Proceedings started with a safety induction by a representative from Zambia Sugar, after which team members signed a safety form and safety equipment was issued. The plant tour then followed the process line from the second stage, the cane feeding table, through the chopping areas to the juice extraction point.
The chopped cane is fed into the mills where juice is extracted and what remains – the baggasse – is taken to the boilers and used as fuel for making steam used to drive the turbines used for power generation. The steam is then passed to the refinery to heat up the extracted juice after which it goes to the cooling ponds then back into the system.
The juice goes to the vessels where it is heated up and chemicals added for purification and final processing into sugar. The tour continued through to the packing plant and the control and automation rooms.
Areas of particular interest: Zambia Sugar produces about 40 MW of power from the baggasse; and the plant is centrally controlled using Siemens PCS7 software.
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