January 2021 Newsletter

BMA webinars
Meet our experts online

How to achieve a high sugar crystal quality of massecuite?

In this webinar, Hans Cramer takes a closer look at the Pan Seeding Systems from BMA. He outlines the simple process control of the system in the sugar house. Hans Cramer shows that one of the main advantages is the excellent product with a high crystal quality along with good centrifuging ability of the massecuite.
Learn more about the ROI of the use of a Pan seeding system. It offers a reduced sugar house steam requirement and a reduced wash water consumption by centrifugals.

Why not take the opportunity to join the Q&A session after the presentation.

Presentations Webinars
Missed our last presentations – watch them now

As all the live presentations are recorded you can still view them on line either through the recorded video or via a PDF presentation.

• List of presentations that have already taken place.
• Evaluating the performance of Falling-Film Evaporator
• The crystallisation of sugar substitutes
• IIoT for batch centrifugals – initial results
• Is a retrofit for batch centrifugals worth it?
• Hands on smart monitoring
• Smart sequencing
• Digitalisation: A high-level overview
• Production cost for sugar beet and sugarcane. How can producers gain from digitalization

Another European factory closure
 B1750 machines mingler and spares for sale

Stock holding review
Local spares holding set to drop below required   stock operational level

Sucrotech are now entering into the fourth year of holding our prices on operational components and spare parts which was an agreement reached with all the local Sugar Industry groups early in 2018, when the industry was in turmoil. The only increases that have been passed onto you in this period have been variations in the rate of exchange on imported goods.

Sucrotech’s stockholding was in excess of eleven million rand previously and by the end of this off crop the stockholding will have reduced to four. This is the bare minimum needed to keep all our Southern African mills in operational spares on the JIT system and to be able to repair broken equipment with the minimum of downtime. This price freeze obviously cannot continue to reduce our amount of stock for another year without affecting operations which is a risk to you. Price increases will come into effect in the months following this off crop and will be varying percentages based on, price, volumes made or purchased, usage and availability worldwide.

Just as we have slowly diminished our stock holding over these years so will we slowly increase it back to a non-risk position this to keep any price adjustments acceptable.

Hi-speed bearing update
Does new branding alter the bearing itself?

So what’s the update. FAG now have the ‘X-Life’ brand and SKF has the ‘X-Plorer’ brand. This is updated trend marketing and there is no difference between a 7228BMPUO or a NU228 old supply or the new ‘X’ supply. Both are ok for our operation on centrifugal duty.

A full replacement set of main spindle bearings and seals for a batch machine, be it an old Variant, ‘G’  ‘B’ or ‘E’ series machine, is not cheap.  Add to that the cost of labour and the loss of production during down time and you will get to some serious numbers. Some mills get it right, use the correct bearings, seals and grease and have years of trouble free service, others change almost every year, so what’s the difference?

We have had years of experience with shredders, cane knives, quarry jaw rock crushers, chipper plants, continuous and batch centrifugals but the difference is we only use OEM and only use the correct, full specification. The biggest issue with the angular contact ball bearing (ACBB) is that it must be a matched pair made specifically for each other and that both ACBB and the spherical roller bearing (SRB) have the correct tolerances. Do not accept anything a supplier telling you it’s the same thing, it’s not. Only accept the full specification, lubricate as specified and the bearings will last for many years.

Continuous Centrifugals made for SA
Do we really need first world control technology for raw massecuite curing?

Fully automated continuous raw centrifugals maybe in the future but, is this technology what we really want in SA when you still need an operator to adjust for the product quality?

• Ethernet drive and plc interfaces
• Multi lingual digital HMI touch screens
• Start up and shut down control procedures
• Valve control to wash water ratio
• Magmatising water throughput control
• DCS interfacing

What Sucrotech feels we need is the latest model mechanical design BMA centrifugal to give the best process performance for your throughput, together with a basic control system.

• MCC room cabinet housing star delta starter and switchgear
• Water and steam manual control valves
• Control panel with;
• Adjustable massecuite valve feed
• Isolation valve open / close
• Emergency stop
• Stop / start buttons
• Amp meter

For this reason, and until BMA comes forward with a more, basic control design we are allowed to request offers for bare continuous machines only to which we can add basic controls to the customer’s requirements.

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