Sugar production

With its experience and expertise in sugar, Alfa Laval understands the challenges faced by the industry – from first juice to final molasses. A deep-seated appreciation that energy consumption must be minimized, for both financial and environmental benefit, underpins Alfa Laval’s offering. Featuring an extensive heat exchanger portfolio, Alfa Laval technology can be deployed throughout the sugar manufacturing process.

Meeting the sugar industry’s needs with cutting-edge solutions

Alfa Laval heat exchangers are tailored for high quality beet or cane processing and sugar refining.
The small footprint of the Alfa Laval plate heat exchangers makes it easy to retrofit into an existing plant.
Sugar streams that contain solids - such as mixed juice, raw juice and limed juice - can be heated in Alfa Laval WideGap heat exchangers.
World-leading evaporators, plate condensers, decanter centrifuges and rotary lobe pumps complete the unmatched Alfa Laval portfolio.
A global service network of dedicated sugar specialists to support customers with parts and expertise, wherever and whenever needed.

Sugar Beet Processing and Sugar Cane Processing

Pre-treatment

Whether sugar is produced from beet or cane, the pre-treatment part of the mill involves heating large-volume sugar streams with fibres.

Alfa Laval’s WideGap plate heat exchangers are top of the tree when it comes to fluids containing fibres, as the wider spacing (compared to standard plate heat exchangers) combines a high heat transfer efficiency with longer running time between cleanings.

A WideGap heat exchanger can, thanks to its wide plate spacing and large connection ports, make use of low-grade vapour, also from the final evaporator or vacuum pans that traditionally would be considered as waste heat.

This saves the more valuable heat sources such as liquid or high-pressure vapour for other duties, such producing electricity that can be fed to the national grid, or hot water for use in the local district heating network.

Granulated and cube sugar in bowl with sugar beetroot

Beet processing

Sugar production and refining involve the continual transfer of heat to and from the different juice flows, right from the first juice to the final molasses.

Alfa Laval’s high efficiency heat exchangers make it possible to employ a close temperature approach between the heating media and the heated sugar juice streams. This in turn enables low grade vapours or waste heat from other processes to be used as heating sources, which helps producers reduce the overall energy use and reduce production costs.

Cane processing

In cane sugar mills, Alfa Laval decanter centrifuges are an efficient alternative to a traditional rotary vacuum filter when it comes to dewatering sugar mud from the bottom of the sugar clarifier. This reduces sugar loss and allows more bagasse available to boilers to produce more steam for power production.

Sugar refining

In sugar refineries, decanter centrifuges can be used to dewater sugar scum from the raw sugar clarifier, reducing sugar loss, saving water and simplifying disposal.

The high-efficiency standard-gap gasketed plate heat exchangers from Alfa Laval can exploit the vapour bleed-offs and condensate from the evaporators as heat sources. This reduces energy consumption for sugar refiners and maximizes the capacity of the evaporators.

Evaporation

AlfaVap plate evaporators can be installed as a booster to existing Robert evaporators. The AlfaVap expands the heat transfer area and can use the existing evaporator’s vapour or liquid separator, making it a very cost-efficient expansion of the evaporation capacity. The low weight, compactness and versatility of the AlfaVap design means it can be mounted virtually anywhere to extend the evaporation capacity of an existing installation. Depending on capacity, AlfaVap units can also be used as a complete evaporation system.

Syrups, molasses and other high-viscosity fluids

Alfa Laval standard plate heat exchangers provide efficient heating and cooling of high-viscosity liquids. Alfa Laval’s product portfolio for the sugar industry also includes rotary lobe pumps that are robust and durable even when handling abrasive media containing crystals.

Condensation

The AlfaCond plate heat exchangers combine the benefits of the plate concept, high efficiency, compactness and flexibility with the benefits of large connection ports and low pressure drops in shell and tube condensers. Ideal as a vacuum condenser, the AlfaCond plate condenser keeps the condensate separated from the cooling media. As legislation about wastewater treatment becomes increasingly stringent, this becomes an ideal option for installations where barometric condensers have been the traditional choice.