Projeto de um cozedor de massa B para aumento de produção de açúcar branco

Abstract

Brazil is the world’s largest sugar producer, driven by a well-established sugar-energy sector of great economic importance. Although ethanol plays a significant role in the renewable energy matrix, the international market has increasingly focused on sugar, whose prices have encouraged an increase in the sugar production mix. In this context, the massecuite boiling stage was modeled in a real sugar and ethanol plant, with the objective of developing a project for a B massecuite vacuum pan, designed to meet the magma demand of the A massecuite pans and thus increase the production of white crystal sugar. The impacts of the project on other plant sectors, such as massecuite centrifugation and sugar drying, were assessed through mass balances, as well as on the juice evaporation and heating sector, through the development of the corresponding steam balance. As a result, the sugar production mix increased from 56.33% to 65.20%, representing an additional output of 192.08 tons of sugar per day. The economic feasibility of the project was confirmed, with an estimated financial gain of R$ 20.78 million over a single harvest, already accounting for the equipment acquisition and installation costs. Finally, the detailed design of the proposed vacuum pan was presented, including accessories, instrumentation, and process modeling. It was concluded that the design of the B massecuite vacuum pan is technically and economically feasible, and may support future implementations in the industrial unit under study.