Mill Material Balance

CHAPTER III
THE EXTRACTIONS
Sugar is categorized the kind of sweetener produced through the processing of raw material, such
as sugar cane, beet, coconut, different kinds of palm trees and stevia leaves as well.
We will discuss sugar; the sweetener that mainly produced by the sugar factories processing
sugar cane as the raw material into a sweetener called crystal sugar.
Sugar cane is one among the other plants that richly consist of sugar (saccharose).
Looking to the materials consisting in sugar cane, they could be grouped into two portions, i.e.
the juice and the fiber. The same grouping applies for the component if they are seen from the
physical terms, where the sweetener (saccharose) inhibits the cane juice.
To optimally extract the saccharose from the sugar cane, a lot of separation works have to be
implemented especially separating the non-sugar content from the sugar juice.
Indeed most of the works applied in sugar factory were mainly separating works, such as
separating cane juice from the fiber containing the cane, separating the water content from the
cane juice, separating the color, separating viscous material from the crystal containing in the
massecuite and so on.
The first phase of such a work is to separate the cane juice from its fiber, and this is to be done
with the help of certain equipment such as the mill, the diffuser, cane separator, screw press
and the others as well.
In the case of separating cane juice from its fiber which containing the sugar cane with the use of
mill, such as normally done in cane sugar factories; we knew the term of extraction.
The sugar cane is extracted to separate its juice from the fiber. If good extraction is expected, we
have to put additional water as imbibition / maceration to dilute the saccharose stickled around
the fiber cells, makes it easier to be separated or extracted.
Because cane juice is considered to consist of water and brix, then sugar cane as physically seen
is considered as to consist of juice and fiber. Further sugar cane also known as to consist of
water, brix and fiber, while the sugar content of the cane is normally expressed by the value of its
polarization (%pol).
Based upon the above descriptions, then we have to know the basic measure of extraction, which
in term of milling there should be at least 3 (three) parameters:
Juice extraction

Brix extraction (HPB)

Sugar extraction (HPG)

The juice extraction, is the result of division between the extracted juice and the juice containing
in the incoming / original material.

The Extractions

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Mill Material Balance

The Brix extraction, is the result of division between the extracted Brix and the total Brix
containing in the incoming / original material.
The sugar extraction, is the result of division between the extracted sugar (polarization) and the
sugar containing in the incoming / original material.
The expression of extraction therefore can be in fraction or in percentage.
Well have further the overview of extraction for the following tandem consisting of 4 units of
mill.
ej3
ej4
cane

Mill.I

Mill.III

Mill.II

water

Mill.IV
b4

b1

ej1

b2

ej2

b3

ej3

ej4

mj

The system shown above called the cane juice mill extraction with compound imbibition.
In order to determine the rate of extraction, we have to calculate the amount of cane juice
extracted by each mill in the tandem.
Lets see at mill#1:
Wim1 = the weight of incoming material (cane),
Wb1 = the weight of bagasse produced,
Wej1 = the weight of juice extracted;
then:
hence:

Wim1 = Wb1 + Wej1

Wej1 = Wim1 - Wb1 ............................................. (a)

And then at mill#2:

Wim2 = the weight of incoming material,
Wb2 = the weight of bagasse produced,
then:

Wej2 = the weight of juice extracted;

Wim2 = Wb2 + Wej2 ............................................. (b)

hence:

Wej2 = Wim2 - Wb2 .......................................... (c)

The Extractions

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Mill Material Balance

Then at mill#3:
But back to equation (b):
Wim2 = Wb2 + Wej2,
Wim2 = Wb1 + Wej3
Wej3 = Wb2 + Wej2 - Wb1 .................................... (d)

also:
hence:
If:

Wim3 = the weight of incoming material,

Wb3 = the weight of bagasse produced,
Wej3 = the weight of juice extracted,
Wej4 = the weight of juice extracted by mill#4;

then:
also:

Wim3 = Wb3 + Wej3

Wim3 = Wb2 + Wej4
Wej4 = Wb3 + Wej3 - Wb2 .................................... (e)

hence:

Weve been trying to define all the formulas of juice extraction in each mill, but only the weights
of juice extracted by mill#1 and mill#2, which could be detected so far.
The weight of juice extracted by mill#1 that is Wej1 in the equation (a), could be calculated by the
following Brix method:
bmj - bj2
bj1 - bj2
Where the above formula describes:
Wej1 = Wmj

Wmj = the weight of mixed juice which is known through its weighing or measured,
bmj = the Brix degree of mixed juice,
bj1
bj2

= the Brix degree of mill#1 juice,

= the Brix degree of mill#2 juice;

All the values of Brix degree were the results of analysis.

Hence, the weight of bagasse produced by mill#1 that is Wb1 can be calculated, because Wim1
that is the weight of cane crushed was known during its weighing.
The weight of juice extracted by mill#2 is then:
Wej2 = Wmj - Wej1
For the moment we can not calculate the weights of juice extracted by mill#3 {Wej3 on equation
(d)} and the juice extracted by mill#4 {Wej4 on equation (e)}, because the weights of bagasse
produced by mill#2 and mill#3 are not known.
All unknown items will be defined by the new system of calculation for a complete mill material
balance, especially the formula for the weight of bagasse exhausted by the respective mill after
mill#1 in the tandem.

The Extractions

III-3