Energy requirement in non‐centrifugal sugars production units and its mitigation via steam controlled concentration techniques

Abstract

Non-centrifugal sugars (NCS) are traditionally consumed sweeteners which are gaining momentum in the global market due to the presence of nutritional and mineral content. Traditionally NCS is produced by concentrating sugarcane juices in an open pan evaporation process using dried bagasse as a fuel. Field trials at the traditional production site of NCS showed the energy efficiency as low as 8%–10%. Moreover, the effective bagasse consumption as a fuel stands at 7–8 kg/kg NCS production, whereas, as per stoichiometry and theoretical calculations, the actual bagasse consumption required for the production of NCS is a mere 0.65 kg/kg NCS production. Hence, as an alternative to the existing process, the concentration of cane juices by steam-controlled evaporation has been studied and it has been found that the steam-controlled evaporation can enhance the energy efficiency to 78%–83% with an effective bagasse consumption of 1.05 ± 0.04 kg/kg NCS production.