NUMERICAL MODEL OF SUGAR MILLS WITH COMPOUND IMBIBITION

COMPOUND IMBIBITION IS a well-known imbibition scheme widely used in sugar mills. In this scheme, the mixture of fibre and juice retained by the cush cush screen is returned to either the first mill or the second mill. A model has been developed to simulate the operation of sugar mills that use compound imbibition. In addition to mass balances of fibre, dissolved solids, and water, this model takes into account the effects of fibre on juice extraction and inhomogeneous mixing between bagasse and imbibition water on brix concentration of the extracted juice. This model suggests that compound imbibition with cush cush returned to the first mill outperforms compound imbibition with cush cush returned to the second mill as far as brix extraction is concerned.