JJ Sanchez and S Chavarro
Fundiciones Universo SAS, Colombia
The sustainability of the sugar industry requires constant innovation to optimize processes and take the maximum advantage of the main components of sugar cane: sucrose and bagasse. The use of bagasse as fuel in the co-generation of renewable energy has grown considerably and has become a resource of high energy value and the source of the new ecological products that are manufactured from the dry bagasse. New drying mills have reduced significantly bagasse moisture, resulting in greater use of its calorific value and the achievement of superior sucrose extraction. These mills use perforated rolls with very advanced designs and filtering nozzles of greater drainage that guarantee a constant juice flow without internal clogging and can have up to four perforated rolls depending on the amount of juice to drain. The delivery perforated roll is the one responsible for control of bagasse moisture just before it exits the last mill in a tandem or a diffuser’s dewatering mill. Trials have been satisfactory with both extraction processes. Mills with groove pitches between 38.1 mm (1.5”) and 50.8 mm (2”) have been used successfully in Colombia and many countries in the Americas. Results achieved in a six mill tandem include bagasse moisture of 44%, pol in bagasse of 1.12%, reduced extraction of 98.0%, and improved bagasse calorific value in from 9800 kJ/kg to 11,000 kJ/kg. At the end of the crop large amounts of bagasse were produced. The delivery roll has the primary purpose of reducing and controlling moisture since it contributes an additional drainage in the last mill just before the exit of bagasse. The new filtering nozzles will maximize the efficiency of the bagasse drying mill.