Separation of metals from brown sugar (case study)
21. 12. 2023
Initial status
The customer processes brown sugar in sizes from 0,8 to 1,0 mm. The production capacity is 5 t/hour.
Problem
The customer required to separate ferrous metals...
We develop, produce and apply devices for magnetic separation. Our magnetic separators are designed and manufactured exactly in a made-to-measure way as per your needs.
Sugar is one of the most widespread food products in the world. It is made from sugar beet or sugar cane. You will not only find it in a lot of food and drinks, but you also can't do without it when preserving food or making alcohol.
Did you know that cube sugar was invented in the Czech Republic in 1843? Jakub Kryštof Rad was inspired to this invention by his wife, who cut herself while cutting a sugar cone.
A magnetic separator is often used in a sugar factory to remove unwanted metal particles. These may be present in the raw sugar or may appear during the manufacturing process. There are several reasons why a magnetic separator is needed in a sugar factory:
Metal particles such as screws, nails, chips from tools, or metal parts from conveyor belts can enter sugar beet or sugar cane during harvesting, transportation, or raw material processing. These metal particles can cause damage to sugar factory equipment such as mills, presses, or pumps. The magnetic separator captures these metallic impurities and prevents them from passing through the system, protecting the device from its damage.
The presence of metal particles in a sugar product can negatively affect its quality. The magnetic separator ensures that the resulting sugar or sugar molasses is free of metal impurities, improving its quality. Thanks to metal detection technology, we can also detect non-ferromagnetic metals, and, even non-metallic particles with the use of X-rays. The result is sugar, free of all unwanted contaminants.
In the food industry, it is important to adhere to strict hygiene standards. These standards are often required by end sugar purchasers. The presence of metal particles in food products can lead to rejection of the product or even legal consequences. The magnetic separator enables sugar factories to comply with these standards and ensure that their products correspond to the relevant regulations.
We are the manufacturers of these separators. We manufacture them in our plant in the Czech Republic and thanks to this we can guarantee top quality and we can adapt them to your requirements.
When intaking sugar beet, the following are most often used:
When receiving sugar beet, larger metal impurities must be removed (nails, screws, etc.) that occurred here, e. g. during the transport of beet from the grower to the sugar factory. Sugar beet is transported to the sugar factory using a conveyor. Therefore, suspended magnetic separators (magnetic plates with automatic or manual cleaning), suspended above the beet conveyor are most often used. The main aim is to protect the subsequent technology and reduce the occurrence of ferromagnetic contaminants in the final product.
During the processing, the sugar is contaminated with ferromagnetic impurities not only from external sources but also partly from the technological process. These impurities can also be separated from heavy sugar juice. These magnetic filters are used for this:
Magnetic filters of the MSP series (with manual, semi-automatic, or automatic cleaning) are installed in the pipeline. The sugar juice flows through magnetic bars located in the separator body. Magnetic rods clogged with ferromagnetic contaminants must be cleaned so that the separator continues to fulfill its function perfectly. Depending on the amount of captured contaminants (and also according to the required cleaning interval), we choose a separator either with manual cleaning (rare contaminants) or automatic cleaning (a large number of contaminants). The separator body is designed in such a way that the pipe cross-section is secured and there is no pressure change in the pipe.
All of these separators can be manufactured in both single- and double-walled versions. Double-shell separators are used when the temperature of the separated medium is to be maintained to prevent its hardening in the separator body. The separators are heated with hot water or steam.
The MSF magnets for fabric filters are a separate chapter. These are used in the sugar mill when bag filters are applied for separation. The separation efficiency of these fabric filters is greatly increased by using our bag filter magnet, which is inserted into the existing fabric filter. This results in double filtration - not only a mechanical (textile filter) but also a magnetic one.
When producing pellets from sugar beet, it is necessary to ensure that no major ferromagnetic impurities - such as bolts, nuts, nails, etc. - are present in the processed material. These impurities could damage the pelletizing matrix during pressing = unnecessary machine maintenance costs. Covered magnetic drums are most commonly used for separation - the magnetic drum is placed in a box construction. The magnetic drum in this design is very simple to install.
If cuttings or pellets are transported through inclined pipes, it is advisable to use a plate magnet in the chute, or just to install a very simple magnetic door.
Ferromagnetic impurities are also present in the final product - crystal and powdered sugar. Ferromagnetic impurities are undesirable for all sugar purchasers and therefore sugar must be free of them.
The following magnetic separators are used to separate metals from crystal sugar:
These separators differ in the way of cleaning. In case of rare contaminants, using a separator with manual cleaning is sufficient. Its high efficiency is ensured by using the strongest magnets with a magnetic induction of up to 18,700 G. The two stages of magnetic grids ensure an efficient fall-through labyrinth, so that the resulting separation is very effective. Box separators are very easy to install in the pipeline through which the crystal sugar is transported by gravity. The wide range of our separators ensures a suitable solution for every customer.
The MSS-MC is the basic type of separator, nevertheless, it is equipped with magnets with magnetic induction of up to 18,700 G! Customers requiring a separator with fast, comfortable, and safe cleaning, find a solution - in our MSS-MC LUX. Do you require a quick installation into the JACOB pipe? Use our MSS-MC COMPACT.
In case of large amounts of contaminants, we recommend using our separators with automatic cleaning. The cleaning cycle is fully automatic, so it requires no human operator. This saves operator time and improves the separation quality because regular cleaning is ensured. This is not always ensured with manually cleaned separators (the operator misses/forgets to clean the separator). Of course, the separator can be connected to the operation control system.
What makes us unique? In addition to the quality of our products, also through the fact that our MSS-AC TARANTULA automatic separator is equipped with four-staged magnetic grids.Four-grid separation guarantees the highest possible quality of magnetic separation at a fair price!
Powdered sugar is a material that has a great tendency to create deposits at the surface of a separator (arching). Therefore, it is difficult to separate metals from them and it is not suitable to use grid magnets. In our portfolio we also have separators designed for these applications:
ML chute magnets are constructed so that the magnets are placed on the pipe sides. There is no obstruction placed in the material flow so arching cannot occur. We can fit these plate magnets with the strongest magnets with a magnetic induction of 7,500 G. This guarantees unrivaled efficiency of magnetic separation even from poorly permeable materials such as powdered sugar. Once again, we think about comfort, operator safety, and cleaning speed - the solution is the separator in the ML-LUX version.
The MSR-MC rotary separator provides the advantage of grid magnets (high magnetic induction) and eliminates their limitations when used in poorly permeable materials. Rotating magnetic bars can easily handle such materials!
The final stage of sugar production is its packaging and dispatch. To ensure 100% sugar purity, it is suitable to install a magnetic separator in front of the packer. We call it the separator of the last rescue. Most often, box grid separators are used. Since it is usual at this production phase that sugar is transported through pipelines with a larger diameter (e.g. before its filling into tanks), we often recommend using the MSS-MC LUX separator.
The end customer not only demands that the sugar is free from ferromagnetic impurities, but he also needs to be without other contaminants. We offer a full range of metal detectors for these applications:
Metal detectors of the QUICKTRON Series are installed in places where sugar is transported by gravity through pipelines. It is appropriate to perform the final inspection of already packed sugar (transported from the packer by a conveyor belt) with a METRON tunnel metal detector. Both types of detectors reliably will capture all metal impurities. If there is a necessity of detecting other impurities, such as glass, plastic, or stone, it is advisable to use the Control X-ray EasySCOPE.
21. 12. 2023
Initial status
The customer processes brown sugar in sizes from 0,8 to 1,0 mm. The production capacity is 5 t/hour.
Problem
The customer required to separate ferrous metals...
9. 6. 2023
The customer required the magnetic separator to fulfill 3 basic requirements in the sugar production process:
10. 5. 2023
In this case study, we would like to show you a typical example of achute magnet application (also called a plate housing magnet or a round pipe separator).
Our separator...
Our sales team is ready to provide you with full support and help you find the best solution for your needs in the field of magnetic separation. We offer not only standard solutions but also tailor-made solutions. You don't have to worry about more complicated technical challenges. Just contact us and we will be pleased to help you.
You can contact us by phone, email, or via our web form.
Petr Zbranek
Sales representative the world
+420 773 323 773
petr.zbranek@sollau.cz
Kamil Kornel
Sales representative the world
+420 773 843 832
kamil.kornel@sollau.cz
Josef Zdráhal
Sales representative the world
+420 771 285 355
josef.zdrahal@sollau.cz