Successful implementation of plate heaters and evaporators in the sugarcane industry

A few years ago, the Ledesma sugar company (Argentina) started an investment process with the aim of increasing the milling capacity from 14,000 to 24,000t/d (tonnes cane/day). The sugar plant began to install plate heat exchangers and plate evaporators as an alternative to the traditional tubular equipment. Information was collected on the installation, operation and maintenance parameters during more than 15 years, during both the harvesting and off-season. Some of the results obtained in comparison with tubular equipment and with data for plate equipment in the literature were:

Heaters: heat transfer coefficients similar to those quoted in the literature for heating limed juice and 80% higher for clarified juice heating, shorter cleaning time (8–10h reduced to 4h), shorter maintenance times but higher costs in spare parts than expected;

Evaporators: 15–30% higher heat transfer coefficients, 30–40% higher specific evaporation rates, shorter cleaning times (18–24h reduced to 5h), 20% less surface area per t/d, but higher cost of spare parts than expected.