Sugar Production

Unit.02- Milling Operations

R.Prasad
Contractual_Faculty . .
MMMUT Gorakhpur UP
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Syllabus to Cover in Milling operation:

a) Mills setting
b) Pressure -Volume relationship
c) Reabsorption factor
d) Compression Ratio
e) Filling Ratio
f) Fiber Loading
g) Hydraulic Pressure
h) Imbibition Principle
i) Different system of Imbibition
j) Methods of Application of imbibition

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Imbibition
Objective
When bagasse is subjected even to high and repeated pressures, a limit of extraction
is soon reached. The moisture content can hardly be reduced much below 45%; that
is, less juice content. In order to improve the extraction of sucrose, water is applied
as "imbibition”; that is, the juice remaining in the bagasse is diluted by the added
imbibition water, so that the juice remaining after the final mill is much diluted
compared with the original juice in cane. Hence the sucrose loss with the moisture
content of 45% or thereabouts is of the order of 5% on sucrose in cane instead of
some 20% in the absence of imbibition.
Different systems of imbibition
Actually, on account of the small difference between the bagasse moistures, there is
every advantage in commencing the imbibition as early as the delivery of the first
mill; the gain will be all the more rapid as the juice with which the bagasse is still
filled will be more easily diluted and extracted. The quantity of juice extracted is
then nearly equal to the quantity which would have been extracted without addition
of water, increased by the quantity of water added. The quantity of sugar extracted
is much greater than that which would have been obtained without addition of water,
since the quantity of juice remaining in the bagasse (which, as we have just stated,
is very nearly the same) now consists of diluted juice instead of absolute juice.
Simple imbibition.
 The simplest procedure which comes to mind is to add the water to the bagasse
after each mill. This procedure is called "simple imbibition". If the water is
added at one point only, between the last two mills for example, it will be
called single simple imbibition. If it is added at 2 points, between the
penultimate mill and the preceding one, and then between the penultimate and
the last, it will be termed double simple imbibition; similarly, for triple simple
imbibition, and so on.
 However, this would involve use of excess water if satisfactory mixture of
water and bagasse were to be obtained.

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Compound imbibition.
 This system, however, consumes much water, which has to be evaporated
later. Starting from single simple imbibition, it has been observed that the
dilute juice obtained from the last mill is mostly water; it has then been taken
and sent back before the preceding mill. This is what is called "compound
imbibition", and, in this case, it is double. If the juice obtained in this way
from the penultimate mill is again returned before the previous mill, this
becomes triple compound imbibition; and so on.

 In order to obtain the optimum degree of mixing with a moderate amount of

added water, a system of "compound imbibition" is adopted as follows: water
is applied before the last mill only; the juice expressed by the last mill is very
dilute, and is then applied before the second last mill. The juice expressed by
that mill in turn is applied at an earlier position in the train as shown in Fig.
162 for a five mill train. Thus the system approximates to a counter current
extraction, each bagasse coming into contact with a juice weaker than that in
the bagasse and serving to dilute it; the quantity of juice applied at each mill
is approximately equal to the quantity of water applied before the last mill,
and thus is much greater than would be the case if that same total quantity of
water was applied as simple imbibition. This gives better mixing of juice and
bagasse, and so obtains efficient action of imbibition with a moderate quantity
of added water. All added water of course has to be removed by evaporation
at a later stage; hence steam and fuel requirements, or evaporator capacity,
determine the quantity of imbibition water which can be economically
applied.

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Cold or hot imbibition?

 Should cold water or hot water be used for imbibition?
Tests made on this question again show little agreement. However, we know of
several factories where a rather marked difference in exhaustion of the bagasse has
been indicated in favor of hot water.

(Note: JUST FOR KNOWLEDGE)

MATHEMATICAL STUDY OF IMBIBITION

For the sake of a thorough understanding of imbibition, which is more complex than
it appears to many, and which plays an important part in the financial results of the
sugar factory, we shall study in order:
(a) Dry crushing
(b) Wet crushing
(c) Multiple simple imbibition
(a) Multiple compound imbibition.

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(a)Dry crushing. Dry crushing consists of all the successive applications of pressure
on the bagasse in a milling tandem, without previous addition of any liquid.
We shall assume the presence of a crusher, and group it with the first mill. Suppose
we reserve for dry crushing a number n of mills.
m = fiber content of bagasse from the last dry crushing mill
n = number of imbibition’s = number of wet crushing mills
w = total weight of imbibition water per unit weight of cane
f = weight of fiber per unit weight of cane.
(b) Wet crushing. As a first approximation, we shall postulate that the dry crushing
is taken to the stage where the fiber ‘m’ of the last dry-crushing bagasse approaches
the limit m ≈ 0.5.
At this stage, we add ‘w’ of water before the following mill, which we call the first
wet crushing mill. From then on, we may assume that all the following mills reduce
the bagasse to a fiber in the vicinity of ‘m’.

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(c)Simple multiple imbibition. We have seen that simple imbibition means

imbibition carried out by means of water only, without any return of juice to the
bagasse.
Simple imbibition is called multiple when the water is applied at 2 or more points
before 2 or more mills.
(d)Compound multiple imbibition. Compound imbibition is the system which
consists of applying water before the last mill, of returning the juice obtained at the
last mill as imbibition before the second-last mill, the juice from the latter mill before
the next one preceding, and so on. The juice from the 2nd wet crushing mill is thus
returned before the 1st wet crushing mill and only the juice from this first wet
crushing mill goes to manufacture with the dry crushing juice.

In Fig. 166: let e1 e2 e3. .. . be the corresponding quantities of sugar extracted by

the 1st, 2nd, 3rd. ... wet crushing mills, for unit quantity of sugar remaining after
dry crushing. If each of the latter gives a bagasse of fiber m, each of them will
recover w of juice and will extract a proportion r of sugar.

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Methods of application of imbibition

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Chapter 4: MILL SETTINGS

 What Do We Understand by Mill Setting?
OBJECTIVE: The objectives of mill setting involves following

1) The term "mill settings" refers to the relative positions of the 3 rollers and the
trash plate, as arranged in order to give the best results in terms of capacity
and extraction.
2) More specifically, the Mill settings refer to the openings between top and
feed, and top and delivery rollers, and also the clearance between top roller
and trash plate. The delivery roller is always set to a smaller opening than the
feed roller; thus the material is subjected to a higher pressure at the delivery,
3) and Mill setting determines the maximum pressure and the extraction obtained
by the mill; the duty of the feed roller is essentially to give a partial
compression and feed the bagasse to the delivery roller. However, the feed
roller achieves a considerable extraction and, with suitable feeding
arrangements, extracts the major portion of the juice extracted by the mill as
a whole.
4) mill settings therefore involve calculation of the desirable feed and delivery
openings, (the ratio between these being an important factor) as well as the
arrangement of the trash plate.
5) Calculation of mill Setting Involves
a) Desirable Feed,
b) Delivery opening (Set Opening and Work Opening),
c) And Arrangement of Trash Plate

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 What is Set Opening and Work Opening in Mill Setting?

 Work Opening
The work opening is the average distance between the 2 rollers, measured in
their common axial plane. Where the grooving on both rollers is identical, the
opening is expressed very simply as the distance between any 2 points on the
surface of the 2 rollers, measured, of course, in their common axial plane and
in a direction perpendicular to the 2 axes (Fig. 7/1). Where the 2 rollers have
different grooving {e.g., of different pitch) the work opening is calculated
from the mean diameters of the 2 rollers, as represented for each roller by the
mean of the diameter at the tips of the teeth and that at the bottom of the
grooves. With complex grooving (seldom used) the mean diameter is the
diameter of the geometric cylinder having the same length and the same
volume as the mill roller under consideration. Messchaert grooves should not
be taken into account in calculation of mean diameter, nor are chevron
grooves or other transverse grooves cut for feeding purposes.

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 Set Opening
The set opening is the distance between the tips of the ridges of the 2 rollers,
as shown in Fig. 7/1, and is so called because this is the opening normally
measured in checking or adjusting a mill setting. With similar grooving, the
work opening is equal to set opening plus depth of groove; set opening may
be positive or negative, the latter being the case where the grooves are
meshing, as shown in the figure. With different grooving in the 2 rollers, the
work opening is set opening plus half the depth of the grooving in each case.

Methods of Calculating Settings

Note: For Detail knowledge and Major Exam, read the sent book “G. H.
JENKINS” Chapter 7, Read all methods for Major, one may come,

1) Java method
2) Modified Java method
3) Hugot's method
4) Author's method

Several methods of calculation are used, all of which amount to:

(1) Calculating the delivery work opening from some figure which expresses the
degree of compression found practicable with the equipment concerned;
(2) Calculation of the feed opening from an accepted ratio of feed to delivery
openings. In the usual case where hydraulics is used, allowance must also be
made for the normal lift of the top roller during operation. Roller speed of course
is important and is either assumed as part of the data, or is calculated from basic
data as an essential part of the calculation of mill settings,

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CHAPTER 8 - Theory of Extraction and Mill Feeding

The term extraction is generally used to mean total sugar extracted by the milling
tandem, as percent of sugar in cane. As defined by the International Society of Sugar
Cane Technologists, it is sucrose in mixed juice percent sucrose in cane; more
specifically, it may be stated as sucrose extraction or pol extraction according to
method of analysis, and is normally determined from analysis of bagasse.

Volume Relationships in Milling

Note: For the End Semester or Major and Detail knowledge read the given
book “G. H. JENKINS” Chapter 8

 Composition of bagasse
 Squirting factor
 Forward slip: reabsorption

Important factors and ratios

Several important quantities involved in extraction theory will now be discussed.

Density of fiber (df):

The Density of the fiber is considered as 95.5 lb./ft3(1.52 g/ml). This density varies
slightly with pressure, but this variation will be ignored for the present.

Density of juice (dj):

The density of juice in any particular case is determined by hydrometer, and, while
generally density is expressed as degrees’ brix, may be expressed as density in any
convenient units.

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Density of cane (d0)

The “no void density” of cane may thus be calculated from the density of the juice
in cane (assuming a uniform brix distribution as a first approximation), and the
density of fiber.

Let
d0 = (no-void) density of cane
df = density of fiber
dj = density of juice (assumed uniform throughout the cane)
fc = weight of fiber per unit of cane, hence
1 —fc = weight of juice per unit of cane

Then expressing quantities as volumes per unit weight of cane, we have:

1 𝑓𝑐 1 − 𝑓𝑐
= +
𝑑𝑜 𝑑𝑓 𝑑𝑗

 Note: Approx. 70.5 lb. per cu.ft. (1.13 g per ml) is a typical average figure for
the no-void density of cane, varying only slightly with normal changes in
proportions of juice and fiber.

Hygroscopic water
The presence of hygroscopic water, or water attached to the fiber and not forming
portion of the juice, is now generally accepted; the quantity of this as determined by
various workers varies considerably but an average value is taken as approximately
25% on fiber.
 Note: For present purposes this hygroscopic water is disregarded and all water
present in the cane is assumed to be part of the juice.

Escribed volume (VE)

This is a useful quantity when considering extraction and volumetric relationships.
The escribed volume per unit time may be defined as the product of the roller surface
speed and the area between the rollers in the axial plane.

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Reabsorption factor(K):
As discussed above, the bagasse volume leaving a mill is greater than the escribed
volume(VE), and the ratio VB/VE of bagasse volume VB to escribed volume VE is
termed the reabsorption factor (K).

Compression ratio (C0):

This is defined as the ratio of “no void volume” of cane to “escribed volume”, and
may be readily calculated from weights or densities. If reabsorption factor were unity
(VB= VE) it would be the ratio of cane volume to bagasse volume. Allowing for
reabsorption factor, compression ratio: -
Extraction and compression ratio
The extraction of juice by a mill may be considered in terms of the relative volumes
of materials entering and leaving the mill. The cane is compressed with removal of
juice and, since juice and fiber are almost incompressible, the volume of juice
extracted must be substantially equal to the decrease in volume of the cane, i.e., to
the difference between no-void volume of cane and no-void volume of bagasse.
Volumes of cane and bagasse are expressed as no-void volumes or volume occupied
by juice and fiber, not including air in the voids of the material. Hence the volume
Vje of juice expressed:
𝑉𝑗𝑒 = 𝑉𝑂 − 𝑉𝐵
Where: -
V0 = no-void volume of cane entering the mill in unit time
VB = no-void volume of bagasse produced from that cane
And juice extraction (on volumes) is given by: -
𝑉𝑂 − 𝑉𝐵
𝐸𝑗 =
𝑉𝑂 − 𝑉𝑓
Since V0 -Vf is the original volume of juice in the cane, Vf being the no-void
volume of fiber per unit of cane.

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