SUCROSE CRYSTALLIZATION: MODELING AND EVALUATION OF PRODUCTION RESPONSES TO TYPICAL PROCESS FLUCTUATIONS

This work describes a phenomenological model of the two-massecuite system for sucrose crystallization, developed using EMSO software. In most Brazilian sugarcane industries, sucrose crystallization is performed using this system. This process is considered to be a fundamental step in obtaining sugar of the desired quality and accounts for a substantial fraction of the production costs. The simulation results - crystal percentage in massecuite, brix and purity of molasses, magma purity, sugar pol, crystal size distribution - were validated by comparing them with real process data of an industrial plant. The interest of the phenomenological model to study the possible impacts of impurities and process instability was illustrated by varying the simulation inputs related with the syrup purity, syrup brix and steam conditions.