AI in Sugar Processing

With the advent of Industry 4.0, multiple opportunities for process optimization through the implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) have arrived in the manufacturing sector.

With products such as HABER’s eLIXA®, the various stages in sugar processing can be enhanced for the following processes:

Mill Sanitation Aid

The right selection and appropriate use of mill sanitation aids are essential for increasing the yield of sugar. Mill sanitation aids are used in the early stages as well as at different stages of the sugar manufacturing process to minimize sucrose losses caused by enzyme invertase and yeasts, molds, fungi, and bacteria, while also helping control dextran-forming bacteria. Automated dosing helps regulate the flow of sanitation aids to maximize sugar production.

Juice Clarification Aid

Sugar cane juice clarification occurs through coagulation, flocculation, and precipitation of the colloids and pigmented substances, which are later eliminated by decanting and filtration, by an insoluble precipitate that once formed, absorbs and drags such compounds from the juice. The regulated dosing carried out by our automated device results in minimal wastage of chemicals, reducing the overall cost of the process. 

Juice De-coloration Aid

Color precipitants, developed specifically for use in sugar mills, represent an extremely simple way of removing colour from sugar cane juices without incurring significant cost. Precipitants have proven to be very effective where high ash content is present. Precipitants are non-toxic aqueous polymers with cationic properties. Precipitants react with negatively charged colour bodies, neutralizing their charges and thereby causing precipitation. The precipitated color is subsequently removed during juice clarification. Precipitants can remove 20-30% of the color from clarified juice, which is reflected in the final color of the sugar. Through the implementation of AI, the precipitant dosage is regulated in real-time to optimize the process.

Scale Inhibitor Aid

Scale Inhibitors used in the sugar manufacturing process have excellent hydrolytic stability. When used at threshold levels, Scale Inhibitors effectively inhibit the precipitation of many scale-forming minerals and also modify the crystal morphology. Both these properties play a key role in keeping heat exchanger or evaporator surfaces scale-free. It exhibits a threshold inhibition property whereby a few parts per million can stabilize hundreds or thousands of times as many scale-forming ions. If supported by artificial intelligence, potential issues in the process can be detected & prevented due to the continuous influx of data.

Syrup Clarification Aid

The clarification of sugar cane syrup occurs by coagulation, flocculation, and precipitation of the colloids and pigmented substances, which are later eliminated by decanting and filtration, i.e. an insoluble precipitate that absorbs and drags such compounds from the syrup is formed. Implementation of AI further refines the clarity of the sugar cane syrup, thereby enhancing its quality.

Syrup De-coloration Aid

Color precipitants, developed specifically for use in sugar mills, represent an extremely simple way of removing colour from sugar cane syrups without incurring significant cost. Precipitants have proven to be very effective where high ash content is present. Precipitants are non-toxic aqueous polymers with cationic properties. Precipitants react with negatively charged colour bodies, neutralizing their charges and thereby causing precipitation. The precipitated color is subsequently removed during syrup clarification. Precipitants can remove 20-30% of the color from clarified juice, which is reflected in the final color of the sugar. Through automation of the process, data is collected in real-time, on which big data analysis is carried out.

Viscosity Reducer

The viscosity reducer helps in forming uniform crystals in vacuum pans and crystallizers, thereby decreasing the viscosity of the syrup. It increases the flowability of massecuite and the pan-boiling time, leading to greater pan capacity utilisation. It also decreases the loss of sugar in molasses. By introducing automation, the process of reducing the viscosity of the syrup is regulated through the automated seeking of solutions.

Melt Clarification Aid

The clarification of melt occurs by coagulation, flocculation, and precipitation of the colloids and pigmented substances. Melt clarification aid helps in the rapid flotation of phosphatation scums at the clarification stage of sugar refinery processing. It helps increase the plant capacity and reduces sugar degradation through reduced retention time and temperature in the flotation clarifier. Similar to syrup clarification, AI implementation enhances the clarification of melt.

Melt De-colouration Aid

Fluctuations in raw sugar colour are a serious problem in refineries. The great advantage of using precipitant is that it allows these refineries to operate efficiently with variable quality raw sugar. Melt de-colouration aid helps achieve up to 50% lower colour after the phosphatation process. Through the use of automation, real-time alterations are carried out to ensure that maximum efficiency is obtained in the process.

Foam-Control Aid

Foam generation in the sugar manufacturing process results in overflow of vessel (loss of valuable products) and reduces the plant efficiency. Our defoamer formulation has superior stability at high temperature and kills the foam at low concentration level. Also, with the implementation of AI, key process variables like pH, temperature, conductivity and others are measured and uploaded to the cloud in real-time, to improve the performance of the process.