Preface to the first French edition

In the course of the 20 years we have been working in cane sugar manufacture, we have con-
tinually been struck by the mediocrity of the documentation offered to the French engineer in
that industry. The books one can find either deal only with the beet sugar industry, or are
incomplete or very old, or are written in English or in Dutch. The reader without sufficient
knowledge of the English language to take advantage of the works by Noel Deerr, Maxwell
and Tromp, or of the translations of Prinsen Geerligs into that language, can only fall back
on elementary manuals or books published 30 years ago. We consider that the French sugar
industry suffers as a result of this state of affairs, and it is this gap that we have tried to fill.
First we have tried to put at the disposal of the engineer, manager, superintendent of
fabrication or technician in charge of the machinery in the factory, the information necessary
for the calculations of new plant or the checking of existing plant.
We have also aimed to let him know the results of experimentation in other countries,
already widely known in English-speaking sugar-producing countries, but not known well
enough in the French sugar world.
Whenever we have quoted an author or an article, we have made it a point to give a reference
to the passage cited, even when it is only of secondary importance; so that the reader interested
in it might look it up, compare the theses and, if he desired, make a thorough study of the
question. As for articles from periodicals, since no one can have access to all the sugar publica-
tions in the world, we have made a special effort to reduce the reference, every time, to one or
the other of the two most important reviews, which are at the same time the most widely read:
the International Sugar Journal (I.S.J.) and Sugar (formerly Facts about Sugar, F.A.S.).
Those sugar manufacturers, and they are fairly numerous, who have a collection of these two
reviews, will then be able to refer to them. They offer the advantage of giving, regularly,
extracts from interesting articles appearing in other journals and, consequently, of summarising
them to some extent.
As to the authors, we have quoted as often as possible the less contested authorities, such
as Noel Deerr, and especially Tromp, whose opinion always deserves to be known in questions
of a mechanical nature. When it seems particularly interesting and well founded, we quote it
in full. In the field of evaporation and condensation, we have also called upon Hausbrand se-
veral times. The publications to which references are given are enumerated after the Table of
Contents.
In order to facilitate searches and make it easy to find rapidly the information desired, we
have given a detailed Table of Contents and an Index which we have tried to make as complete
as possible.
Since certain simple questions are too often presented in an entangled and confused way,
we have done our best to express them clearly and to reduce them to practical formulae.
Such is the case for instance with the calorific value of bagasse, and the proportion of the
heat yielded by the bagasse which can be recovered in the steam produced in the boilers. The
VIII PREFACE TO THE FIRST FRENCH EDITION
use of three simple formulae and the selection of a few coefficients will spare the engineer long
and tedious calculations, and will make his task easier.
We have introduced in this work the solution to certain subsidiary problems which belong
to Industrial Physics, but which crop up continually in sugar manufacture: superheaters,
economisers, airheaters, etc. We thought it would be convenient to have ready at hand, treated
in the same manual, all the questions related to sugar manufacture, whether they concern
sugar as such or are more general. This avoids the trouble of having recourse to unfamiliar
books of formulae the notations of which are different, and in which those questions are
studied under a general angle and for conditions more diverse than those existing in sugar
manufacture.
It is in the same spirit that we have developed the chapter on steam turbines, which for a
few pages would seem to be outside our subject; the aim of this chapter is to familiarise the
sugar factory technicians with a machine they generally do not know well, and which sooner
or later will prove very useful. Again, it seems to us that the importance of the problem raised
by cyclones in the main French sugar-producing islands was sufficient to justify a special
paragraph on wind pressure and its influence on buildings.
We have also shown the solution of certain small problems which seem to be within the
domain of common sense, and which everyone should be able to solve for himself, but of
which, however, there is no trace anywhere, either in foreign works or in sugar periodicals;
and which seem, in spite of their simplicity, to be unknown to most technicians. This is the
case for instance with the intermeshing of rollers with multiple grooving.
We have again made it a point to give certain formulae, which can also be obtained by very
simple calculation or reasoning, but are apparently unknown or unused, and often replaced
by oversimplified or erroneous formulae. Such is the case of the specific pressure in the mills,
or of the formula for centrifugal capacity.
Furthermore, the experience acquired during 20 years in the simultaneous management,
both general and technical, of three factories in Reunion, the frequent contact with other
factories of the island, and visits paid to numerous foreign factories, have enabled us to suggest
some ideas which are original, and which we. think are useful; and which, we hope, will be
stimulating to designers. This applies for instance to our paragraph dealing with the circulation
of massecuite in the vacuum pans, and the conclusions to be drawn from it for the design of
pans with natural circulation.
Finally, we have devoted a large part of our time to studying certain aspects of sugar manu-
facture as yet little explored. In some cases, we have arrived at precise conclusions and practi-
cal formulae which experience has proved to be correct, and which are in daily use in our
factories. They make possible the solution of some problems which have remained obscure up
to now or have been solved in a purely empirical fashion.
We do not pretend in any way to have given the last word on such questions, but we hope
that the calculations presented and the formulae offered will be of some help.
For instance, our study of pressures in milling has led us to formulae we recommend to
those interested. No doubt they can be improved, but already, in the form we have given them,
they are useful in practice and certainly bear fruit. Our earnest desire is that they will give
rise to criticisms, and will constitute a starting point for more advanced and thorough studies.
Such are the formula summing up Noel Deerr's experiments, and those giving the total pressure
and the maximum pressure in a mill.
PREFACE TO THE FIRST FRENCH EDITION IX
We also present, for capacity and for power of the mills, formulae which we have made as
practical and easy to apply as the required precision allowed. We have introduced the notion
of "fibre loading": it simplifies generalisation of figures and, if adopted, will facilitate com-
parison between working conditions in mills of different dimensions.
Finally, we would also recommend: our calculation for the adjustment of mill settings,
which is a consequence of the formula just mentioned giving pressures in milling; our mathe-
matical study of compound imbibition, the demonstration of which, we think, is new; our
calculation of the minimum surface of the vessels of the multiple effect; our formula express-
ing the heat transfer coefficient in the heaters, which is simpler and more precise than the current
classical formulae now in use; and finally our formulae giving the limiting factors imposed on
the output of thermo-compressors, of which the designers do not seem to be aware at present,
but which are inescapable.
It is largely with the help of the notes gathered from technical literature or obtained through
our personal work, that we answer the enquiries for information and advice with which our
friends from Reunion and Mauritius honour us. By editing it in a methodical form and placing
it, by means of this book, at their constant disposal, we hope to enable them to solve for
themselves the problems with which they will be faced.
Sugar manufacture is fascinating enough to warrant research purely for its own sake; but,
if our studies prove as useful to our friends and colleagues as they have done to us and still
do, we shall feel doubly rewarded for the time and hard work they have cost us.
We wish also to point out that the chapter on the theoretical study of steam turbines, and
the passage dealing with natural draught, are for the greater part inspired by lectures given
at the fecole Centrale, the first by M. Monteil, the second by Roszak. We must also thank
very particularly our friends from the Compagnie de Fives-Lille and the Anciens Etablisse-
ments Cail who have willingly allowed the publication of the tables concerning the equipment
made by them, and supplied most of the photographs and drawings illustrating this book.
And we express our gratitude to M.L. Lagarde, who was responsible for making the sketches.
Saint-Denis, 9th September, 1948. E.H.