7 | 14.9 |
Milling Tandems in diffuser factories
The specific total mill power in kW/tfh.
Minimum | Average | Maximum |
38.3 | 60.3 | 110 |
Milling Tandems in milling factories
The specific total mill power in kW/tfh.
Minimum | Average | Maximum |
70 | 104.4 | 164 |
Juice Heaters
Total heating surface per tch [m2/tch]
Minimum | Average | Maximum |
4.29 | 8.0 | 13.1 |
Trayless Clarifiers
Total volumetric capacity per tch [m3/tch]
Minimum | Average | Maximum |
0.75 | 1.14 | 1.73 |
Tray Type Clarifiers
Total volumetric capacity per tch [m3/tch]
Minimum | Average | Maximum |
1.14 | 2.04 | 3.10 |
Rotary Vacuum Filters
Total effective area per tch [m2/tch]
Minimum | Average | Maximum |
0.19 | 0.49 | 0.77 |
Multiple Effect Evaporators
Total heating surface area per tch [m2/tch]
Minimum | Average | Maximum |
24.5 | 38.6 | 65.5 |
Vacuum Pans
Total capacity per tch [m3/tch]
Minimum | Average | Maximum |
1.25 | 1.52 | 1.90 |
Crystallisers
Total capacity per tch [m3/tch]
Minimum | Average | Maximum |
2.20 | 4.04 | 5.40 |
Boiler Plant
Total capacity per tch [kg of steam/tch]
Minimum | Average | Maximum |
516 | 778 | 1088 |
Power Plant
Total capacity per tch [kW/tch]
Minimum | Average | Maximum |
30.0 | 51.1 | 88.9 |