Development of descriptor tools for the characterisation of Australian sugar mill evaporator scale


Autoria(s): Rackemann, Darryn W.; Doherty, William O.S.; East, Chris P.
Data(s)

2011

Resumo

Cleaning of sugar mill evaporators is an expensive exercise. Identifying the scale components assists in determining which chemical cleaning agents would result in effective evaporator cleaning. The current methods (based on x-ray diffraction techniques, ion exchange/high performance liquid chromatography and thermogravimetry/differential thermal analysis) used for scale characterisation are difficult, time consuming and expensive, and cannot be performed in a conventional analytical laboratory or by mill staff. The present study has examined the use of simple descriptor tests for the characterisation of Australian sugar mill evaporator scales. Scale samples were obtained from seven Australian sugar mill evaporators by mechanical means. The appearance, texture and colour of the scale were noted before the samples were characterised using x-ray fluorescence and x-ray powder diffraction to determine the compounds present. A number of commercial analytical test kits were used to determine the phosphate and calcium contents of scale samples. Dissolution experiments were carried out on the scale samples with selected cleaning agents to provide relevant information about the effect the cleaning agents have on different evaporator scales. Results have shown that by simply identifying the colour and the appearance of the scale, the elemental composition and knowing from which effect the scale originates, a prediction of the scale composition can be made. These descriptors and dissolution experiments on scale samples can be used to provide factory staff with an on-site rapid process to predict the most effective chemicals for chemical cleaning of the evaporators.

Formato

application/pdf

Identificador

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/70864/

Publicador

Agra-Net

Relação

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/70864/5/70864.pdf

http://www.agra-net.com/portal2/home.jsp?template=pubarticle&artid=20017860896&pubid=ag043

Rackemann, Darryn W., Doherty, William O.S., & East, Chris P. (2011) Development of descriptor tools for the characterisation of Australian sugar mill evaporator scale. International Sugar Journal, 113(1348), pp. 282-289.

Direitos

Copyright 2011 Informa Agra

Copyright contained in any part of this article is owned or and/or controlled by Informa UK Limited No part of the article may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means electronic, mechanical, photographic, recorded or otherwise without the prior written permission of Informa UK Limited though you may print or download the article (in whole or in part) for your personal and non-commercial use.

Fonte

Centre for Tropical Crops and Biocommodities; Science & Engineering Faculty

Palavras-Chave #030100 ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY #030600 PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY (INCL. STRUCTURAL) #090400 CHEMICAL ENGINEERING #chemical cleaning #evaporator #scale composition
Tipo

Journal Article