MechChem Africa May-June 2020

Bosch Projects integrates engineering technology and project management for power utilities and materials handling, commercial and industrial projects. For the global sugar sector, the company has tailored the Bosch Projects vertically-orientated reheater, which has produced some significant results. Specially-tailored solutions for sugar sector

“ B osch Projects, which has served theglobal sugar industry for over 58years, offers a comprehensive service to customers, which en- compasses strategic planning and feasibility studies; sugar technology selection; project structuring and funding; design andengineer- ing; project delivery and operational support, and training,” explains Steve Rosettenstein, sector director: sugar, Bosch Projects. “A critical part of our service to the sugar sec- tor is in equipment design – from front-end cane off-loading, cane preparation and juice extraction, through to processing, sugar dry- ing and refining. TheBoschProjects research and develop- ment teamworks closelywith associate sugar consultants and technologists around the world to develop high-performance equip- ment. Every system is designed to meet the client’s requirements for cost-efficiency and improved productivity. Although new equipment is designed combining the latest technologies and ad- vancedmanufacturing trends, BoschProjects incorporates tried and tested technologies favoured by clients into new designs. Over the past 20 years, theBoschProjects Equipment division has developed an exten- sive range of sugar processing equipment, which includes the patented Bosch Projects chainlessdiffuserandcontinuousvacuumpan.

Other best-selling equipment includes rotary juice screens; juice heaters and clari- fiers; cane preparation equipment; long tube evaporators and entrainment separators. Bosch Projects has also recently sold sugar dryers; refined sugar conditioning silos; con - tinuous vertical massecuite reheaters; verti- cal continuous crystallisers and batch pans. “The patentedBoschProjects Continuous Vacuum Pan (CVP) design has become the preferred system of many of the world’s big- gest sugar processing groups,” says Neil du Plessis, sector manager: sugar equipment, Bosch Projects. “When supplying a CVP for C boilings, we recommend to clients that we provide the full C station, which includes the CVP, the continuous vertical crystalliser and the continuous massecuite reheater. By offering the entire system, we guarantee optimum performance of the total C station exhaustion.” Another system that has been well-re- ceivedby the sugar sector is the vertically ori- entatedBoschProjects reheater, with signifi - cant performance benefits over conventional massecuite reheaters, which are horizontally orientated. Themajor advantage of the verti- cal reheater design is thatmassecuite rises as it is heated and thus follows natural convec- tiontendencies.Thisresultsinfavourableplug flow through the heater, thereby minimising the purity rise across the unit. “Horizontal reheaters tend

The major advantage of the vertical reheater design is that massecuite rises as it is heated and thus follows natural convection tendencies. The company has also developed the Lamella Clarifier, especially for the sugar industry, to satisfy demand for short reten- tion clarification. Although various lamella clarifier systems arewell-established inwater treatment applications, this technology isnew in sugar processing and is especially effective for juice, syrup and refinery phosphotation clarification. The design of the new settling Lamella Clarifier reduces the size and footprint of conventional juice clarifiers by approximately 30%, significantly lowering capital invest- ment costs. The system, which uses a series of inclined plates for fast, effective particle separation and settling, is much smaller than conventional clarifiers and substantially re - duces liquor retention times. Important features include short resi- dence times, reduced sucrose degrada- tion and improved turbidity removal. The highly efficient system, which operates with minimal moving parts, has low maintenance requirements. The syrupclarifier is similar indesign to the lamellajuiceversion,exceptthatitoperatesas aflotation clarifier, as opposed to settling. The system can be switched on and off as desired when syrup qualities are low and, because of its compact size, it can be easily installed inside an existing factory. The Bosch Projects team works closely with its technology partners and fabricators globally to ensure manufacture of all equip- ment adheres to stringent international qual- ity standards and exact design specifications. Clients are offered a full turnkey installation or stand-alone equipment can be supplied. The company has an extensive network of offices in Africa, South and Central America and the United Kingdom. The company also has technology partners in the South East Asian region and the USA. q

to have over-heated channels of massecuite near the top of the ves- sel and static cool areas at the bot- tom. This causes short-circuiting of massecuite inside the reheater, reducing the unit’s efficiency,” he adds. Projects around the globe Bosch Projects recently supplied and commissioned six vertical massecuite reheaters around the globe and has submitted proposals for another four units to clients looking to upgrade their current designs. The units are fabricated fromstainless steel,whichminimis- es maintenance costs and reduces theneed to treat theheatingwater.

The patented Bosch Projects Continuous Vacuum Pan (CVP) design has become the preferred system of many of the world’s biggest sugar processing groups.

32 ¦ MechChem Africa • May-June 2020