The soil being delivered with sugar cane consignments. from the cane fields to the factories, has been a recent cause for concern in the South African sugar industry. The soil impurities increase the wear of processing machinery reduce extraction efficiency and represents an unnecessary transport of material. The cost due to soil was estimated at R63 million (about US $8 million) over the 1996/97-season. The need to reduce costs, due to the unwanted soil component, has been given a high priority. Ashing is currently used by the sugar industry to estimate the amount of soil in cane. Although simple to implement, the method is destructive, requires long processing times and limited to small sample sizes. In fecent times, non-destructive techniques have become more prominent in industry. Hence, the decision to apply such techniques to the soil in cane-problem. This dissertation describes an experimental investigation into Dual-Energy Transmission (DuET) and X-ray lmaging for quantifying the amount of soil in cane. DuET can determine the relative concentrations of the components of a binary mixture by measuring the transmission of low- and high-energy gamma photons through the mixture. The principle of DuET was successfully demonstrated with aqueous solutions of ferric chloride. Experimentally-determined mass attenuation coefficients of water and ferric chloride were compared to theoretical values. DuET was then applied to dried, shredded sugar cane spiked with various amounts of soil. Results showed large variations in the predicted soil concentrations. These variations were attributed to radiation scatter and incomplete volume sampling by the radioactive source. However, new experimental arrangements are expected to improve the technique: initial test results are given of a sample holder that continuously rotates a sample up and down through the source-detector axis. An alternative approach to processmg DuET-spectra, using the discrete wavelet transform coupled with an artificial neural network, is also introduced. X-ray Imaging was the second technique investigated. A literature survey revealed that this technique had not previously been applied to the soil in cane-problem. The present work constituted an initial investigation to determine the feasibility of applying X-ray imaging to measure the amount of soil in cane. The soil/cane-samples, that were used for DuET, were imaged us ing a commercial mammography unit, and the resulting radiographs were analysed using image processing techniques. Although the results are promising, a more comprehensive investigation is foreseen. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Durban, 2001.

The main objective of this work is to propose a mechanism for the transfer of impurities into the sucrose crystal. To this end the transfer of impurities into the sucrose crystal was investigated, under crystallisation conditions similar to those found industrially. Most of the impurities, namely, colour bodies, potassium, calcium and starch, were selected on the basis of their industrial importance, but some exotic species, namely lithium and nickel, were chosen to represent other mono- and di-valent ions respectively, and dyes, such as methylene blue, which have been used in work with single crystal sucrose crystallisation, were included to make the results more general. A parameter to measure the rate at which impurities are transferred into the sucrose crystal was proposed. Experiments, carried out in a pilot plant evaporative crystalliser, were performed to establish the effect of selected factors on both the concentrations of impurities found in the sucrose crystal, and on the rate at which these impurities are incorporated into the crystal. All the factors selected, namely the rate of crystallisation, the temperature, the concentration and type of impurity, the diffusivity of the impurity in concentrated sucrose solutions, and the crystal dimensions, are shown to influence the rate of impurity transfer. Only the concentration in the feed and type of impurity, however, affect the final concentration of the impurity in the crystal. Concepts involving partition coefficients and adsorption isotherms were also investigated. The experimental data did not fit the adsorption isotherm models well, but the values obtained for the partition coefficients were similar to those quoted in the literature when exchange types of reactions are operative. Activation energies have been measured, both for the rate of crystallisation of sucrose, and for the rates of impurity transfer. The values obtained, particularly for the rate of impurity transfer, indicate that a transport mechanism is effective. The experimental results have been used to investigate the relevance of two models, one involving a two-step approach and the other an interfacial process, for the incorporation of the impurity into the sucrose crystal. The results obtained indicate that the interfacial breakdown model describes the transfer of all the impurities studied here, except for starch. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1998.

The measurement of the crystal size distribution is a key prerequisite in optimising the growth of sugar crystals in crystalisation pans or for quality control of the final product. Traditionally, crystal size measurements are carried out by inspection or using mechanical sieves. Apart from being time consuming, these techniques can only provide limited quantitative information. For this reason, a more quantitative automatic system is required. In our project, software routines for the automated measurement of crystal size using classical image analysis techniques were developed. A digital imaging technique involves automatically analyzing a captured image of a representative sample of ~ 100 crystals for the automated measurement of crystal size has been developed. The main problem of crystals size measurements using image processing is the lack of an efficient algorithm to identify and separate overlapping and touching crystals which otherwise compromise the accuracy of size measurement. This problem of overlapping and touching crystals was addressed in two ways. First, 5 algorithms which identify and separate overlapping and touching crystals, using mathematical morphology as a tool, were evaluated. The accuracy of the algorithms depends on the technique used to mark every crystal in the image. Secondly, another algorithm which used convexity measures of the crystals based on area and perimeter, to identify and reject overlapping and touching crystals, have been developed. Finally, the two crystal sizing algorithms, the one applies ultimate erosion followed by a distance transformation and the second uses convexity measures to identify overlapping crystals, were compared with well established mechanical sieving technique. Using samples obtained from a sugar refinery, the parameters of interest, including mean aperture (MA) and coefficient of variance (CV), were calculated and compared with those obtained from the sieving method. The imaging technique is faster, more reliable than sieving and can be used to measure the full crystal size distributions of both massecuite and dry product. / Thesis (PhD)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2007.

No description available.

Thesis (M.A.)--Ohio University, June, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1970. / Typescript. Vita. Bibliography: leaves 263-269.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1964. / Vita. Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Dissertation submitted in the compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology: Electronic Engineering, Light Current at Technikon Natal, 2000. / The CANEGRO model is a mechanistic model that describes environmental, physiological and managerial features of the agricultural sugarcane production system. The model originated from many sources of crop, climatic and soil research work. This caused a fragmentation in the model's components. The objectives of this study was to give a detailed model overview after an investigation into the model's code, published and unpublished documentation and to propose a mechanistic approach in the modelling of tiller populations. / M

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the academic requirements for the Degree of Master's Degree in Technology: Chemical Engineering, ML Sultan Technikon, 2001. / There are two process operations in the sugar factory that directly affect the recovery of sugar from evaporated syrup, namely crystallisation (boiling) and centrifugal operation. Successful automation of the vacuum pans (boiling) has been implemented using brix (total dissolved solids) control, but to date on-line measurement of continuous centrifugal performance has not been successfully accomplished in South Africa. The purpose of this investigation was to continue the preliminary work performed by Tongaat Hulett Sugar in developing a purity meter for the measurement of sugar purity (sucrose content) in a continuous centrifugal. This instrument would provide the centrifugal operator with a reliable tool to perform on-line measurement of sugar purity and would also facilitate the automation of the centrifugal / M

No description available.