Storage and conveying of sugar for dissolution in a weighed cast iron tank

Case study reference:

1-17-003

Storage and conveying for dissolution of sugar in a weighed cast iron tank

Processed powders: beet crystal sugar and cane sugar

Liquor manufacturing

French company specialized in the manufacture of spirits and syrups. The syrups are intended for CHR professionals and wholesalers for the bottle format and industrial processors for larger containers.

The beet crystal sugar is delivered by tanker truck and the cane sugar is packed in big bags of 1,000 and 1,200 kg.

The customer wishes to install a complete unit for storing and transporting crystal sugar to a sugar dissolution unit for syrup production. The manufacture of syrups with cane or beet sugar is not simultaneous. Also, the operation of this installation must be different according to the type of sugar handled: (1) automatic for beet sugar; (2) semi-automatic for cane sugar.
The line must meet the following constraints:
- No cross-contamination of materials
- No or little material loss
- Minimal product changeover times

Storage and processing unit for beet sugar

The crystal sugar, which originates from sugar beets, is transported by tanker truck to a storage silo with a capacity of 115 m³. This storage silo is made up of a level sensor, an ATEX 22 stainless steel anti-bridging device to facilitate the flow of the material and a manually operated gate valve to stop the downflow of the powders or bulk materials at any time.
The bulk material is conveyed by means of a tubular mechanical screw, with a diameter of 219 mm, positioned at the outlet of the industrial silo and which ensures a mass flow rate of 5,000 kg/h.
A gearbox is mounted at the outlet of the dosing screw to convey the material to the pneumatic conveyor with a detached filter.
A line purge system is installed to prevent cross-contamination in the piping. An automatic valve at the base of the powder vacuum closes and the entire pipework is evacuated. The slide valve is then instantly reopened to remove the remaining air/product mixture from the pipe.

Cane sugar discharging and conveying unit

Cane sugar is delivered in big bags of 1,000 and 1,200 kg. To simplify the big bag emptying operation, Palamatic Process has installed a big bag discharger, with a self-supporting frame to support the weight of the big bags, an electric hoist on rail for easy handling by the operators or a tray to optimize the flow. This big bag emptying station, designed for manual opening of all types of big bags, minimizes dust emissions for a healthy working atmosphere.
A screw conveyor leads the material to the sugar dissolution unit.

The pneumatic conveying system with VFlow® detached

The processed materials, in this case beet sugar and cane sugar, are vacuumed into a continuous discharge cyclone via a rotary airlock valve to the dissolution tank. The detached cyclo-filter collects the fines and reintroduces them into the process. This pneumatic conveying system offers many advantages: