Paper #1228

Optimizing sugar plants with direct-excited screening machines

Camille Smith Dominik Stappert Thorsten Middelhof
Louisiana Sugar Refining, LLC RHEWUM America Inc. RHEWUM GmbH

Abstract
In times of increasing energy costs and stringent environmental regulations, the
optimization of sugar factories with clean and efficient processes is an important factor to stay
profitable and sustain an eco-friendly image at the same time. Choosing efficient production
equipment is a key factor to increase productivity while lowering power consumption and
emissions. Another factor that must be taken into consideration when it comes to classifying
sugar is the fact that traditionally used screeners are swinging machines that lead to high wear
in the building or the supporting structure due to the transported dynamic forces.
Direct-excited screening machines combine a variety of benefits which make them highly
efficient. Due to the direct excitation of the screen cloths, a high-frequency vibration leads to
high acceleration of the feed material to segregate it fast while the low amplitude allows a sharp
separation. Aided by gravity the specific mass flow is very high, allowing increased capacities
while the static housing keeps the dynamic mass low. Thus, energy consumption and
transmission of vibration into the supporting steel structure is at a minimum. Furthermore, the
possibility to set individual amplitudes for all screen decks with different cut sizes leads to
highly efficient screening for every screening task. An implemented self-cleaning cycle ensures
that the screen meshes stay entirely free, thus keeping the production output and quality high,
while lowering maintenance downtime and costs.
In this joined paper Louisiana Sugar Refining, LLC will elaborate their desire for improvement
and why a direct-excited screening machine was the right machine for them. RHEWUM
America Inc. will present the expected cost saving potential and quality improvement of the
direct-excited screening machines compared to conventional gyratory screening machines.

Introduction
Even though sugar refining processes are well known for a very long time, the process
design itself is still challenging. Mark Twain stated in his 1883 book Life on the Mississippi:
“Things look so easy, but do not delude yourself: Producing sugar is one of the most difficult
tasks on earth.”

 
 
Taking a look at screening processes in sugar production lines, the first screening process is the
washing screen that is often used to remove earth and clay that sticks to beet or cane. Further
on in the process, a second screening process could work to dewater bagasse or beet slices after
the extraction process. These kind of screening processes are relatively easy to handle and
therefore are not a subject of this paper.
The screening processes in the refining of the product are challenging due to the different types
of sugars to be produced. As there are no worldwide standards concerning the particle size
distribution of sugar products, machines for screening sugar have to be flexible enough to adapt
to every situation. Furthermore, the demand for sugar is growing constantly, which often results
in revamps of sugar plants in order to raise the capacity, while aiming to keep the energy
consumption low. Thus, machines that will be replaced have to have a higher capacity at the
same footprint. Additionally, product qualities have to be kept constantly at a high level.
In this paper we will present how additions and changes of screening equipment can achieve
this goal of increasing capacity, lowering energy consumption while producing high quality
product.
RHEWUM machines have been used for decades in the sugar industry and are constantly
enhanced to meet these requirements. For the challenging screening of fine or sticky sugars,
and other products, RHEWUM machines have gained an outstanding reputation for reliable and
economical production.

Starting Condition at LSR

Louisiana Sugar Refining, as any other sugar refinery, desires to increase reliability of
equipment and increase refining capacity as able. Bulk sugar handling is an area that cannot
necessarily be optimized with sugar chemistry, but can be addressed more with improved
equipment. Machines that have increased reliability, flexibility for throughput, better
environmental and safety traits, and less risk of external mechanical issues are more and more
accessible for refineries to invest in. Grain screening is the specific machine of bulk handling
that has the most potential for optimization, with all points above addressed. LSR’s existing
grain screener, installed in the 2010-11 construction, works in an oscillating motion and
requires that the unit be stopped when it needs operational or mechanical support. As LSR
works towards increased production rates while maintaining reliability, it has turned to
RHEWUM to expand its grain screening capabilities.
When identifying the need and requirements for a new grain screener, LSR first saw that
structural reliability was an area to be addressed. The existing screener required a specific

 
 
structural installation to keep the machine from causing harm to itself and the building structure.
While this was fairly attempted, it could not be completely successful and therefore the
surrounding structure was affected by the gyrating motion of the screener. Several cracks were
found in the structural steel in the screener’s room, as well as damage to the screener’s feed
screw conveyor. As to be described later, RHEWUM’s direct-excited machine reduces, if not
eliminates, vibrations to the surrounding structure.
LSR’s existing screener requires downtime to make repairs, clean the mesh screens,
block any dust leaks, and any other operational issues or changes that must be addressed. The
screener has accounted for 40.25 hours of downtime over 2.2 years’ time, in a combination of
the issues listed above. The mesh screens can become glazed over easily with any introduction
of moisture to the unit, which then must be manually cleaned by operations. The gyrating style
of the machine mentioned previously can also cause sudden and unpredicted maintenance issues
to contribute to the downtime. The RHEWUM model selected by LSR allows for operational
checks and cleaning without creating any downtime on the unit, due to its self-cleaning cycle
and hatch style lids that can be opened. LSR also expects that screen changes will be much
quicker and efficient on the RHEWUM machine.
Rubber “balls” must also be installed into the existing machine to keep the load distributed and
balanced on the existing machine. The balls can create a quality issue as they degrade over
time. RHEWUM machines use a feed system (rotary or vibratory feeder) to distribute the sugar
load evenly over the screening surface.
The oscillating machine moves the grain in a motion that causes excess dust to be
created, which creates environmental and safety hazards. In 2017, the dust created by the
screener caused an over-pressurization event that resulted in the deployment of LSR’s dust
suppression system. RHEWUM’s WA model should not create such severe dust.

Solution
Due to the situation, LSR was looking for a classifier that was able to replace or run in
parallel with an existing gyrating screening machine while maintaining the required product
qualities and, in addition, transfer as little dynamic loads as possible to the structure. Further,
the new machine had to fit into the existing plant and allow a replacement with only minor
adjustments to the plant design and auxiliaries. In the search for a statically stationary classifier,
RHEWUM was contacted, who has already proven to be a reliable supplier for various sugar
plants all over the world.

 
 
For the task of screening out grains and agglomerates bigger 20 Mesh of a feed capacity of 60
tons per hour sugar, RHEWUM decided to use the direct excited screening machine Type
RHEmoto. The design of the machine is based on RHEWUM’s experience in both the material
and the required separation cut. In addition, it is possible to integrate the machine into the
existing plant with only a few adjustments.

Inclined screens with direct excitation

Inclined screens with direct screen cloth excitation are normally used when high feed
rates and high product qualities are desired at the same time. A typical representative for this
type of screen is the RHEWUM RHEsono respectively RHEmoto type.

 
Figure 1 ‐ RHEWUM Type RHEmoto  Figure 2 ‐ RHEWUM Type RHEsono

The material on the screen is thrown up from the screen mesh in 90° angles by a high frequent
vibration that only affects the screen mesh. For the screen type RHEsono, the vibration is
generated by robust electromagnetic vibrating heads, specially developed by RHEWUM,
mounted outside of the machine. For the screen type RHEmoto, the vibration is generated by
small out-of-balance motors. The advantages of both drive technologies are combined in the
RHEfino, which uses small out-of-balance motors in the upper decks for the coarser cuts and
electromagnetic drives in the lower decks to perform the finer separations. All variants are
available with up to five superimposed screening decks and further share the low energy
consumption of only 0.16 kW per drive. Vibrations are transferred to the screen mesh by
swivelling axes. At the screen mesh itself, accelerations up to 15 g and more can be achieved
(1 g ≈ 9.81 m/s²). Due to the inclination, the transportation speed of material on the screen is
very high, thus enabling a low product layer at high feed rates. Compared to gyratory screens,
this type of machine is advantageous due to the thinner material layer hight and the direct

 
 
excitement of the screen cloth. This helps to disperse the material and to prevent the mesh from
clogging efficiently due to the high forces impinging the product. Additionally, an automatic
cleaning cycle can be set to increase the forces to a maximum periodically, resulting in highly
efficient anti-clogging.
RHEWUM screening machines type RHEsono and RHEmoto are dust-tight. The machine
housing only has a static function as the swiveling axes are mounted in ultra-bushings that
prevent the transportation of dynamic forces into the housing. Therefore, no vibration and
dynamic loads are transferred to the building and the steel structure.

Figure 3 ‐ RHEWUM RHEmoto and RHEsono drive unit

Additionally, this system allows fixed connections without compensators to the on- and off-
going aggregates. RHEWUM screening machines are available in FDA-compliant and
explosion protected execution and therefore allow a placement of the machines in hazardous
areas.
The screen overflow of each deck is discharged separately through a hinged overflow hopper,
which allows access to the tensioning device of the screen cloth at the outlet side of each screen
deck. The tensioning device of the screen cloth at the inlet side can be conveniently accessed
through the inspection covers, which are located at the rear of the machine directly under the
 
 
feeders. The tensioning system is optimized for fast tensioning and easy changing of the cloths,
which takes skilled workers only about five to ten minutes per piece.
These advantages have made the RHEWUM RHEsono, RHEmoto and RHEfino type screens
to a standard screen in the sugar industry.

Cost saving potential and quality improvement

In addition to technical suitability, however, cost-effectiveness must of course also be a
given in order to change from the existing screening technology. Due to the longer machine
length and the more complex design, direct excited screening machines are generally higher in
capital expenditure than simpler screeners.
Along with the technical advantages, in order to present further arguments for replacing existing
gyrating equipment, sugar producers have to compare the total costs of the technologies over
the expected service life in operation, taking into account the operating costs.
Since the housing of the RHEWUM direct excited screening machine does not vibrate, resulting
in less material fatigue, a longer service life can be expected. As a result, the higher capital
expenditures are offset over the life cycle.
If the screen cloths, which are also available in magnetisable stainless steel, are worn out, they
can be replaced individually without having to remove the other meshes. This allows for
individual replacement intervals depending on wear and minimizes the maintenance effort and
downtime of the machine.
The larger number of small drives used by RHEWUM ensures high reliability of the screening
machines. In case a drive fails, the machine can initially continue to run with little effect on the
screening process. Defective drives can be replaced at the next opportunity, but also during
ongoing production if necessary.
In terms of energy costs, the RHEWUM classifier already clearly outperforms the gyratory
screener in the LSR plant. While the gyratory screener requires a total drive power of
approximately 11 kW to move the complete machine, the total consumed power of all drives of
the direct excited screening machine and the feeding device is only 2.5 kW, since less vibrating
mass is moved.
This means that the direct-excited screening machine consumes 4.4 times less energy than the
gyratory screener.
Considering the average electricity costs in Louisiana of about 0.079 USD per kWh, this gives
a saving potential of 5,480.- USD per year1 on energy alone.
 
1
At 24 hours operation on 340 days a year.
 
 
Also, when considering the maintenance costs, the classifier using direct excitation shows an
advantage. This is due to the fact that the cleaning cycle of the RHEWUM screener does not
require cleaning balls that have to be purchased constantly when using gyratory screening
equipment. Further, the possibility of dust-tight flange connections to all inlets and outlets due
to the static housing offers another saving potential. Gyratory separators require a certain
amount of work for the regular replacement of the required compensators to prevent the escape
of sugar dust, both in terms of spare parts costs and the associated personnel costs.
Unlike the gyratory screener, with its sole drive, the oscillation amplitudes and cleaning
intervals of the direct excited screening machine can be individually adjusted for the inlet and
outlet on each screen deck to optimize the screening efficiency of each fraction. This individual
setting allows a quick response to fluctuations in the particle size distribution of the feed
material. The programmable automatic cleaning cycles by short-term increase of the amplitude
ensure the reliable function of the screen mesh and ensures a consistently high quality of the
product.

Conclusion
As for the reasons described above, direct excited screening machines are capable of
reaching the ambitious goal of increasing capacity while reducing the operational costs and
increasing the product quality. Further, the low energy consumption allows the reduction of
emissions what helps meeting todays or future ESG criteria.
Louisiana Sugar Refining is excited to realize the potential offered in RHEWUM screeners in
two areas of the refinery. The potential with maintenance, screening capabilities, and more are
to be beneficial in the refinery’s efficiency. For the new expansion project LSR again trusted in
the technology of direct excited screening machines and ordered a RHEWUM screening
machine to classify 30 TPH sugar in up to six fractions. The static screener consists of only a
single screening unit and is, like every RHEWUM machine, specially designed for the
application.