Cutting costs and improving profits at transport and storage of sugar
To keep the sugar free flowing, and to avoid clogging during conveying, the climate has to be strictly controlled. The relative humidity in the conveying area needs to be kept below 40% RH.
At British Sugar, Cantley, UK, 1,350 tonnes of sugar are produced every day. After the sugar crystals are washed, dried and cooled, they are conveyed to six concrete storage silos, which have a total bulk capacity of 60,000 tonnes. To keep the sugar free flowing, and to avoid clogging during conveying, the climate has to be strictly controlled. The relative humidity in the conveying area needs to be kept below 40% RH, or relative humidity, throughout the year.
To control the climate around the conveyor belts and in the silos while securing and maintaining a high product quality, British Sugar is operating seven Munters MX and MXT dehumidifiers.
As it’s necessary to give constant attention to measures that can potentially reduce energy consumption and protect the environment, British Sugar has set up a number of ambitious goals on savings. Production processes have already been evaluated and optimised, and the time had come to explore other possible savings.
Munters’ UK Service Team was consulted to identify possible energy saving options related to the dehumidification systems. Munters suggested an upgrade of the process air fan, including the 3 Kw AC fan motor. Together with British Sugar, it was decided to do a pilot project, upgrading one dehumidifier to a Munters MXT2800.
Excellent energy savings
Munters’ partner ebm-papst is manufacturing EC (Electronic Commutator) fans. EC is a permanent magnet motor that has an electronically controlled stator field, compared with the voltage induced stator field of an AC induction motor. The EC motor allows proportional control over a 0-100% range with no induction present.
This can be via a pressure transducer or manual potentiometer control, either 0-10 vdc or 4-20 mA. Replacing the old and original fan with a 3 Kw motor for an EC fan upgrade, British Sugar is offered the same air volume & static pressure with only 1.6Kw power consumption, which in turn can reduce energy costs by more than 50%.
