First year operation of a mechanical detrasher system at a Louisiana sugarcane factory

Authors: Eggleston, Gillian; SCHUDMAK, CHARLIE - Cora Texas Manufacturing Company; HULETT, RODDY - American Biocarbon Ct, Llc; WAGUESPACK, JR., HERMAN - American Sugar Cane League; BIRKETT, HAROLD - Audubon Sugar Institute; GAY, JOHN - St Louis Planting Inc; LANDRY, AL - Al Landry Growers; Lima, Isabel; St Cyr, Eldwin; STEIN, JEANIE - Audubon Sugar Institute; FINGER, ATTICUS - American Biocarbon Ct, Llc

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/15/2019
Publication Date: 11/6/2019
Citation: Eggleston, G., Schudmak, C., Hulett, R., Waguespack, Jr., H., Birkett, H., Gay, J., Landry, A., Lima, I., St Cyr, E., Stein, J., Finger, A. 2019. First year operation of a mechanical detrasher system at a Louisiana sugarcane factory. In: Proceedings of the Advances in Sugar Crop Processing and Conversion 2018 Conference, May 15-18, 2018, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2:220-236.

Interpretive Summary: A new mechanical detrasher (dry cleaning) system was established at a Louisiana sugarcane factory, and its first commissioning year was in 2016. Three separate factory trials were conducted from 9 Nov to 13 Dec during the 2016 processing season. It was unequivocally shown that the prototype mechanical detrasher was capable of not only removing (P<0.05) all trash types from cane supplies of green billets but also smoothing out the variations in trash amounts to be processed. Overall, the mechanical detrasher removal between 34.3 to 53.2% total trash (growing point region + green leaves + brown leaves) with as little as 7.2% total trash processed at the factory. Even when the detrasher was operational at only at 60 to 70% total capacity, with every 1% decrease in total trash there was a 3.04 to 4.02% increase in the factory processing rate. Furthermore at 7.2% total trash the factory would reduce the processing season by 5.1 days when compared to the normal average 18% total trash amount processed. The prototype detrasher caused a general improvement in most quality parameters in the mixed juice. Further trials are still required to evaluate the detrasher at improved capacity up to 100% across the whole processing season to cover variations in sugarcane varieties, varying trash levels, loose versus attached trash, and different environmental conditions. The large trash piles created by the detrasher will be subjected to torrefication processes to create value added products.

Technical Abstract: A new mechanical detrasher (dry cleaning) system was established at a Louisiana sugarcane factory, and its first commissioning year was in 2016. Three separate factory trials were conducted from 9 Nov to 13 Dec during the 2016 processing season. It was unequivocally shown that the prototype mechanical detrasher was capable of not only removing (P<0.05) all trash types from cane supplies of green billets but also smoothing out the variations in trash amounts to be processed. Overall, the mechanical detrasher removal between 34.3 to 53.2% total trash (growing point region + green leaves + brown leaves) with as little as 7.2% total trash processed at the factory. Even when the detrasher was operational at only at 60 to 70% total capacity, with every 1% decrease in total trash there was a 3.04 to 4.02% increase in the factory processing rate. Furthermore at 7.2% total trash the factory would reduce the processing season by 5.1 days when compared to the normal average 18% total trash amount processed. The prototype detrasher caused a general improvement in most quality parameters in the mixed juice. Further trials are still required to evaluate the detrasher at improved capacity up to 100% across the whole processing season to cover variations in sugarcane varieties, varying trash levels, loose versus attached trash, and different environmental conditions. The large trash piles created by the detrasher will be subjected to torrefication processes to create value added products.