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

Abstract 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.摘要 本研究阐述了一款基于EMSO软件开发的、用于蔗糖结晶的双糖膏（massecuite）系统唯象模型。当前巴西多数甘蔗制糖企业均采用该系统开展蔗糖结晶工序。该工序是获取达标品质蔗糖的核心环节，同时占据了生产成本的较大比重。本次仿真得到的多项结果——包括糖膏内晶体占比、糖蜜锤度与纯度、糖浆纯度、蔗糖旋光度（sugar pol）、晶体粒度分布——通过与某工业现场的实际生产流程数据对比完成了模型验证。通过调整与糖浆纯度、糖浆锤度及蒸汽工况相关的仿真输入变量，本研究展示了该唯象模型在探究杂质与工艺不稳定性潜在影响方面的应用价值。