Julián David Montes, María Alejandra Gómez, Roosembert Polanco, Ana Milena Escobar and Nicolas Gil Zapata
Cenicaña, Colombia
The efficiency of a sugar mill is significantly impacted by the level of mineral trash entering with the cane. This type of trash adversely affects milling equipment, raises the ash content in bagasse, and diminishes clarification and filtration effectiveness due to higher mud levels, impacting extraction, cogeneration, and sucrose recovery. These effects have intensified with the increased mechanical harvest in Colombia, from 40% in 2013 to 75% in 2023. Combined with climate variation and high precipitation events, this has led to mineral trash levels occasionally exceeding 5%, when normal levels are between 0.8 and 1.0%.An exploratory study was carried out to estimate mineral trash content by turbidity measurements in mixed juice, aiming to provide real-time data for timely interventions. At the laboratory scale, mineral impact was simulated by doping clean juices from the stalks press with soil. This showed a strong relationship between turbidity and mineral trash, above other variables evaluated such as juice deterioration and color variations due to varietal differences.Based on these findings, an analysis of historical data recorded during nearly two years by a sugar mill was conducted, evaluating variables such as turbidity and insoluble solids in mixed juice, and ash in bagasse and filter cake as a percentage of cane. Clustering techniques were used and relationships were identified between turbidity and these variables of interest. A K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN) classification model was trained, achieving an accuracy above 75%, allowing the classification of mineral trash levels into low, medium, and high categories. This model could be implemented online with the installation of a turbidity sensor in mixed juice, enabling timely process interventions.