José Giraldodo1, Juan Rosero1, Samuel Galeano2, Henrry Tarapues2 and Alejandro Estrada2
1Ingenio Cauca S.A.S., INCAUCA, El Ortigal, Cauca, Colombia Colombian Sugarcane Research Center (CENICAÑA), Experimental Station, Cali-Florida Highway Km 26, Valle del Cauca, Colombia
The performance of a chopper system with different blade configurations was characterized during mechanical sugarcane harvesting in terms of billet length and quality, the amount of cane expelled by the primary extractor, wagon loading capacity, extraneous matter presence, and sucrose percentage. Tests were conducted with three chopper treatments, varying the number of blades: 8, 6, and 4. The 4-blade system produces cane billets measuring 27.4 cm, 54% longer than the 17.8 cm generated by the 8-blade system. The 6-blade system also increases billet length to 24.3 cm, a 36% improvement compared to the 8-blade system. The 4-blade system reduces expulsion by 45.4% compared to the 8-blade system, while the 6-blade system decreases expulsion by 27.3%. The HD24000 wagon loading capacity is 24 t with 4 blades, 7.3% lower than with 8 blades, while the 6-blade configuration achieves 24.6 t, a 5.1% reduction. The presence of extraneous vegetabl3 matter is 8.9% with 4 blades and 8.8% with 6 blades, compared to 7.5% with 8 blades. Sucrose concentration is higher with 4 blades (0.43 percentage points) and with 6 blades (0.14 percentage points) compared to the 8-blade system.