SUGAR INDUSTRY

 
RAW MATERIALS:
 
India, Jamaica, Cuba – Sugar cane
Many other places – beetroot
 
Operates about 4 to 8 months a year
(November to May or June)
Highly organic in nature
 
MANUFACTURING PROCESS:

 
Mill House:
Sugar canes are cut into pieces and crushed in a series of rollers
to extract juice.
 
Lime Treatment:
All the colloidal and Suspended Solids are coagulated
Much of the colour also removed.
 
Coagulated juice is then clarified to remove sludge.
 
Filter Press:
Clarifier sludge is further filtered in a filter press, and then
disposed off as solid waste.
The filtrate is recycled.
 
Sulphitation Process:
Passing SO2 gas through filtered juice.
Complete bleaching of colour.
 
Clarified juice is preheated and concentrated in evaporators
and vacuum pans.
Partially crystallized syrup from vacuum pan is known as
‘massecuite’.

Syrup is then transferred to the crystallizers, where

crystallization process is completed.

The messecuite is then centrifuged to separate the sugar

crystals from mother liquor.

The spent liquor is discarded as ‘black strap molasses’.

Sugar is then dried and bagged for transport.
 The fibrous residue form the mill house, called
‘bagasses’ may be burnt in the boilers or may be
used as raw-material for the production of paper
products.

Þ Black strap molasses may be used in the

distilleries.
SOURCES OF WASTEWATER:
 

 About 1.5 tonnes of water/ tonne of sugar cane processed is

required.
 
 Mill house:
  wastes include water used for splashes to extract max.
amount of juice and those used to cool roller bearings.
Mill house wastewater contain high BOD due to the presence
of sugar cane juice and oil from the machines.
 
Filter Cloth cleaning:
  Occasional- small quantity.
High BOD and Suspended Solids.
Evaporators and Vacuum pans:
Large volume of water for barometric condensers
Usually recycled either partly or fully after cooling.
Water gets polluted as it picks up some organic substances
from the vapour of boiling syrup.
 
Spray ponds:  
Overflows- usually of low BOD in a properly maintained
mills.
Improper maintenance and bad operating yields
substantial sugar may entrain in condenser water and is
discarded as wastewater instead of recirculation .
Huge volume- moderate BOD.
 Additional waste originates due to the leakages and
spillages of juice, syrup and molasses in different sections
and also due to handling of molasses.
 
Periodical washing of floors:
Small quantity of wastewater.
Very high BOD.
 
Occasional blow off of boilers – Intermittent discharge with
high suspended solids, low in BOD, and usually alkaline
EFFECTS OF THE WASTE ON RECEIVING WATER:

Wastewater from sugar mill decomposes rapidly after few

hours of stagnation.
 
It has been found to cause considerable difficulties when
their effluent gets an access to the water courses, particularly
the small and non-perennial streams in the rural areas.
 
The rapid depletion of oxygen due to biological oxidation
followed by anaerobic stabilization of the waste causes a
secondary pollution of offensive odour, black colour, and
fish mortality.
 
TREATMENT:
Reduction of pollution load by good house keeping:
Recycling water used for splashes in mill house.
Reduction in quantities for cleaning of floors.
Avoiding over loading of evaporators and Vacuum
pans and extensive boiling of syrup.
 
Þ Reasonable BOD/COD ratio – amenable for
biological treatment.
ASP & TF:
Not yielded good results.
BOD removal is 51% only.
 
Two stage treatment:

Anaerobic lagoons followed by stabilization ponds –

recommended for Indian conditions.
The mill effluent is to be pretreated primarily in bar screens
and grease trap.
BOD reduction in anaerobic process : 60%
Overall reduction in BOD : 90%.