Sugar Beets Processing - Cost Analysis and Optimization Using Superpro Designer

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Sugar Beets Processing – Cost Analysis and Optimization using SuperPro

Designer
Preprint · June 2020

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.20907.67366
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Sugar Beets Processing
Modeling and Evaluation using
SuperPro Designer®
by
Yannis Stavropoulos and Demetri Petrides
This is the ReadMe file of a SuperPro Designer example that deals process modeling, cost analysis and
optimization of a Sugar Beets Plant. The plant produces sucrose, molasses, dry pulp and limecake. In
addition, its co-generation unit sells electricity to the grid. The flowsheet of the process is appended to the
bottom of this document. You may test-drive the model by downloading the functional evaluation edition of
SuperPro Designer from the downloads page of our website (www.intelligen.com). The files of this example
can be found in the Examples \ Food Processing \ BeetSugar folder. The default installation path of the
SuperPro Designer Examples folder follows below.
C:\ Users \ Public \ Public Documents \ Intelligen \ SuperPro Designer \ v11 \ Process Library \ Examples
If you have any questions about this example and SuperPro Designer in general, please send an email
message to dpetrides@intelligen.com
INTELLIGEN, INC.
Simulation, Design, and Scheduling Tools
For the Process Manufacturing Industries
www.intelligen.com
Intelligen, Inc. Page 1
Introduction
The beet sugar example (file BeetSugar_v11.spf) simulates the operation of an industrial beet sugar
production process. The process generally consists of the following steps: beet pre-processing (cleaning,
washing, slicing), sugar extraction (diffusion), sugar purification, water evaporation, sugar crystallization,
sugar drying and storing. This example analyzes a continuous plant that operates 1920 hours (or 80 days) a
year and produces 53 MT/h (or 101,700 MT/yr) of sugar by processing 485 MT/h (or 931,200 MT/yr) of
beets. Additional byproducts include pulp (26.2 MT/h or 50,252 MT/yr), molasses (33.6 MT/h or 64,570
MT/yr) and carbonation-lime residue (limecake) (28.3 MT/h or 54,355 MT/yr). The pulp and molasses are
sold as animal feed. The carbonation-lime residue can be sold as fertilizer.
For reporting and analysis purposes, the entire flowsheet has been divided into six sections that use different
icon colors:
➢ Beet Cleaning (dark blue icons);

➢ Juice Diffusion (dark red icons);
➢ Juice Purification (dark green icons);
➢ Juice Evaporation (blue icons);
➢ Syrup Crystallization (violet icons); and
➢ Sugar Drying (light blue icons).
Flowsheet sections are simply sets of related unit procedures (processing steps). Each flowsheet section
has a number of properties that can be customized including basic properties, such as the color of the
corresponding unit procedure icons, and more advanced properties, such as the option to allocate the
section’s equipment and resources to existing equipment and resources available in a database site. For
information on how to specify flowsheet sections and edit their properties, please consult the program’s User
Guide (sections 2.2b and 8.1) or the program’s Help documentation (click Help  Table of Contents, Index,
Search… on the main menu).
Process description
In sugar beet processing, the term station is used to denote the section of the factory that does a particular
job. In the description that follows, each flowsheet section is further divided into stations, for simplicity. Note
that the names of these stations are not shown on the actual flowsheet.
Beet Cleaning section
Station 1 (Beet Receiving and Storage). Beets arriving at the factory (mostly by track) are unloaded and piled
using mobile beet pilers. A beet piler consists of a receiving hopper, a belt conveyor, a screen to remove
some tare (soil and trash), and a large boom to put the beets in pile. The beet storage area is beet piling
ground. In this example, a stationary screen is used to represent beet piling (see P-1/SCR-101)
Station 2 (Beet Drycleaning). The beets are then dry cleaned to remove some more tare (mainly loose soil,
small stones, leaves and other trash) so that less water is needed later in the beet-washing step. The beet
dry cleaning equipment consists of front-end loaders or trucks, a hopper, a conveyor, a large vibrating

screen, and another conveyor. The beets are first transferred from the beet storage area into the beet
hopper using front-end loaders or trucks. From the hopper, the beets are elevated by a conveyor to a
vibrating screen. Then, a belt conveyor delivers the dry cleaned beets to the flume channel. In this example,
a vibrating screen is used to represent beet dry cleaning (see P-2/VSCR-101).
Station 3 (Beet Conveying and Fluming). Beets are transferred from the dry cleaning station to a beet hopper
installed in front of the beet flume (a U-shaped channel for transporting sugarbeets by the force of water).
The beet-flume system transports the beets to the stone and trash separators. In this example, a mixing
procedure is used to represent beet conveying and fluming (see P-3/MX-101).
Station 4 (Stone and Trash Separation). The mixture of beets and water in the flume goes through stone and
trash separators (installed next to the flume system) for removing large stones and large trash (leaves,
weeds). In this example, a 2-Way Component Splitting procedure is used to represent stone and trash
separation using a bucket stone separator and a rake trash separator (see P-4/CSP-101).
Station 5 (Beet Washing and Flume-Water Treatment). Beets that have been separated from stone and trash
are lifted from the fluming channel to feed the beet washer for the final cleaning. In this example, beet-lifting
is represented by a 2-Way Component Splitting procedure (see P-6/CSP-103). In the beet washer, soil and
clay stuck to the beets and sand are washed away before the beets enter the slicing process. In this
example, a Bulk Washing procedure is used to represent beet washing using a drum beet washer as the
main washer and a spray beet washer as a finishing beet washer (see P-9/WSH-101). Clean beats are
transferred to the slicing station.
The muddy wash water from the flume system (see stream S-107) and the beet washer (see stream S-109)
“Washed Beets” stream) is discharged to the flume clarifier to be cleaned and re-used in the flume. The
flume clarifier is used to separate mud and fine trash particles from water. The heavier mud and fine trash
particles flow through the underflow and the clear water flows through the overflow. A Clarification procedure
is used to represent the flume clarifier (see P-12/CL-101). The overflow is sent to the fluming system.
Typically, the underflow is sent to a mud-settling pond and then to the wastewater treatment system, but
these steps are omitted from this simulation.
Juice Diffusion section
Station 6 (Beet Slicing). Clean beets and beet chips are transferred by a belt conveyor from the spray
washer to the beet hopper that feeds the beets to the drum slicers. The slicers contain knives that cut the
beets into long, thin strips, called cossettes. In this example, the belt conveyor an beet hopper are omitted.
The drum slicers are represented by a Bulk Shredding procedure (see P-82/SR-102).
Station 7 (Juice Diffusion). The cossettes are transferred to the diffuser where they are kept in contact with
hot water at 70-73°C for about an hour to diffuse the juice from the beet cells. Usually, condensate from the
evaporator and press water from the pulp presses is used for the diffusion. The cossettes gradually lose
almost all of their sucrose (about 98%) and turn into pulp (desugared cossettes), while the water gradually
gains the sucrose and turns into diffusion juice. The diffusion juice usually has about 15% dry substance
(sucrose and nonsugars) and 0.5 to 1.5% insoluble substances (beet pulp). Its purity (sucrose content as %
of dry substance) is 85% to 88%. The diffusion juice is sent to the purification station for the removal of

certain nonsugars and the wet pulp is sent to the pulp treatment station to be pressed, dried, and pelletized
and sold as a by-product of the factory. In tower diffusers (BMA, Buckaw Wolf), tower juice is pumped into a
cossette mixer for preheating the cossettes, and diffusion juice (equal to the required draft) is pumped from
the opposite end of the mixer. The mixture of cossettes and remaining juice is pumped to the diffuser tower
(the main part of the diffuser) for completion of the diffusion process. The diffusion draft (the mass of
diffusion juice relative to the mass of cossettes entering the diffuser) is usually 100 to 130% on beet (OB)
and the temperature of the diffusion juice is about 30°C. In this example, a Heat Exchanging procedure (see
P-17/HX-101) is used to simulate preheating of cossettes in the cossette mixer of a BMA diffuser, and a
Solids Leaching procedure (see P-18/SMSX-101) is used to simulate diffusion of cossettes in the diffuser’s
tower.
Station 8 (Pulp Treatment). The wet pulp is first sent to a centrifuge (see P-27/DC-101) and then pressed in
pulp presses (see P-21/PFF-101) to about 75% moisture content. The press water (the juice pressed from
the pulp) and the decanter water from the centrifuge are screened (see P-22/SCR-102) and returned to the
diffuser as part of the diffusion water (see stream “Pulp Press Water”). Pressed pulp is transferred to the
pulp rotary dryer (see P-23/DDR-102) to produce dry pulp with about 10% moisture. The drying gas is a
mixture of air and CO2 produced by burning coke. A Continuous 2x2 Reaction/Separation Generic Box
(GBX) procedure is used to simulate the combustion of coke using air in order to produce the drying gas
used in the dryer (see P-86/GBX-106). The dry pulp is cooled in the pulp cooler (see P-24/HX-102) and then
stored in the pulp silo (see P-25/SL-101), until sold (as animal feed).
Juice Purification section
Station 9 (Milk-of-Lime and Carbonation Gas Production). Milk-of-lime (MOL) and carbonation gas are
chemicals used in juice purification. In order to produce these chemicals, limestone (mainly CaCO3) and
coke (mainly C) are mixed together and transported to a limekiln where calcining takes place. This is the
decomposition of limestone to quicklime (or simply lime) (CaO) and CO2 in the limekiln according to the
following endothermic reaction:
100 kg CaCO3 + 1788.7 kJ/kg → 56 kg CaO + 44 kg CO2
Usually, the amount of limestone used is 2-6% on beet and the amount of coke used is about 8-10% on
limestone. Fuel (coke) combustion supplies the energy required for the reaction. Oxygen for combustion is
supplied by air. The amount of air required for combustion is about 10.2 times that of coke used. The
carbonation gas produced in the limekiln is not pure CO2 and consists of about 33% CO2, 63% N2 and 3%
O2. In this example, a 3x2 Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction/Separation Generic Box procedure is used to
simulate calcining in a limekiln (see P-26/GBX-104). Carbonation gas leaves the kiln at about 300-400°C. A
cooling procedure (see P-28/HX-104) is used to remove heat from quicklime. That heat is lost to the
surroundings.
Subsequently, the quicklime is mixed with water in a slaker in order to produce milk-of-lime. This step is
called slaking. Slaking is the mixing of quicklime with water (warm condensate or sweet water from
purification filters) in the slaker to produce milk-of-lime, a suspension of calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH)2) in
water, according to the following reaction:

CaO + H2O → Ca(OH)2 + 1092 kJ/kg
In this example, a Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction in a CSTR procedure is used to simulate slaking in a
slaker (see P-29/R-102). The milk-of-lime is pumped into a dilution tank (see P-30/V-101) to be diluted with
sweetwater (supplied by first-carb filters) to about 42% dry substance (DS). The product stays in the tank for
about 30 minutes to complete the reaction between quicklime and water. At this point, the milk-of-lime is
ready for use. The produced MOL contains about 30% Ca(OH)2 (23% CaO).
The carbonation gas produced in the limekiln contains some lime particles, so it has to be filtered and cooled
to about 30-40°C in a gas scrubber (dust collector). In this example, a Continuous 2x2 Reaction/Separation
Generic Box (GBX) procedure is used to simulate a gas scrubber (see P-31/GBX-102). Fresh water (see
“Scrubber Water Spray In” stream) is sprayed into the tower from the top and contaminated water leaves the
tower from the bottom (see “Scrubber Water Out” stream). The clean gas (stream S-124) is directed to the
gas compressor (see P-32/G-101) where its pressure is raised to about 1.7 atm. At this point, the
carbonation gas is ready for use.
Station 10 (Juice Purification) and Station 11 (Sedimentation and Filtration). The diffusion juice from the
diffusion process contains a considerable amount of nonsugars. In the juice-purification station, milk-of-lime
is added to the diffusion juice in a few steps to precipitate and destabilize the nonsugars. The following
simple precipitation reaction is assumed for all liming steps:
3 kg Ca(OH)2 + 1 kg Nonsucroses → 4 kg Precip. Nonsucr.
To process healthy beets, a total CaO consumption of 1-5-2.5% OB (or, equivalently, 3-5% CaCO3 on beet)
is required. Consumption may reach 3% OB or more when processing damaged beets. The amount of
nonsugars of diffusion juice that can be precipitated with lime requires about 0.5% CaO OB. The excess
CaO is used as a filter aid. The amount of CaO added should be kept at a level of about 80%-120% of
nonsugars in the diffusion juice.
Carbonation gas is also added in two carbonation-filtration steps to precipitate the lime as calcium carbonate
(CaCO3) and to separate it from the juice. The carbonation reaction is as follows:
Ca(OH)2 + CO2 → CaCO3 + H2O
Several purification systems (such as BMA, DDS, DORR and Putsch) exist. In this simulation, the DDS juice
purification system is used. This consists of the following steps: cold preliming, cold main liming, hot main
liming, fist carbonation-filtration, and second carbonation-filtration. These steps are described below:
The first liming step is cold preliming of diffusion juice, in which a small amount of lime (0.3-0.7% CaO on
beet) is added to the cold juice (30-40°C) in a horizontal prelimer. The aim of this step is to neutralize the
acidity of the diffusion juice, to destabilize (coagulate) the colloids, and to precipitate certain nonsugars
(colloids, invert sugar, proteins, phosphates and sulfates), which will increase the purity of the juice by 0.3-
0.5%. The liming time of the juice in this step is about 15 minutes. In this example, a Continuous
Stoichiometric Reaction in a CSTR procedure is used to simulate cold preliming (see P-34/R-103).
The next liming step is cold main liming, in which additional lime (about 1-2% CaO on beet) is added to the
juice for a longer period (30 to 60 minutes) to continue the reactions between nonsugars and lime. In this

example, a Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction in a CSTR procedure is used to simulate cold main liming
(see P-35/R-104).
Subsequently, the juice is heated to about 85°C (see P-36/HX-105) and then hot main liming takes place
for about 10 minutes. During hot main liming, more lime (about 1% CaO on beet) is added to the juice to
complete the reactions between nonsugars and lime and to overlime the juice (the excess lime is used as
filter aid). In this example, a Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction in a CSTR procedure is used to simulate
hot main liming (see P-37/R-105).
The first carbonation-filtration step is as follows:
First, carbonation gas is added to the main limed juice in a carbonation tank (single-pass carbonator) for
about 10 minutes to precipitate the excess lime and limesalts. The carbonation temperature is kept at 80-
85°C. This produces a slurry, called first-carb slurry. In this example, a Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction
in a CSTR procedure is used to simulate first carbonation (see P-38/R-106).
Because of the high solids content in the slurry, a two-step process is used to remove the suspended solids
in the slurry:
In the mud separation step, the precipitate in the first-carb slurry is separated by using mud-separation
equipment, such as bag- or candle- thickening filters (e.g., Kelly filter, Genter filter, BMA filter, Grand Pont
filter, Putsch filter), to produce clear juice and a thicker product, called carbonation mud. The thickening
filters concentrate the slurry 5 to 7 times. In this example, a plate-and-frame filtration procedure is used to
simulate first-carb mud separation (see P-41/PFF-102). About 10% of the first-carb mud produced by the
first-carb mud separation step is split (see P-42/FSP-104) and pumped back to the prelimer (see P-34/R-
103) (see stream S-141).
In the mud thickening step, the rest of the mud is further thickened (dewatered) in cake filters (rotary drum
filters of filter presses) to produce the filter cake, which is known as limecake or carbonation-lime residue
(CLR). This is one of the by-products of the factory and it can be sold as fertilizer. In this example, a plate-
and-frame filtration procedure is used to simulate mud thickening (see P-43/PFF-103). The sweetwater from
the cake filters is used for slaking (see “Water for Slaking” stream) and MOL dilution (see “Water for Dilution”
stream). The filtrate (see stream S-133) is sent back to the mud separation step (see P-41/PFF-102).
The clear juice from the filter thickeners (see “Clear Juice” stream) is filtered with the first-carb filters
(pressure-leaf filters). In this example, a plate-and-frame filtration procedure is used to simulate first-carb
filtration (see P-45/PFF-104).
The second filtration-carbonation step is as follows:
First, the filtered first-carb juice is heated to about 92°C in the second-carb heaters (see P-46/HX-106) to
prevent formation of calcium bicarbonate in the juice. Then, the filtered and heated first-carb juice enters the
second-carb tank to precipitate still-existing excess lime and limesalts. In this example, a Continuous
Stoichiometric Reaction in a CSTR procedure is used to simulate second carbonation (see P-47/R-107).
After second carbonation, the juice is filtered by second-carb filters (pressure-leaf filters) to produce a juice
called thin juice. To simulate second-carb filtration, a plate-and-frame filtration procedure is used (see P-

89/PFF-105). The thin juice has a purity of 85-92% (which is 2 to 5 units higher than the purity of diffusion
juice) and about 15% dry substance (which is lower than the dry substance of diffusion juice by about 0.5
units). The thin juice is pumped to the evaporators (see P-72/PM-102).
Juice Evaporation section
Station 12 (Steam & Electricity Production). High pressure steam is produced from water in a steam
generator (see P-52/SG-101) by burning coal with air. The boiler feedwater is a mixture of fresh water and
condensate from the evaporator. The fresh water is purified by reverse osmosis. A Reverse Osmosis (Feed
& Bleed) procedure (see P-15/RO-101) is used to simulate reverse osmosis. A Custom Mixing procedure
(see P-49/MX-108) is used to set the desired total flow of boiler feedwater and have the program adjust the
flow of fresh water accordingly. A Pumping procedure (see P-50/PM-101) is used to increase the pressure of
boiler water to the desired steam pressure and a Heat Exchanging procedure (see P-51/HX-107) is used to
simulate the preheating of feedwater by boiler flue gas in feedwater heaters. After the steam is produced in
the boiler, it is divided into two streams using a 2-Way Splitting procedure (see P-79/FSP-108). One stream
goes to the pressure-reducing station where the HP steam is converted into LP steam used for heating (see
stream “For LP steam@100C”). Another stream goes to the turbine (see P-53/T-101) in order to produce
electricity and superheated LP steam. The exhaust steam from the turbine is then de-superheated by mixing
with fresh water (see P-54/MX-109). The flow, temperature and pressure of the produced steam (see “Steam
for Evaporation” stream) matches the flow, temperature and pressure of the heating agent used in the first
effect of the 5-effect evaporator used (see P-55/EV-101).
Station 13 (Juice Evaporation). A 5-effect evaporator that uses thermal vapor recompression of the first
effect vapor is used to concentrate the thin juice. Here’s how this works: Live steam is fed to a steam-jet
ejector together with recycled vapor produced in the first effect. The mixture of steam and recompressed
vapor is fed to the steam chest of the first effect to supply the heat required to boil the solution. The
condensate leaving the steam chest of the first effect is used to preheat the thin juice in thin juice heaters.
The concentrated solution in each effect is fed to the next effect. The vapor in each effect is fed to the steam
chest of the next effect. As explained above, part of the vapor from the first effect is recompressed and
reused in the steam chest of the first effect, and the rest is fed to the steam chest of the second effect, where
it is condensed. The condensate leaving the steam chest of the second effect is returned to the boiler room
to be reused as boiler feedwater. The condensate streams leaving the steam chests of effects 3-5 are sent
to condensate users (washing, diffusion, cooling water, etc.). The final vapor can be used for heating. The
thick juice produced by the evaporation is sent to the crystallization section.
A Multi-Effect Evaporation procedure (see P-55/EV-101) is used to simulate the 5-effect evaporator. Note
that this procedure does not use explicit input/output ports for the steam supplied to the heating space of the
first effect. The reason is that the corresponding Multi-Effect Evaporation operation expects a heating agent
(not a stream) to be specified through the corresponding operation data dialog in order to simulate heating.
Also, this procedure does not have five output ports for condensate (one output port for the condensate
leaving each effect). Instead, a single output port (the middle one) is used to mix and transfer out the
condensate from all the effects. Consequently, in order to simulate preheating of thin juice by first effect
condensate, as well as the use of second effect condensate as boiler feedwater, a few additional procedures

must be added to reproduce the first and second effect condensate streams from the total condensate
stream.
Please note that since the Multi-Effect Evaporation operation uses a heating agent instead of a stream in
order to account for the live steam used in the first effect, the live steam that gets condensed in the steam
chest of the first effect is implicit (it does not exist in any input or output stream). So, in order to reproduce
the first effect condensate and preheat the thin juice, a Cooling procedure (see P-56/HX-108) is first used to
model explicitly the condensation of live steam (see “Steam for Evaporation” stream) in the heating space of
the first effect. Also, a Custom Splitting procedure (see P-59/FSP-106) is used to separate the entrained
vapor that is condensed in the heating space of the first effect from the total condensate stream. In addition,
a Pumping procedure (see P-60/PM-102) is used to set the pressure of condensed entrained vapor equal to
the pressure in the steam chest of the first effect (as calculated by the Multi-Effect Evaporation operation).
This is followed by a Heating procedure (see P-61/HX-109), which is used to set the temperature of
condensed entrained vapor equal to the temperature in the steam chest of the first effect (as calculated by
the Multi-Effect Evaporation operation) and also to ensure that the condensed entrained vapor appears
entirely in the liquid phase (as it should). The condensed entrained vapor (see “Condensed Entr. Vapor”
stream) is then mixed with the live steam that is condensed in the steam chest of the first effect (see
“Condensed Steam” stream) using a 2-Stream Mixing procedure (see P-57/MX-110) in order to reproduce
the condrensed vapor in the steam chest of the first effect (see “1st Effect Condensate” stream). Finally, a
Heat Exchanging procedure (see P-58/HX-110) is used to simulate the preheating of thin juice by the first
effect condensate.
After the entrained vapor has been removed from the total condensate, a second Custom Splitting procedure
(see P-62/FSP-107) is used to separate the condensed vapor produced in the steam chest of the second
effect from the remaining total condensate (see stream S-154). Again, a Pumping procedure (see P-63/PM-
103) and a Heating procedure (see P-64/HX-111) are used to set the correct pressure and temperature for
the second effect condensate (corresponding to the respective pressure and temperature of the 1st effect
vapor as these were calculated by the Multi-Effect Evaporation operation), and also to ensure that the
second effect condensate appears entirely in the liquid phase (as it should). The second effect condensate
(see “2nd Effect Condensate” stream) is then sent back to Custom Mixing procedure P-49 to be mixed with
fresh water and used as boiler feedwater.
Syrup Crystallization section
A three-stage crystallization-centrifugation process is used to recover the sugar from the thick juice that is
produced by evaporation. The first stage is called the white (A) side and produces white sugar. The second
and third stages produce raw sugars. The second stage is called the high-raw (B) side and the third stage is
called the low-raw (C) side. In this simulation, three Continuous Crystallization procedures (see P-66/CR-
101, P-69/CR-102 and P-72/CR-103) are used to simulate the three continuous crystallization stages, and
three Basket Centrifugation (Bottom Discharge) procedures (see P-68/BCFBD-101, P-71/BCFBD-102 and P-
74/BCFBD-103) are used to simulate the three centrifuging stages using batch basket centrifuges.
Station 14 (Syrup Crystallization) and Station 16 (Massecuite Centrifuging). First, the thick juice is sent to a
melter together with the raw sugars from the second and third stages and the A-wash syrup produced by

centrifuging in the first stage. The raw sugars and the wash syrup are dissolved in the thick juice to produce
standard liquor (the feed for the first stage of crystallization). In this example, a 4-Stream Mixing Procedure
is used to simulate the melter (see P-65-MX-111).
In the first stage, the standard liquor is fed to the white (A) crystallizers to produce white (A) massecuite (a
mixture of crystals and mother liquor). The crystallizer is operated under vacuum using a pump (not shown)
and condenser (see P-67/HX-112). When the crystallization is complete, the massecuite from the
crystallization pan is discharged into the mixer (a cylindrical tank with a mixing device) to wait for the
centrifuging process. Note that the mixer is not included in this simulation. The massecuite is then fed into
batch basket centrifuges (white (A) centrifuges; see P-68/BCFBD-101). Here’s how a batch basket centrifuge
works: In the first step of the batch cycle, the massecuite is charged for about 20 seconds while the basket
rotates at a slow speed. In the next step, the basket is accelerated for about 30 seconds to increase the
centrifugal force, which pushes the massecuite toward the basket’s wall. During this step, most of the mother
liquor is discharged through the basket screen. This is the first runoff syrup from the white (A) centrifuges
and it is called high-green (A) syrup. This syrup is used as feed for the second stage of crystallization. The
sugar crystals are too large to pass through and build up a layer 150 to 180 mm thick on the basket.
However, they still contain a thin layer of mother liquor and appear yellow, so they must be washed
(sprayed) for a few seconds with hot water (80°C, 5 atm) or steam (110°C) to eliminate impurities. Wash
water consumption is 2-3% per weight of massecuite. The runoff syrup discharged during this period is
called wash (A) syrup and has a higher purity than high-green syrup because part of the crystals is
dissolved during washing. This syrup is returned to the melter. In the next step (drying), more liquor and
wash water pass through the basket to achieve the desired moisture content (about 0.3%). Finally, the
basket brakes (for about 40 seconds) and the sugar is discharged (for about 30 seconds). A typical cycle of
a batch centrifuge lasts about 3 minutes. The wet sugar that is produced is called white (A) sugar and it is
sent to the sugar dryer.
Station 15 (Molasses Exhaustion) and Station 16 (Massecuite Centrifuging). In the second stage, the high-
green syrup is fed to the high-raw (A) crystallizers (see P-69/CR-102) to produce high-raw (B) massecuite.
The crystallizers are operated under vacuum using a pump (not shown) and condenser (see P-70/HX-113).
The massecuite is fed to the high-raw (B) centrifuges (batch basket centrifuges) (see P-71/BCFBD-102) to
produce high-raw (B) sugar, which is returned to the melter. The mother liquor of the second stage is called
low-green (B) syrup and is used as feed for the third crystallization stage.
In the third stage, the low-green syrup is fed to the low-raw (C) crystallizers (see P-72/CR-103) to produce
low-raw (C) massecuite. The crystallizers are operated under vacuum using a pump (not shown) and
condenser (see P-73/HX-114). The massecuite is fed to continuous low-raw (C) centrifuges (batch basket
centrifuges) (see P-74/BCFBD-103) to produce low-raw sugar, which is sent to the melter. The mother
liquor of the third stage is called molasses. Molasses is difficult to crystallize with conventional equipment. It
is a by-product of the sugar factory, which is sold to yeast fermentation, pharmaceutical and animal feed
industries.
Sugar Drying section

Station 17 (Sugar Drying). The wet sugar leaving the white (A) centrifuge (see “White (A) Sugar” stream) has
a moisture content of 0.1 to 1 % and a temperature of about 60°C. First, the moisture that exists on the
crystal surface is removed by drying and cooling in a sugar dryer. The dried and cooled sugar has a moisture
content of about 0.05% and a temperature below 35°C. The enthalpy present in wet sugar entering the sugar
dryer is usually sufficient to dry itself without the need for additional heat. So, usually the air used in the dryer
(see “Drying Air” stream) is filtered (see P-75/AF-101) but not heated. The sugar loses additional moisture as
it cools down during transportation from the dryer to the silo. In the silo, the sugar is further cooled down and
conditioned by subjecting it to a flow of conditioned air (air with certain temperature and humidity) for 24 to
72 hours in order to evaporate the bound moisture near the crystal surface. The conditioned sugar has a
moisture content of about 0.03% and ambient temperature. In this simulation, a Rotary Drying procedure
(see P-76/RDR-101) is used to simulate sugar drying and conditioning. It is assumed that the dried sugar
has a moisture content of 0.03% and a temperature of 35°C. A Cooling procedure (see P-77/HX-115) is used
to simulate further cooling until a temperature of 20°C is reached. Finally, a Continuous Storage in a Silo (for
Bulk Solids) procedure (see P-78/SL-102) is used to simulate storing of sugar in a sugar silo.
Additional information
For more details regarding the input data used in this example, and how το enter this data in SuperPro
Designer®, please see Appendix A.
Overall Material Balances

Table 1 displays the raw materials requirement for the entire flowsheet. This table has been extracted from
table “2.2 Bulk Materials (Entire Process)” of the Materials & Streams Report exported in RTF format. To
generate this report, click Reports  Materials & Streams (SR) on the main menu. The quantities are
displayed in metric tons per year and per hour and per metric ton of main product/revenue (MP). You may
select a particular stream or pure component as the main product/revenue through the Stream Classification
dialog. To display this dialog, click click Tasks  Stream Classification on the main menu. For this
example, the produced sugar (see “Sugar” stream) is selected as the main product/revenue. The amount of
sugar produced by the process is approximately 53 MT/h (or 101,700 MT/yr).
Note that in order to display the quantities in metric tons instead of kilos, you must visit the “Physical Unit
Options” dialog and change the mass unit that is used in streams (see “In Streams” box) from kg (default) to
MT. To display that dialog, right-click on an empty space on the flowsheet and then click Physical Unit
Options.
Another useful table of the Material & Streams report is the overall component balance table (“4. Overall
Component Balance”) shown in Table 2. From that table, one can see which components enter the process,
and which ones leave the process.

Table 1. Bulk Materials (Entire Process)
Material MT/yr MT/h MT/MT MP

Air 1,110,634 578.46 10.92
CaCO3 53 0.03 0.00
Coal 49,719 25.90 0.49
Coke 17,326 9.02 0.17
Limestone 35,328 18.40 0.35
Sugar Beets 931,200 485.00 9.16
Tare 28,800 15.00 0.28
Water 2,280,387 1,187.70 22.42
TOTAL 4,453,447 2,319.50 43.79
Table 2. Overall Component Balance (MT/yr)
COMPONENT INITIAL IN OUT FINAL IN-OUT

Ash 0 6,791 6,791 0 -0
Beet Pulp 0 0 49,354 0 - 49,354
Ca(OH)2 0 0 1,916 0 - 1,916
CaCO3 0 35,381 8,076 0 27,305
CaO 0 0 198 0 - 198
Carb. Dioxide 0 0 199,427 0 - 199,427
Carbon 0 51,150 0 0 51,150
Crystal Sugar 0 0 101,674 0 - 101,674
Hydrogen 0 2,486 2,486 0 0
Nitrogen 4,623 852,820 852,820 4,623 0
Nonsucroses 0 0 19,130 0 - 19,130
Oxygen 1,403 263,317 126,798 1,403 136,519
Precip.Nonsucr. 0 0 24,049 0 - 24,049
Sucrose 0 0 28,694 0 - 28,694
Sugar Beets 0 931,200 0 0 931,200
Sulfur 0 249 0 0 249
Sulfur Dioxide 0 0 497 0 - 497
Tare 0 28,800 28,800 0 0
Water 0 2,281,254 3,002,739 0 - 721,485
TOTAL 6,026 4,453,447 4,453,448 6,026 1
Overall Error: 0.000%
Cost Analysis and Economic Evaluation

The key results of cost analysis for a plant that produces 53 MT/hr (or 101,700 MT/yr) of sugar are listed in
Table 3. This table was extracted from table “1.Executive Summary (2015 prices)” of the Economic
Evaluation Report exported in RTF format. To generate this report, click Reports  Economic Evaluation
(EER) on the main menu. The same information is also available through the “Executive Summary” dialog.
To display that dialog, click View  Executive Summary on the main menu.
Note that this economic analysis is based on the assumption that a new facility will be built for this process.
This corresponds to a section-wide cost allocation factor equal to 1.0 specified through the “Cost Alloc” tab of
the “Capital Cost Adjustments” dialog for each section. Another assumption is that the project lifetime is 30
years. As mentioned earlier, this value can be specified through the “Time Valuation” tab of the “Economic

Evaluation Parameters for Entire Project” data dialog. To display this dialog, click Edit  Process Options 
Economic Evaluation Parameters. The analysis results shown below suggest that this investment may be
economically feasible.
Table 3. Executive Summary (2015 Prices)
Total Capital Investment 284,361,000 $

Capital Investment Charged to This Project 284,361,000 $
Operating Cost 85,842,000 $/yr
Savings (due to Power Recycled) 3,242,818 $/yr
Savings (due to Heat Recovery) 170,737 $/yr
Net Operating Cost 82,428,541 $/yr
Main Revenue 81,361,000 $/yr
Other Revenues 20,252,658 $/yr
Total Revenues 101,613,000 $/yr
Cost Basis Annual Rate 101,701 MT MP/yr
Unit Production Cost 844.07 $/MT MP
Net Unit Production Cost 810.50 $/MT MP
Unit Production Revenue 999.14 $/MT MP
Gross Margin 18.88 %
Return On Investment 8.31 %
Payback Time 12.04 years
IRR (After Taxes) 5.23 %
NPV (at 5.0% Interest) 8,929,000 $
MP = Total Flow of Stream 'Sugar'
The Economic Evaluation Report and the Itemized Cost Report contain additional tables with detailed
breakdowns of the items listed in the above executive summary table. One such table is table “9.Annual
Operating Cost (2015 prices)” of the EER, which is shown in Table 4. In this table, a breakdown of the total
annual operating cost is displayed. A graphical representation of this table in the form of a pie chart is also
displayed (see Figure 1).
Note that the inclusion of charts in reports is optional. Generally, you can view/edit several options regarding
the content and appearance of reports through the “Report Options” dialog. To display this dialog, click
Reports  Options on the main menu. For example, you may choose to include or exclude charts when
generating reports by checking or un-checking, respectively, the “Include Charts” option that exists on the
“Common Settings” tab of the Report Options dialog.
From Table 4 (or Figure 1) it can be seen that the facility-dependent cost (i.e. the cost of equipment
maintenance, fixed capital cost depreciation, insurance, local taxes, etc.) is the largest operating cost of the
process accounting for 47% of the total operating cost. The cost of raw materials is the second largest
operating cost accounting for another 39% of the total operating cost. Another 5% of the total operating cost
is spent for utilities (heating/cooling agents and electricity consumption) and another 5% is spent for labor.
Table 5 provides detailed information regarding the costs of raw materials. That table was extracted from
table “5.Materials Cost-Process Summary” of the Economic Evaluation Report. It can be seen that the cost
of beets accounts for about 73% of the total cost of raw materials. The costs of coke, coal, water and
limestone account for 14.9%, 6.6%, 3.4% and 2.1%, respectively, of the total cost of raw materials.

Table 4. Annual Operating Cost (2015 prices) – Process Summary
Cost Item $ %
Raw Materials 33,183,000 38.66
Labor-Dependent 4,653,000 5.42
Facility-Dependent 40,606,000 47.30
Laboratory/QC/QA 698,000 0.81
Consumables 4,000 0.00
Waste Treatment/Disposal 2,122,000 2.47
Utilities 4,576,000 5.33
Transportation 0 0.00
Miscellaneous 0 0.00
Advertising/Selling 0 0.00
Running Royalties 0 0.00
Failed Product Disposal 0 0.00
TOTAL 85,842,000 100.00
Figure 1. Annual Operating Cost Breakdown.
Table 5. Materials Cost – Process Summary
Unit Cost Annual Annual Cost

Bulk Material %
($) Amount ($)
Air 0.00 1,110,633,865 kg 0 0.00
CaCO3 0.00 52,923 kg 0 0.00
Coal 44.00 49,719 MT 2,187,641 6.59
Coke 285.00 17,326 MT 4,937,857 14.88
Limestone 20.00 35,328 MT 706,560 2.13
Sugar Beets 26.00 931,200 MT 24,211,200 72.96
Tare 0.00 28,800,000 kg 0 0.00
Water 0.50 2,280,387 MT 1,140,194 3.44
TOTAL 33,183,451 100.00
NOTE: Bulk material consumption amount includes material used as:

- Raw Material
- Cleaning Agent
- Heat Transfer Agent (if utilities are included in the operating cost)

Miscellaneous Modeling Tips
Material Storage Units
Material storage units in SuperPro Designer® may be thought of as virtual tanks (in the sense that they are
not displayed in the flowsheet) which handle the supply or receiving of materials during a process. In order to
make use of material storage units, first you need to create a new material storage unit and then you need to
assign output streams to it.
Storage units can be added to a SuperPro file by selecting Tasks  Other Resources  Material Storage
Units on the main menu. To add or edit receiving units, switch to the “Receiving” tab. To view the properties
of an existing unit, select that unit and click the “spectacles” button ( ). To add a new unit, click the
“magic wand” button. In both cases, the storage unit’s properties dialog will be displayed. That dialog
contains several tabs (“Properties”, “Availability Limits”, “Inventory Data”). Through the “Properties” tab of
that dialog, you can specify the unit’s name, choose a classification type for the deposited material (e.g.,
solid waste, aqueous waste, etc.), set the density of the material deposited, and (optionally) set a common
treatment cost for all deposited streams. Through the “Inventory Data” tab, you can specify (among other
things) the storage unit’s capacity and the removal rate of deposited material. For more information on the
properties of a storage unit, please consult the program’s manual.
To assign an output stream to a receiving storage unit, right click on that stream to access its context menu
and then click Assign Receiving Storage Unit to display the “Select storage Unit” dialog. Through that
dialog, select the desired storage unit and click OK.
In this example, a receiving storage unit named “Solid Waste Tank” was added to collect the solid waste
streams generated throughout the process and assign a common waste treatment cost to them. A density of
1000 g/L was assumed for the solid waste and a waste treatment cost of $10/MT was assumed for all
streams assigned to this storage unit. The following streams were assigned to the solid waste tank and their
classification was changed automatically to “Solid Waste” in the “Stream Classification” dialog: “Tare (a)”,
“Tare (b)”, “Stones & Trash”, “Mud”, S-101 and “Ash”. To display this dialog, click Tasks  Stream
Classification on the main menu.
Another receiving storage unit named “Aqueous Waste Tank” was added to collect the aqueous waste
streams generated throughout the process and assign a common waste treatment cost to them. A density of
1000 g/L was assumed for the aqueous waste and a waste treatment cost of $0.50/MT was assumed for all
streams assigned to this storage unit. The following streams were assigned to the aqueous waste tank and
their classification was changed automatically to “Aqueous Waste” in the “Stream Classification” dialog:
““Scrubber Water Out” (the outlet water stream from the Gas Scrubber; see P-31), S-160 (the 1st effect
condensate after preheating the thin juice in the thin juice heaters; see P-58), S-145 (condensed vapor from
White (A) Crystallization; see P-66 and P-67), S-151 (condensed vapor from high-raw (B) crystallization; see
P-69 and P-70), S-159 (condensed vapor from low-raw (C) crystallization; see P-72 and P-73), “Brine” from
reverse osmosis, and S-166 (remaining condensate from evaporator).

Note that the properties of storage units can also be accessed through the “SUs” tab of the Process Explorer
pane. To display the Process Explorer pane, click View  Process Explorer on the main menu.
Alternatively, you can click the Process Explorer button ( ) on the main toolbar.
Energy Recovery
In every process there may be opportunities for energy recovery and reuse in order to improve the energy
efficiency and economics of that process. If there is a stream that needs to be heated and another stream
that needs to be cooled, then it may be possible to transfer heat from the hot stream to the cold stream in a
heat exchanger, thereby reducing the amount of heating agent used to heat the cold stream as well as the
amount of cooling agent used to cool the hot stream. However, improvements in energy efficiency typically
come with additional capital expenditures, such as the installation of additional heat exchangers.
In SuperPro Designer, heat recovery can be modeled either by adding explicit heat exchangers to the
flowsheet and connecting the streams which can exchange heat (see the “Cossette Preheating” procedure
P-17/HX-101 for example), or by using the Energy Recovery feature of the program in order to add virtual
heat exchangers to the process. The latter is particularly useful during preliminary process design studies
and when the required network of heat exchangers is very complicated. For example, it may be feasible
(economically and practically) to add a heat exchanger in order to heat the cold stream of procedure P-36
(cold main limed juice) using heat from the hot stream of procedure P-67 (evaporated water from white (A)
crystallization), and thus reduce the cooling load of the cooling operation of procedure P-67 and the heating
load of the heating operation of procedure P-36. To do that, you can either add a heat exchanger to the
flowsheet explicitly, or you can use the Energy Recovery feature of the program to try to set up a virtual
heat exchanger by matching the cooling requirement of the cooling operation of procedure P-67 (which acts
as the “heat source”) with the heating requirement of the heating operation of procedure P-36 (which acts as
the “heat recipient”). To do this, right-click on an empty area of the flowsheet and select Energy Recovery
from the context menu that appears. This will display the “Energy Recovery Opportunities” dialog. Figure 3
shows this dialog in expanded view for the current process. To expand this dialog, click the Show
Recipients of Energy Recovered >> button that exists at the bottom left corner of the dialog.
In this dialog, the table of “Operations Requiring Cooling (Heat Sources)” lists all operations that utilize a
cooling agent in order to remove heat from a stream. These operations act as potential “heat sources” in the
virtual energy recovery network. For each operation, this table contains information regarding the cooling
load, the stream’s inlet and outlet temperatures, and the cooling agent’s name and inlet and outlet
temperatures. For instance, the cooling operation of procedure P-67 is used to condense the water vapor
produced by white (A) crystallization (see stream S-144) by transferring approximately 8.9 million kcal/h of
heat from the water vapor to a cooling agent (cooling water).
Another table shown in this dialog is the “Operations Requiring Heat (Heat Recipients” table. This lists all
operations that utilize a heating agent in order to add heat to a stream. These operations act as potential
“heat recipients” in the virtual energy recovery network. For each operation, this table contains information
regarding the heating load, the stream’s inlet and outlet temperatures, and the heating agent’s name and
inlet and outlet temperatures. For instance, the heating operation of procedure P-36 is used to heat the cold

main limed juice (see stream S-125) from 34.6°C to 85°C by transferring approximately 26.8 million kcal/h of
heat from a heating agent (“Steam@100C”) to the stream.
Figure 3. The “Energy Recovery Opportunities” dialog (expanded view).
Through the “Energy Recovery Opportunities” dialog, it may be possible to match the cooling load of an
operation that needs to remove heat from a stream ( “heat source”) with the heating load of an operation that
needs to add heat to a stream ( “heat recipient”). Essentially, this implies that a heat exchanger is used to
transfer heat from the stream associated with the “heat source” operation to the stream associated with the
“heat recipient” operation. As you can see in Figure 3, one such match was done in this example between
the cooling operation of procedure P-67 and the heating operation of procedure P-36.
To set up a virtual energy recovery match between one operation that acts as “heat source” and another
operation that acts as “heat recipient”, one must first check the “Recovered” check box for the operation that
acts as “heat source”. This will enable the button with the three dots ( ) under the “View/Edit” column for
the selected operation. Clicking that button for the cooling operation of procedure P-67 will bring up the
“Recovered Energy Matches” dialog shown in Figure 4. This dialog displays all possible “heat recipient”

operations (thermodynamically) for the operation that is selected as “heat source”. In order to select a “heat
recipient” to match with the “heat source”, double-click the “Match” check box for the desired “heat recipient”.
Note that this dialog also displays the maximum ( “full”) energy of the “heat source” operation that is
available for transfer (approximately 8.9 million kcal/h), the matched energy of the “heat source” operation by
the selected “heat recipient” operation, and the remaining energy of the “heat source” operation. Once a
feasible match is selected, the match % of the heating load of the selected “heat recipient”, as well as the
matched and remaining energies of the “heat source” operation, are calculated. For example, when the
cooling operation of procedure P-67 is matched with the heating operation of procedure P-36, the calculated
match is 33.14% of that operation’s heating load (or 8.9 million kcal/h), and therefore, the matched and
remaining cooling loads are 8.9 million kcal/h and zero, respectively. Practically, this means that a heat
exchanger may be used to transfer heat from stream S-144 (water vapor) to stream S-125 (cold main limed
juice) in order to supply 33.14% of the total heating requirement of the heating operation of procedure P-36,
and the remaining heating requirement will be supplied by the heating agent used in that operation.
Figure 4. The “Recovered Energy Matches” dialog for the cooling operation of procedure P-67 in the case
that it is matched with operations requiring heat.
Once a good match (“heat recipient”) is found for the “heat source”, you can click OK to close the
“Recovered Energy Matches” dialog and return to the Energy Recovery Opportunities” dialog. That dialog
now contains updated information regarding the match. For example, when the cooling operation of
procedure P-67 (“heat source”) is matched with the heating operation of procedure P-36 (“heat recipient”),

the “Operations Requiring Cooling (Heat Sources” table displays the selected “heat recipient” (“P-36: HEAT-
1”) and calculated matching % of the cooling load (100%) for the selected “heat source”. In addition, the
“Operations Requiring Heat (Heat Recipients)” table displays the selected “heat source” (“P-67: COOL-1”)
and matching % of heating load (33.14%) for the selected “heat recipient”. Once you are done with matching
heat sources with heat recipients, click OK to close the “Energy Recovery Opportunities” dialog.
As shown in Figure 3, another match is specified between the cooling operation of procedure P-56 and the
evaporation operation of procedure P-55. As explained in the “Process description” section, procedure P-56
is used to simulate the condensation of live steam in the evaporator in order to be able to recycle the
condensate stream. A virtual energy recovery match between the two operations may be used to reproduce
the heat transfer in the steam chest of the first effect of the evaporator (where heat is transferred from live
steam to the thin juice) and eliminate the cooling agent requirement of the cooling operation of procedure P-
56. Note that the match of the cooling load is a little less than 100% indicating that there is small difference
between the calculated enthalpy change of condensation of live steam around procedure P-56 and the
specified mass-to-energy factor for heating agent “Steam@140C” used in procedure P-55. This is due to the
fact that enthalpy calculations in SuperPro Designer are based on the assumption of ideal incompressible
gas. To overcome this issue and to ensure that the cost of the cooling agent used in the cooling operation of
procedure P-56 is zero, a fictitious cooling agent having zero cost ( “FictCoolAgent”) is used as cooling agent
in that operation.
The annual savings due to heat recovery based on the specified matches are around $170,000. This figure
is listed under “Savings (due to Heat Recovery)” in table “1.Executive Summary (2015 prices) of the
Economic Evaluation Report. It is also mentioned in a note under table “8.Utilities Cost (2015 prices) –
Process Summary” of the same report. To generate this report, click Reports  Economic Evaluation
(EER) on the main menu. Note that the additional capital expenditures required for the energy recovery
matches (to purchase additional heat exchangers) are not accounted for directly by the current version of the
tool. You may account for such expenditures by increasing the “Unlisted Equipment Purchase Cost” factor of
one or more flowsheet sections that are charged with the additional capital expenditures. To view or edit the
“Unlisted Equipment Purchase Cost” for a particular flowsheet section, select the desired section name from
the drop-down list box that exists on the “Sections” toolbar and then click on the Capital Cost Adjustments
button ( ) that exists on that toolbar. Alternatively, you can click Edit  Process Options  Section:
<section name>  Capital Cost Adjustments on the main menu, or you can right-click on an empty space
on the flowsheet and then click Section: <section name>  Capital Cost Adjustments.
Note that the cooling load of operations that act as “heat sources” can also be matched with the heating load
of heating agents. For instance, the cooling load of the cooling operation of procedure P-67 could be
matched with the heating load of heating agent “Hot Water”. This is equivalent to having a heat exchanger
where heat is transferred from stream S-144 (water vapor) to another stream that contains water in order to
produce the hot water used as “Hot Water” agent. In other words, the heat removed from stream S-144 could
be used to produce heating agent “Hot Water” in order to compensate for the total consumption of that
heating agent by the process. In order to match a heat source with a heating agent, you must select the
option “Match with spent heating agents” on the “Recovered Energy Matches” dialog, and then you must

select the desired heating agent and press the Select button. As shown in Figure 5, “Hot Water” is the only
heating agent option when the cooling operation of procedure P-67 operation is selected as heat source.
Figure 5. The “Recovered Energy Matches” dialog for the cooling operation of procedure P-67 in the case
that it is matched with spent heating agents.
Also note that more than one “heat source” operations can be matched with the same heating agent. For
example, two or more operations that act as “heat sources” could be used to produce heating agent “Hot
Water”. If there is demand for the heating agent that acts as “heat recipient” in the process, then matches
with spent heating agents result in savings. If the demand is exceeded, the excess heating agent produced
can be sold and is considered credit for the process. The heating agent’s credit price (“Agent Credit Price”)
can be specified through its properties dialog. To display that dialog, click Tasks  Other Resources  Heat
Transfer Agents on the main menu, and then double-click on the desired heat transfer agent.
References
1. Asadi, M. Beet-Sugar Handbook. John Wiley & Sons, 2007.
2. Maroulis Z.B. and G.D. Saravacos. Food Plant Economics. Taylor & Francis, 2008.
3. Wright, P.G. Heat Transfer Coefficient Correlations for Robert Juice Evaporators. Proc. Aust. Soc. Sugar
Cane Technol., Vol. 30, 2008.

4. Mathlouthi M. and P. Reiser. Sucrose: Properties and Applications. Chapman & Hall, 1995.
5. http://www.suedzucker.de/en/Zucker/Zuckergewinnung/
6. http://sch.vscht.cz/materialy/erasmus/FTBI-sugar-2014.pdf
7. Ali M. Characteristics and Production Costs of U.S. Sugarbeet Farms. Statistical Bulletin No. (SB-974-8),
USDA, 2004 (http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/943070/sb974-8.pdf).
8. Rezbova H., Belova A. and Skubna O. Sugar beet production in the European Union and their future
trends. Agris on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Volume V, 2013
(http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/162299/2/agris_on-line_2013_4_rezbova_belova_skubna.pdf).
9. https://www.agra-net.com/agra/world-molasses-and-feed-ingredients-
report/analysis/production/article493445.ece
10. https://www.quandl.com/collections/markets/coal
11. http://www.eia.gov/coal/production/quarterly/pdf/t25p01p1.pdf
12. http://www.youngssandandgravel.com/pricelist.htm
13. http://www.pe.wzw.tum.de/publikationen/pdf/sd444.pdf
14. Taylor R.D. and W. W. Koo. 2015 Outlook of the U.S. and World Sugar Markets, 2014-2024.
Agrobusiness & Applied Economics Report 739. Center for Agricultural Policy and Trade Studies,
Department of Agribusiness and Applied Economics, North Dakota State University, 2015
(http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/201311/2/AAE739.pdf).
15. https://www.ag.ndsu.edu/cattledocs/backgrounding-cattle-breakeven-
calculations/files/fileinnercontentproxy.2010-10-15.8952439134
16. http://www.sugaronline.com/website_contents/view/1237180

Appendix A. Input data
Process operating mode and annual operating time
To view/edit the process operating mode and the annual operating time, click Tasks  Set Mode of
Operation on the main menu. For this example, the process operating mode is continuous and the annual
operating time is 1920 hours, which corresponds to 16 hours of operation per day for 5 days each week and
24 weeks each year, or equivalently, 80 days of continuous (24/7) operation.
Pure components and stock mixtures
Beets mainly consist of sucrose (sugar), nonsucroses (all soluble substances in sugarbeet juice except
sugar), beet pulp (or mark; fibrous materials that are water insoluble) and water. Also, beets delivered to the
factory carry tare (impurities such as clay, sand, stone, trash). Suitable pure components and stock mixtures
are specified for this process by clicking Tasks  Pure Components  Register, Edit/View Properties and
Tasks  Stock Mixtures  Register, Edit/View Properties, respectively, on the main menu. This includes
the specification of suitable values for a number of pure component properties (molecular weight, density,
specific heat capacity, purchase price and selling price) and stock mixture properties (composition, density).
The following pure components are registered by default when you create a new file: “Nitrogen”, “Oxygen”
and “Water”. For this example, a number of additional pure components had to be registered. From these,
many already existed in the “Designer” database ( “Ash”, “Calcium Hydroxide”, “Calcium Carbonate”,
“Calcium Oxide”, “Carbon Dioxide”, “Carbon”, “Hydrogen”, “Sulfur” and “Sulfur Dioxide”), but also some
additional pure components had to be created ( “Beet Pulp”, “Crystal Sugar”, “Nonsucroses”, “Precipitated
Nonsucroses”, “Sugar Beets” and “Tare”). New pure components were first created by copying the properties
of the “Water” pure component. Subsequently, those pure component properties that are important for this
simulation (e.g., molecular weight, liquid/solid cp) were corrected. Tables A.1 and A.2 list all registered pure
components, their source pure component for default property values, and their property values that were
subsequently changed.
In addition, the following stock mixtures had to be created for this simulation: “Coal”, “Coke” and “Limestone”.
Table A.3 lists all registered stock mixtures, their source pure component for default property values, and
their property values that were subsequently changed. Table A.4 lists the composition of all user-defined
registered stock mixtures (besides “Air”, which is registered by default) and their properties.
Also note that the sugar beets are assumed to consist of 5.3% beet pulp, 2.7% nonsucroses, 14% sucrose
and 78% water. A reaction will be specified in the context of the beet slicing procedure (see P-82/SR-102) in
order to convert the sugar beets into their constituents.

Table A.1. Names and User-Defined Property Values of Registered Pure Components.
Pure Source Pure New MW New Normal New Critical New Critical New
Component Component for (g/gmol) Boiling Point Temperature Pressure Liquid/Solid
Local Name Default Property (°C) (°C) (bar) Cp
Values (J/gmol-K)
Ash Ash 2000 2500
(Designer DB)
Beet Pulp Water 20000 42000
(Designer DB)
Ca(OH)2 Calcium Hydroxide 1
(Designer DB)
CaCO3 Calcium Carbonate 1
(Designer DB)
CaO Calcium Oxide 1
(Designer DB)
Carb. Dioxide Carbon Dioxide
(Designer DB)
Carbon Carbon
(Designer DB)
Crystal Sugar Sucrose
(Designer DB)
Hydrogen Hydrogen
(Designer DB)
Nitrogen Nitrogen
(Designer DB)
Nonsucroses Water 134 428.9
(Designer DB)
Oxygen Oxygen
(Designer DB)
Precip. Water 128 428.9
Nonsucr. (Designer DB)
Sucrose Sucrose
(Designer DB)
Sugar Beets Water 20.78
(Designer DB)
Sulfur Sulfur
(Designer DB)
Sulfur Dioxide Sulfur Dioxide
(Designer DB)
Tare Water 300 75.24
(Designer DB)
Water Water 75.24
(Designer DB)

Table A.2. Names and User-Defined Property Values of Registered Pure Components (continued).
Pure Source Pure New Purchasing Pure Source New Purchasing

Component Component for Liquid/Solid Price Component Pure Liquid/Solid Price
Local Name Default Property Density ($/MT) Local Name Component Density ($/MT)
Values (g/L) for Default (g/L)
Property
Values
Ash Ash Nonsucroses Water
(Designer DB) (Designer
DB)
Beet Pulp Water Oxygen Oxygen
DB)
Ca(OH)2 Calcium Precip. Water
Hydroxide Nonsucr. (Designer
(Designer DB) DB)
CaCO3 Calcium Sucrose Sucrose
Carbonate (Designer
(Designer DB) DB)
CaO Calcium Oxide Sugar Beets Water 675
DB)
Carb. Carbon Dioxide Sulfur Sulfur
Dioxide (Designer DB) (Designer
DB)
Carbon Carbon Sulfur Sulfur
(Designer DB) Dioxide Dioxide
(Designer
DB)
Crystal Sucrose Tare Water 1600
Sugar (Designer DB) (Designer
DB)
Hydrogen Hydrogen Water Water 0.5
DB)
Nitrogen Nitrogen
(Designer DB)
Table A.3. Names and User-Defined Property Values of Registered Stock Mixtures.
Stock Source Stock Purchase

Mixture Mixture for Default Price
Property Values ($/MT)
Air Air 0
(Designer DB)
Coal 44
Coke 285
Limestone 20

Table A.4. Mass % Composition and Corresponding Properties of User-Defined Registered Stock Mixtures.
Pure Coal Coke Limestone

Component
Local Name
Ash 10 10.5
Beet Pulp
Beet Water
CaCO3 100
Carbon 75 80
Hydrogen 5
Nitrogen 1.5 0.5
Nonsucroses
Oxygen 8 4
Sucrose
Sulfur 0.5
Water 5
SUM 100 100 100
Other resources
A number of heat transfer agents are used in the process, such as chilled water, cooling water and low-
pressure steam. To view or edit the properties of these heat transfer agents, click Tasks  Other
Resources  Heat Transfer Agents on the main menu, and then double-click on the desired heat transfer
agent.
User-defined heat transfer agents that do not exist in the “Designer” database may be added to the “User”
database by clicking Databanks  Heat Transfer Agents on the main menu and then clicking the “magic
wand” button on the dialog that is displayed. For example, a fictitious heating agent named “FictHeatAgent”
was created with similar properties to those of steam supplied at 400°C and 40 bar and leaving at 250°C
(supply temperature 400°C, return temperature 250°C and mass-to- energy conversion factor 508.77
kcal/kg). That agent was created in order to be able to simulate heating without cost when this was required
(see, for example, the heating procedures P-61 and P-64). Similarly, a fictitious cooling agent named
“FictCoolAgent” was created to simulate cooling without cost for the process (for example, see the limekiln
procedure P-26 and the cooling procedure P-28). The properties of that agent are similar to those of chilled
water (supply temperature 5°C, return temperature 10°C and mass-to- energy conversion factor 5.0221
kcal/kg).
As mentioned above, you can change the properties of a heat transfer agent used by the process (compared
to the properties of that heat transfer agent in the Designer or User database) by clicking Tasks  Other
Resources  Heat Transfer Agents on the main menu, and then double-clicking on the desired heat
transfer agent. Table A.5 lists the properties of heat transfer agents used by the process.

The costs of heating agents “Steam@140C” and “Steam@100C” are set as zero because those heating
agents are assumed to be produced by the boiler (see P-52/SG-101). More specifically, heating agent
“Steam@140C” is used in the evaporator (see P-55/EV-101) and the required amount (76.82 MT/h) is
supplied by the turbine’s exhaust (see “Steam for Evaporation” stream). Heating agent “Steam@100C” is
used by the heating operation prior to hot main liming (see P-36/HX-105) and also by the second-carb
heaters (see P-46/HX-106). The total demand for this heating agent is 56.3 MT/h (or 108,063 MT/yr) and it is
assumed to be produced by converting part of the additional amount of HP steam produced by the boiler
(see “For LP steam@100C” stream) into LP steam at 100°C.
Table A.5. Names and Property Values of Registered Heat Transfer Agents.
Heat Transfer Description Heating / Supply Return Mass-to- Agent Cost

Agent Cooling Temperature Temperature Energy
(°C) (°C) Factor
Chilled Water Chilled water Cooling 5 10 5.0221 0.4 $/MT
kcal/kg
(21 kJ/kg)
Coolng Water Cooling water Cooling 25 30 4.9971 0.05 $/MT
(20.9079
kJ/kg)
FictCoolAgent Fictitious cooling Cooling 5 10 5.0221 0
agent kcal/kg
(21 kJ/kg)
FictHeatAgent Fictitious heating Heating 400 250 508.77 0
agent kcal/kg
(2128.7
kJ/kg)
Steam@100C LP steam (1 bar) Heating 100 100 539.3099 0 $/MT
used in kcal/kg
crystallizers. (2256.4726
kJ/kg)
Steam@140C LP steam (3 bar) Heating 140 140 512.4865 0 $/MT
used in 1st effect of kcal/kg
evaporator. (2144.2435
kJ/kg)
Electricity consumption by unit procedures is provided by the power type named “Std Power”. To view or edit
the properties of power types consumed by the process, click Tasks  Other Resources  Power Types
Consumed on the main menu and then double-click on the desired power type. For the “Std Power” type, a
purchasing price of $0.14/kW-h is specified. Electricity generation using power generation equipment such
as a steam turbine is also provided by the “Std Power” power type. To view or edit the properties of power
types generated by the process, click Tasks  Other Resources  Power Types Generated on the main
menu and then double-click on the desired power type. For the “Std Power” type, a selling price of $0.1/kW-h
is specified. In addition, it is assumed that 100% of the generated power is “recycled”, meaning that 100% of
produced power is available for consumption by the process (if required), thereby reducing the net operating
cost of the process. User-defined power types that do not exist in the Designer database may be also added
to the User database by clicking Databanks  Power Types on the main menu and then clicking the “magic

wand” button on the dialog that is displayed. For example, a fictitious power type named “FictitiousPower”
was created in order to be able to simulate pumping without any electricity cost (see, for example,
procedures P-60 and P-63). Table A.6 lists the properties of registered power types for this example.
Table 6. Names and Property Values of Registered Power Types.
Power Type Description Purchasing Selling Price Recycling

Price ($/kWh)
($/kWh)
FictitiousPower Fictitious power 0 0
type (for zero
consumption)
Std Power Default power 0.14 0.1 100%
consumption/gen
eration type.
Labor use is also calculated for the process. The amount of labor in this file corresponds to the use of the
“Operator” labor resource type. To view the properties of labor resource types used by the process, click
Tasks  Other Resources  Labor on the Tasks menu and then double-click on the desired labor resource
type. By default, a lumped cost of $50/h is specified for this labor resource type. The number of operators is
listed in Table 13 for the most important operations.
Process data (Streams, Procedures, Equipment and Operations)
To view/edit the simulation data of a stream, right click on that stream and select Simulation Data. To
view/edit the simulation data of an operation, right-click on the corresponding unit procedure that includes
that operation and select Operation Data if the unit procedure contains a single operation, or select
Operation Data and then the desired operation if the unit procedure contains two or more operations. To
view/edit the simulation data of an equipment resource, right-click on the corresponding unit procedure that
uses that equipment resource and select Equipment Data.
“Beet Piling” Stationary Screening procedure (P-1/SCR-101)
The total beet feed (see “Beets” stream) is 500 metric tons (MT) per hour, 97% (or 485 MT/h) of which is
beets and the rest is tare. It is assumed that 35% of tare in beet feed is removed during beet piling.
“Beet Dry Cleaning” Vibrating Screening procedure (P-2/VSCR-101)
It is assumed that beet dry cleaning removes 20% of tare from piled beets.
“Fluming” 2-Stream Mixing procedure (P-3/MX-101)
Fluming and cleaning requires wash water in the range of 300 to 500% on beet (OB). In this example, 1200
MT/h (247% OB) of water is used for fluming only (see stream S-169). Another 800 MT/h (165% OB) is used
later for washing (see stream “Condenser-Water-1”). To save water and control the quantity of mud, flume
water is treated for mud separation (see “Flume Water Clarifier” P-12/CL-101) and the treated water is then

returned to the flume (see S-129). For the procedure considered here, the equipment’s Max Throughput is
set equal to 2500 MT/h (500% OB).
“Stone & Trash Removal” Component 2-Way Splitting procedure (P-4/CSP-101)
This procedure is used to simulate the bucket stone separation and rake trash separation steps. Stones and
trash are represented by pure component “Tare”. The bucket stone separation is assumed to remove 20% of
“Tare” from flume water, and the rake trash separation is assumed to remove another 20% of “Tare”. Hence,
40% of “Tare” in total is assumed to be removed from flume water during stone & trash removal (see “Stones
& Trash” stream). The equipment’s Max Throughput is set equal to 2500 MT/h (500% OB).
“Beet-Lifting” Component 2-Way Splitting procedure (P-6/CSP-103)
It is assumed that 100% of beets, 10% of tare and 2% of water are split to the top stream (see stream S-
111). The bottom stream is used to transfer the flume water to the clarifier where it is treated for mud
separation (see stream S-107). The equipment’s Max Throughput is set equal to 2500 MT/h (500% OB).
“Beet Washing” Bulk Washing procedure (P-9/WSH-101)
This unit procedure is used to simulate a drum beet washer (used as the main washer) followed by a spray
beet washer (used as the finishing washer). It is assumed that a total of 800 MT/h of water is needed for beet
washing (700 MT/h used in the drum beet washer and 100 MT/h used in the spray beet washer) (see “Wash
Water” stream). It is also assumed that the washing removes 100% of Tare and 99% of Water from the
beets. The wash water (see stream S-109) is then sent to the clarifier where it is treated for mud separation
and the clean beets are sent to the slicers. The equipment’s Max Throughput is set equal to 2500 MT/h.
“Clarification” Clarification procedure (P-12/CL-101)
It is assumed that 99% of Tare flows through the underflow and that the Particulate Concentration in Sludge
is equal to 65 g/L.
Custom Splitting procedure (P-5/FSP-101)
The flow of the top output stream is set equal to the flume water requirement (1200 MT/h). The equipment’s
Max Throughput is set equal to 2500 MT/h.
“Beet slicing” Shredding (bulk) procedure (see P-82/SR-102)
The power consumption for beet slicing is about 1 Wh/kg. The equipment’s Max Throughput is set equal to
416 MT/h (10000 MT/day). A reaction is used to simulate the conversion of beets into their constituents. It is
assumed that the beets contain 5.3% beet pulp, 2.7% nonsucroses, 14% sucrose and 78% water.
“Cossette Preheating” Heat Exchanging procedure (see P-17/HX-101)
The Min Temperature Approach between is set to 1.0°C. The equipment’s Max Heat Transfer Area is set
equal to 2500 m2.
“Cossette Diffusion” Solids Leaching procedure (see P-18/SMSX-101)
The water for the diffusion is a mixture (see P-19/MX-105) of condensate from the evaporator and press
water from the filter press. The equipment’s Max Heat Transfer Area is set equal to 2500 m2. The operation

is assumed adiabatic and arbitrary values are set for the Mixer Residence Time and Settler Residence time
(10 min and 50 min, respectively). In addition, it is assumed that 10% (about 0.5% OB) of Beet Pulp (tagged
as carrier), 98% of Sucrose (tagged as main solute) and 88.8% of Nonsucroses (tagged as solute) are
transferred to the liquid phase (diffusion juice). Also, 20% of Water (tagged as solvent) contained in the liquid
inlet stream is transferred to the solid phase (wet pulp). This produces a diffusion juice with total flow 541
MT/h (or 111.6% on beet) and 82% purity (see “Diffusion Juice” stream).
“Centrifugation” Decanter Centrifugation procedure (see P-27/DC-101)
A decanter centrifugation procedure is used to concentrate the wet pulp prior to filtration. It is assumed that
100% of Beet Pulp goes to the solids stream and that the concentration of Beet Pulp in the solids stream is
100 g/L. As a result, about 50% of Nonsucroses and Sucrose also goes to the solids stream.
“Pulp Pressing” Plate and Frame Filtration procedure (see P-21/PFF-101)
It is assumed that 90% of Beet Pulp, 62.8% of Nonsucroses, 17% of Sucrose and 90% of Tare are retained
in the cake. The cake’s loss on drying (LOD) is set equal to 75%. The equipment’s Max Filter Area is set
equal to 300 m2.
“Press Water Screening” Stationary Screening procedure (see P-22/SCR-102)
It is assumed that 95% of Beet Pulp, 5% of Beet Water, 15% of Nonsucroses and 5% of Water are split to
the “Pulp Press Water” (top) stream.
Rotary Drying procedure (see P-23/RDR-102)
Pure component “Water” is set as volatile. The moisture loss during drying (Final LOD) is set equal to 10%.
The evaporation rate is set equal to 200 kg/m3-h. The outlet temperature is set equal to 75°C. Hot drying gas
is used for drying (no heating agent is required). The drying gas amount is calculated by the program based
on the specified outlet temperature.
“Generic Procedure” Continuous 2x2 Reaction/Sepraration in GBX (see P-86/GBX-106)
A generic box procedure is used to burn coke using air in order to produce the drying gas used in the rotary
dryer. It is assumed that the carbon contained in the coke reacts completely with the oxygen in the air in
order to produce carbon dioxide. The standard enthalpy of this reaction is assumed equal to -32,000 kJ/kg. It
is also assumed that none of the ash contained in the coke is entrained in the drying gas stream.
“Pulp Cooling” Cooling procedure (see P-24/HX-102)
The cooling temperature of the dry pulp is set equal to 25°C.
“Pulp Storage” Continuous Storage in a Silo (for Bulk Solids) procedure (see P-25/SL-101)
Default parameter values are used.
“Limekiln” Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction in a CSTR procedure (see P-26/GBX-104)
The limestone requirement (see “Limestone” stream) is set equal to 18.4 MT/h (3.8% OB). The coke
requirement (see “Coke” stream) is set equal to 2.2 MT/h (12% of limestone). The air feed (see “Combustion
Air” stream) is set equal to 25.5 MT/h (11.6 times that of coke). Using these amounts, the desired

composition of carbonation gas is achieved (about 31% CO 2, 65% N2 and 4% O2). Table A.7 lists the
reaction specification data for the Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction operation that is hosted by the
“Limekiln” procedure.
Table 7. Reaction specification data for the Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction operation hosted by the
“Limekiln” procedure.
Name Mass Stoichiometry Conversion Heat

(%) (kJ/kg)
Fuel Combustion 12.01 Carbon + 32 Oxygen → 44.01 Carb. Dioxide 100 -33100
Calcining 100.09 CaCO3 → 56.08 CaO + 44.01 Carb. Dioxide 100 1788.7
It is assumed that some heat is lost to the surroundings and that the temperature of carbonation gas leaving
the limekiln is 400°C. To simulate this, the final temperature is set as a 400°C and a fictitious cooling agent
having zero cost (“FictCoolAgent”) is used as heat transfer agent (to ensure cooling has no cost for the
process). The cooling duty is calculated as 1927.7 kW.
It is assumed that 1% of Ash, 1% of CaO and 100% of Carb. Dioxide, Nitrogen and Oxygen are transferred
out through the “Carbonation Gas” (top) stream. Everything else is transferred out through the “Quicklime”
(bottom) stream.
““Gas Scrubber” Continuous 2x2 Reaction/Separation GBX procedure (see P-31/GBX-102)
About 210 MT/h of fresh water is sprayed into the gas scrubber (see top inlet stream “Scrubber Water Spray
In”) in order to cool down the gas to about 40°C. It is assumed that the water removes 100% of ash and CaO
particles contained in carbonation gas (see bottom outlet stream “Scrubber Water Out”).
“Gas Compression” Centrifugal Compressing procedure (see P-32/G-101)
The pressure change of carbonation gas is set equal to 0.7 bar.
“Carbonation Gas Splitting” 3-Way Splitting procedure (see P-39/FSP-103)
The total carbonation gas produced is about 1071 kmol/h. From this amount, about 9% is sent to first
carbonation (see “Carbonation Gas 1” stream). This percentage is derived as follows: The flow of Ca(OH)2
in the main limed juice (see “Main limed juice” stream), which is fed to the “First Carbonation” procedure (see
P-38/R-106), is about 56.4 kmol/h. According to the reaction specification data of the corresponding
Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction operation hosted by that procedure (see Table 8), 1 mol of Ca(OH)2
reacts with 1 mol of CO2 and the reaction stops when 50% of Ca(OH)2 has reacted. Based on this
information, the CO2 requirement for first carbonation is about 28.2 kmol/h. Since the carbonation gas
contains about 31% CO2, the carbonation gas requirement for first carbonation is about 91.5 kmol/h or 8.6%
of the total carbonation gas produced (91.5/1071). The flow of carbonation gas used in the first carbonation
is a little higher than that.
In addition, 5% of carbonation gas is sent to second carbonation (see “Carbonation Gas 2” stream). This
percentage is derived as follows: The flow of Ca(OH)2 in the heated juice from the second-carb heaters (see

stream S-136), which is fed to the “Second Carbonation” procedure (see P-47/R-107), is about 26.7 kmol/h.
According to the reaction specification data of the corresponding Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction
operation hosted by that procedure (see Table 8), 1 mol of Ca(OH)2 reacts with 1 mol of CO2 and the
reaction stops when 50% of Ca(OH)2 has reacted. Based on this information, the CO2 requirement for first
carbonation is about 13.4 kmol/h. Since the carbonation gas contains about 31% CO2, the carbonation gas
requirement for first carbonation is about 43.3 kmol/h or 4.04% of the total carbonation gas produced
(43.3/1071). The flow of carbonation gas used in the second carbonation is a little higher than that.
Quicklime” stream cooling procedure (see P-28/HX-104)
It is assumed that heat is lost to the surroundings and the temperature of quicklime leaving the limekiln is
30°C. To simulate this, a cooling procedure is used to remove heat from limekiln. In the cooling procedure, a
fictitious cooling agent having zero cost (“FictCoolAgent”) is used as heat transfer agent (to ensure cooling
has no cost for the process), and the cooling temperature is set equal to 30°C. The cooling duty is calculated
as 1280.98 kW.
By summing the cooling duties of P-26 and P-28, it turns out that about 3210 kW is lost to the surroundings.
By dividing the above value by the amount of carbon in coke (1.76 MT/h), we find that the energy of coke
that is lost to the surroundings is about 6560 kJ/kg of carbon. Since the heat of combustion of coke is -33100
kJ/kg of carbon, it turns out that about 20% of the heat of combustion is lost to the surroundings.
“Slaker” Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction in a CSTR procedure (see P-29/R-102)
Sweetwater from the purification section is used as water for slaking (see “Water for Slaking” stream). By
dividing the CaO content of the “Quicklime” stream (10.3 MT/h) by the molecular weight of CaO (56) and
then multiplying by the molecular weight of water (18), we can find that about 3.3 MT/h of water are required
to convert the entire amount of CaO into Ca(OH)2. It is assumed that heat is lost to the surroundings and the
temperature of undiluted MOL leaving the slaker is 80°C. To simulate this, fictitious cooling agent
“FictCoolAgent” (which doesn’t cost anything to the process) is used to remove heat from the mixture and
the final temperature of the mixture is set as 80°C. Table A.8 lists the reaction specification data for the
Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction operation that is hosted by the “Slaker” procedure.
Table 8. Reaction specification data for the Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction operation hosted by the
“Slaker” procedure.

(%) (kJ/kg)
Slaking 56.08 CaO + 18.02 Water → 74.09 Ca(OH)2 100 -1092
“MOL Dilution” Continuous Storage in a Blending Tank procedure (see P-30/V-101)
Sweetwater from first-carb filters is used to supply the water used for MOL dilution (see “Water for Dilution”
stream). About 31.2 MT/h of water is needed to produce MOL with approximately 23% CaO (30% Ca(OH)2).
“MOL Splitting” 3-Way Splitting procedure (see P-33/FSP-102)

The total MOL produced is 45 MT/h and contains about 13.5 MT/h Ca(OH) 2. This is equivalent to 10.2 MT/h
CaO (13.5x56/100) or 2.1% CaO on beet (10.2/485). From this amount, 20% (0.4% CaO on beet) is used for
preliming (see “MOL to preliming” stream), 40% (0.8% CaO on beet) is used for cold main liming (see “MOL
to cold main liming” stream) and the rest (0.8% CaO on beet) is used for hot main liming (see “MOL to hot
main liming” stream).
“Cold Preliming” Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction in a CSTR procedure (see P-34/R-103)
In this procedure, the diffusion juice from juice diffusion (see “Diffusion juice” stream) is fed to the prelimer
together with some lime (see “MOL to preliming” stream). The lime feed contains 0.4% CaO on beet. The
corresponding operation’s residence time is set equal to 15 minutes. Table A.9 lists the reaction specification
data for the corresponding operation. The equipment’s Max Volume is set equal to 200 m 3.
Table A.9. Reaction specification data for the Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction operation hosted by the
“Cold Preliming” procedure.

(kJ/kg)
Precipitation 3 Ca(OH)2 + 1 Nonsucroses → 4 Precip.Nonsucr. 90% of Ignored
Ca(OH)2
“Cold Main Liming” Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction in a CSTR procedure (see P-35/R-104)
In this procedure, the prelimed juice (see “Prelimed juice” stream) is fed to the cold main limer together with
some additional lime. The lime feed contains 0.8% CaO on beet (see “MOL to cold main liming” stream). The
corresponding operation’s residence time is set equal to 60 minutes. The reaction specification data for this
operation are the same as those for “Cold Preliming” (see Table 7) except that the conversion is set equal to
50% of Ca(OH)2. The equipment’s Max Volume is set equal to 200 m3.
Heating procedure (see P-36/HX-105)
In this procedure, the juice after cold main liming (see stream S-125) is heated to 85°C. The heat is supplied
by heating agent “Steam@100C”.
“Hot Main Liming” Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction in a CSTR procedure (see P-37/R-105)
In this procedure, the heated juice after cold main liming (see stream S-216) is fed to the hot main limer
together with the rest of the available lime (see “MOL to hot main liming” stream). The lime feed contains
0.8% CaO on beet. The corresponding operation’s residence time is set equal to 10 minutes. The reaction
specification data for this operation are the same as those for “Cold Preliming” (see Table 7) except that the
conversion is set equal to 30% of Ca(OH)2. The equipment’s Max Volume is set equal to 200 m3.
“First Carbonation” Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction in a CSTR procedure (see P-38/R-106)
In this procedure, the main limed juice (see “Main limed juice” stream) is fed to the first carbonator together
with carbonation gas (see “Carbonation Gas 1” stream). Table A.10 lists the reaction specification data for

the corresponding operation. The corresponding operation’s residence time is set equal to 15 minutes. The
equipment’s Max Volume is set equal to 200 m3.
Table A.10. Reaction specification data for the Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction operations hosted by the
“First Carbonation” and “Second Carbonation” procedures.
Name Molar Stoichiometry Extent Heat

(kJ/kg)
Carbonation 1 Ca(OH)2 + 1 Carb. Dioxide → 1 CaCO3 + 1 Water 50% of Ignored
Ca(OH)2
“Mud Separation” Plate and Frame Filtration procedure (see P-41/PFF-102)
In the corresponding Cloth Filtration operation that is hosted by this procedure, it is assumed that 95% of
Ash, 95% of Beet Pulp, 95% of CaCO3, 95% of CaO, 5% of Nonsucroses, 95% of Precipitated Nonsucroses,
1.5% of Sucrose and 95% of Tare are retained in the cake. Note that only pure components whose “%
Removed” value is above zero are considered solids by this operation. The cake’s loss on drying (LOD) is
set equal to 82.8% to achieve a concentration factor of about 5 times. This is calculated as follows: The flow
of the feed slurry is about 709 MT/h of which 601 MT/h is water and 108 MT/h solids. The total solids flow
retained by the cake is about 24.5 MT/h. Consequently, the amount of liquid retained by the cake is about
118 MT/h (24.5 * 82.8% / 17.2%) and the concentration factor is about 5 (601/118).
In addition, the Filtrate Flux is set equal to 960 L/m2-h. This is based on the assumption that a thickening
filter requires approximately 50 m2 of filter area to process juice from 1000 tons of beets per day [1]. In this
example, 11640 tons of beets are processed per day (485 MT/h x 24) and therefore about 580 m 2 of filter
area are required. The filtrate flow is about 557 m3/h and therefore the filtrate flux corresponding to 580 m2 is
about 960 L/m2-h (557/580x1000). The Filtration Time is set equal to 30 minutes. It is also assumed that the
Max Cake Thickness is 15 cm and the equipment’s Max Filter Area is set equal to 200 m2 [2].
“Carbonation Mud Recycling” 2-Way Splitting procedure (P-42/FSP-104)
It is assumed that 10% of the mud is split to the bottom stream (S-141) that goes back to the prelimer.
“Mud Thickening” Plate and Frame Filtration procedure (see P-43/PFF-103)
Ash, 95% of Beet Pulp, 95% of CaCO3, 95% of CaO, 15% of Nonsucroses, 95% of Precipitated
Nonsucroses, 15% of Sucrose and 95% of Tare are retained in the cake. Note that only pure components
whose “% Removed” value is above zero are considered solids by this operation. The cake’s loss on drying
(LOD) is set equal to 30% to produce limecake with 70% dry substance. In addition, the Max Cake
Thickness is set equal to 8 cm, the Filtrate Flux is set equal to 250 L/m2-h and the Filtration Time is set
equal to 60 minutes. The equipment’s Max Filter Area is set equal to 200 m 2.
“First-Carb Filtration” Plate and Frame Filtration procedure (see P-45/PFF-104)

In this procedure, the clear juice from the thickening filters (see “Clear Juice” stream) is fed to the first-carb
filters. In the corresponding Cloth Filtration operation that is hosted by this procedure, it is assumed that 95%
of Ash, 95% of Beet Pulp, 95% of CaCO3, 95% of CaO, 5% of Nonsucroses, 95% of Precipitated
Nonsucroses, 1.5% of Sucrose and 95% of Tare are retained in the cake. Note that only pure components
whose “% Removed” value is above zero are considered solids by this operation. The cake’s loss on drying
(LOD) is set equal to 30% to produce cake with 70% dry substance. The Max Cake Thickness is set equal to
8 cm, the Filtrate Flux is set equal to 1000 L/m2-h and the Filtration Time is set equal to 60 minutes. The
equipment’s Max Filter Area is set equal to 200 m2.
“Second-Carb Heaters” Heating procedure (see P-46/HX-106)
In this procedure, the filtered first-carb juice (see stream S-131) is heated to 92°C. The heat is supplied by
heating agent “Steam@100C”.
“Second Carbonation” Continuous Stoichiometric Reaction in a CSTR procedure (see P-47/R-107)
In this procedure, the heated juice from the second-carb heaters (see stream S-136) is fed into the second
carbonator together with carbonation gas (see “Carbonation Gas 2” stream). The reaction specification data
for this operation is the same as that for first carbonation (see Table 8). The corresponding operation’s
residence time is set equal to 5 minutes. The equipment’s Max Volume is set equal to 200 m 3.
“Second-Carb Filtration” Plate and Frame Filtration procedure (see P-48/PFF-105)
In this procedure, the juice from the second carbonator (see stream S-140) is fed to the second-carb filters.
Ash, 95% of Beet Pulp, 95% of CaCO3, 95% of CaO, 5% of Nonsucroses, 95% of Precipitated Nonsucroses,
0.05% of Sucrose and 95% of Tare are retained in the cake. Note that only pure components whose “%
Removed” value is above zero are considered solids by this operation. The cake’s loss on drying (LOD) is
set equal to 50% to produce thin juice with 14.5% dry substance. The Max Cake Thickness is set equal to 8
cm, the Filtrate Flux is set equal to 1000 L/m2-h and the Filtration Time is set equal to 60 minutes. The
equipment’s Max Filter Area is set equal to 200 m2.
“Reverse Osmosis” Reverse Osmosis (Feed and Bleed) procedure (P-15/RO-101)
Fresh water is assumed to contain pure components “Water” and “CaCO3” (see “Fresh Water” stream). The
reverse osmosis filter is assumed to retain 100% of CaCO3 (the rejection coefficient for CaCO3 is set equal
to 1) and the permeate recovery is assumed equal to 90%. In addition, the maximum solids concentration in
the retentate is assumed equal to 100 g/L, the operation’s filtration time is set equal to 20 hours, and the
filtrate flux is set equal to 100 L/m2-h. The equipment’s Max Membrane Area is set equal to 3000 m2.
“Boiler Feedwater Mixing” Custom Mixing procedure (P-49/MX-108)
The output flow (required boiler feedwater flow) is set equal to 170.5 MT/h. This value is derived by
subtracting the calculated flow of water used for desuperheating (0.41 MT/h) (see procedure P-54 and
stream S-184) from the sum of heating agent demand in the 5-effect evaporator (76.81 MT/h) (see P-55) and
additional demand for heating agent “steam@100C”, which is assumed to be supplied by the boiler (94.1
MT/h) (click Tasks  Other Resources  Heat Transfer Agents). The “Liquid/Solid Only” V/L Split Criterion

is set for the “Water” pure component through the procedure’s “Default PS Calc Options” dialog (right-click
on the procedure icon and then click “Default PS Calc. Options” on the menu that pops up) to ensure that all
boiler feedwater is in the liquid phase.
“Boiler Feedwater Pumping” Pumping procedure (P-50/PM-101)
The pressure change in the pump is set as 78.987 bar so that the pressure of boiler feedwater (1.01325 bar)
becomes equal to the desired steam pressure in the boiler (80 bar) (see P-52/SG-101). In addition, the
“Liquid/Solid Only” V/L Split Criterion is set for the “Water” pure component through the procedure’s “Default
PS Calc Options” dialog (right-click on the procedure icon and then click “Default PS Calc. Options” on the
menu that pops up) to ensure that the boiler feedwater leaving the pump appears entirely in the liquid phase.
“Feedwater Heaters” Heat Exchanging procedure (P-51/HX-107)
The “Liquid/Solid Only” V/L Split Criterion is set for the “Water” pure component through the procedure’s
“Default PS Calc Options” dialog (right-click on the procedure icon and then click “Default PS Calc. Options”
on the menu that pops up) to ensure that the boiler feedwater leaving the heat exchanger appears entirely in
the liquid phase.
“Boiler” Steam Generation procedure (P-52/SG-101)
The steam pressure and temperature are set equal to 80 bar and 525°C, respectively. The excess oxygen in
the air feed is set equal to 30%. The overall heat losses in the boiler are assumed equal to 8%. Through the
“Elemental Composition” tab, the elemental composition of combustible pure components “Carbon”,
“Hydrogen” and “Sulfur” contained in the “Coal” stock mixture is set. It is assumed that 100% of “Carbon”
consists of elemental carbon, 100% of “Hydrogen” consists of elemental hydrogen, and 100% of “Sulfur”
consists of elemental sulfur. Through the “Components” tab, additional molecules participating in the
combustion reaction (either as reactants or products) are associated with registered pure components. More
specifically, the oxygen, water, nitrogen, carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and ash molecules are associated
with the “Oxygen”, “Water”, “Nitrogen”, “Carb. Dioxide”, “Sulfur Dioxide” and “Ash” pure components,
respectively.
“Flow Splitting” 2-Way Splitting procedure (P-79/FSP-108)
It is assumed that 55.1911% or 94.1 MT/h of live steam produced by the boiler is split to the bottom stream
(see “For LP steam@100C” stream). This amount corresponds to the total demand for heating agent
“steam@100C” by the process (click Tasks  Other Resources  Heat Transfer Agents). It is assumed
that the HP steam contained in this stream is then converted into LP steam at 1 bar and 100°C in another
step, in order to represent heating agent “steam@100C”, but that step is omitted from this example.
“Steam Turbine” Steam Turbine procedure (P-53/T-101)
The outlet pressure of steam is set equal to 3.62 bar (same as the pressure of steam at 140°C, such as the
pressure of heating agent “Steam@140C” used in the evaporator of P-55) and the isentropic efficiency is set
equal to 92% so that the temperature of the exhaust steam is a little above 140°C.
“Desuperheating” Custom Mixing procedure (P-54/MX-109)

The output temperature is set equal to 140°C (same as the temperature of heating agent “Steam@140C”
used in the evaporator of P-55). In addition, the V/L Split Criterion for the “Water” pure component is set as
“Vapor Only” through the procedure’s “Default PS Calc Options” dialog (right-click on the procedure icon and
then click “Default PS Calc. Options” on the menu that pops up) to ensure that the steam remains entirely in
the vapor phase after desuperheating.
“5-Effect Evaporator” Multi-Effect Evaporation procedure (P-55/EV-101)
Forward feed and thermal vapor recompression are selected. The final mass fraction of the “Water” pure
component (which is selected as the key component) is set equal to 30% in order to produce thick water with
about 70% dry substance (see “Thick Juice” stream). The ratio of entrained vapor to heating agent in the
steam-jet ejector is set as 0.4 and “Steam@140C” (a user-defined heating agent) is selected as heating
agent. The temperature of the thick juice is set as 59.5°C (see “Liquor Temp. In Last Effect” on the “Effects”
tab). The mean temperature difference between steam and liquid (the driving force for evaporation), the
overall heat transfer coefficient, and the boiling point elevation (BPE) for each effect are set by the user
through the “Effects” tab. Table A.11 lists the overall heat transfer coefficient, mean temperature difference
and boiling point elevation, evaporation %, liquor temperature, vapor temperature, and dry substance % (DS)
for each effect..
Table A.11. Evaporation data per effect.
Effect Overall Heat Mean BPE Evaporation Liquor Vapor DS

Transfer Temp. (°C) (%) Temp. Temp. (%)
Coefficient Difference (°C) (°C)
(kW/m2-K) (°C)
1 3.73 11.6 0.4 28 128.4 128 17.3
2 2.77 7.5 0.5 25 120.5 120 21.8
3 1.88 11.2 0.8 32 108.8 108 29.1
4 1.12 16.7 1.3 41 91.3 90 40.9
5 0.50 30.5 2.5 78 59.5 57 60.6
Suitable values are assumed for the mean temperature difference, boiling point elevation and overall heat
transfer coefficient of each effect. These values were derived based on another, explicit, simulation of the 5-
effect evaporator, which was done elsewhere. For the explicit simulation, five distinct “Multi-Effect
Evaporation” procedures (one for each effect) were used, connected together so that they represented a 5-
effect evaporator (the liquor stream from each effect was fed to the next effect; the vapor stream from each
effect was condensed and a fictitious heating agent was used in the next effect in order to represent the
condensation of that vapor in the its steam chest). For that simulation, suitable values were assumed for the
evaporation % of water, liquor temperature and overall heat transfer coefficient for each effect. These values
are shown in Table 11. These values were derived from the explicit simulation by trial & error, so that the
final liquor contained 30% water and the calculated number of units for each effect did not exceed 3 and the
calculated heat transfer area of each unit did not exceed 900 m2. From that simulation, one could determine
the flow and composition of each liquor stream, and based on these, calculate the % dry substance (DS) of
each liquor stream. The calculated values of % dry substance for each effect based on the explicit simulation

are also listed in Table 11. Then, the boiling point elevation can be estimated from available tables, such as
the one in Asadi’s Beet-Sugar Handbook [1], which lists the boiling point elevation of a sucrose solution with
respect to purity, % DS and vapor temperature. The purity of liquor in each effect is the same as the purity of
thin juice. For this example, the thin juice contains about 12.1% sucrose and 14% DS (or 86% water).
Therefore, its purity is about 87% (12.1% / 14%). By definition, the boiling point elevation is determined by
subtracting the vapor temperature from the liquor temperature. Based on the above information, one can
determine the vapor temperature and boiling point elevation for each effect by trial & error. These values are
also listed in Table 11.
“Steam Condensation in 1st Effect” Cooling procedure (P-56/HX-108)
A cooling operation is used to simulate the condensation of live steam in the first effect of the evaporator.
The exit temperature is set equal to the condensing temperature of heating agent in the evaporator (140°C).
Fictitious cooling agent “FictCoolAgent” is used as cooling agent so that the cost of cooling for the process is
zero. Also, the V/L Split Criterion for the “Water” pure component is set as “Liquid/Solid Only” through the
procedure’s “Default PS Calc Options” dialog (right-click on the procedure icon and then click “Default PS
Calc. Options” on the menu that pops up) to ensure that the output stream is 100% condensate. The
equipment’s purchase cost is set equal to zero regardless of year of analysis. The operating labor is also set
equal to zero.
“Condensed Entrained Vapor Splitting” Custom Splitting procedure (P-59/FSP-106)
The “Total Condensate” stream contains the condensed entrained vapor in the steam chest of the first effect,
as well as the condensed vapors in the steam chests of all other effects. In order to extract the condensed
entrained vapor from the total condensate, a custom splitting operation is used. The flow of the top outlet
stream is set equal to the calculated flow of entrained vapor in the evaporator (30.724 MT/h) (see P-55/EV-
101). In addition, the V/L Split Criterion for the “Water” pure component is set to “Liquid/Solid Only” through
the procedure’s “Default PS Calc Options” dialog (right-click on the procedure icon and then click “Default PS
Calc. Options” on the menu that pops up) to ensure that the two condensate streams at the outlet are
entirely in the liquid phase.
Pumping procedure (P-60/PM-102)
A pumping operation is used to set the correct pressure for the condensed entrained vapor stream. The
pressure change is set as 2.627 bar so that the output pressure is equal to the pressure of steam in the
steam chest of the first effect of the evaporator (3.64 bar) (see P-55). In addition, the V/L Split Criterion for
the “Water” pure component is set to “Liquid/Solid Only” through the procedure’s “Default PS Calc Options”
dialog (right-click on the procedure icon and then click “Default PS Calc. Options” on the menu that pops up)
to ensure that the condensate remains in the liquid phase after increasing its pressure. The equipment’s
purchase cost is set equal to zero regardless of year of analysis. The operating labor is also set equal to
zero.
Heating procedure (P-61/HX-109)
A heating operation is used to set the correct temperature for the condensed entrained vapor stream. The
exit temperature is set equal to the condensing temperature of steam in the steam chest of the first effect of

the evaporator (140°C) (see P-55). Fictitious heating agent “FictHeatAgent” is selected as heating agent so
that the cost of heating is zero. In addition, the V/L Split Criterion for the “Water” pure component is set to
“Liquid/Solid Only” through the procedure’s “Default PS Calc Options” dialog (right-click on the procedure
icon and then click “Default PS Calc. Options” on the menu that pops up) to ensure that the output stream
remains 100% condensate. The equipment’s purchase cost is set equal to zero regardless of year of
analysis. The operating labor is also set equal to zero.
2-Stream Mixing procedure (P-57/MX-110)
A mixing operation is used to mix the “Condensed steam” and “Condensed Entr. Vapor” streams in order to
reproduce the condensed vapor in the steam chest of the first effect of the evaporator (see P-55). The V/L
Split Criterion for the “Water” pure component is set to “Liquid/Solid Only” through the procedure’s “Default
PS Calc Options” dialog (right-click on the procedure icon and then click “Default PS Calc. Options” on the
menu that pops up) to ensure that the output stream remains 100% condensate.
“Thin Juice Heaters” Heat Exchanging procedure (P-58/HX-110)
The “Liquid/Solid Only” V/L Split Criterion is set for a number of pure components (“Beet Pulp”,
“Nonsucroses”, “Precip.Nonsucr.”, “Tare” and “Water”) through the procedure’s “Default PS Calc Options”
dialog (right-click on the procedure icon and then click “Default PS Calc. Options” on the menu that pops up)
to ensure that these pure components are entirely in the liquid phase after preheating the thin juice.
“2nd Effect Condensate Splitting” Custom Splitting procedure (P-62/FSP-107)
Stream S-154 contains the condensed vapors from the steam chests of effects 2-5 of the evaporator (see P-
55). In order to extract the condensed vapor of the second effect from that stream, a custom splitting
operation is used. The flow of the top outlet stream is set equal to the flow of second effect condensate from
the evaporator (see P-55), which is equal to 46.48 MT/h. This is calculated by subtracting the flow of
entrained vapor (30.72 MT/h) in the steam chest of the first effect from the flow of vapor in the first effect
(77.2 MT/h) of the evaporator. Also, the V/L Split Criterion for the “Water” pure component is set to
icon and then click “Default PS Calc. Options” on the menu that pops up) to ensure that the two condensate
streams at the outlet are entirely in the liquid phase.
Pumping procedure (P-63/PM-103)
A pumping operation is used to set the correct pressure for the second effect condensate stream. The
pressure change is set as 1.547 bar so that the output pressure is equal to the pressure of vapor in the
steam chest of the second effect of the evaporator, which is the same as the pressure of vapor in the first
effect (2.56 bar) (see P-55). In addition, the V/L Split Criterion for the “Water” pure component is set to
icon and then click “Default PS Calc. Options” on the menu that pops up) to ensure that the condensate
remains in the liquid phase after increasing its pressure. The equipment’s purchase cost is set equal to zero
regardless of year of analysis. The operating labor is also set equal to zero.
Heating procedure (P-64/HX-109)

A heating operation is used to set the correct temperature for the second effect condensate stream. The exit
temperature is set equal to the condensing temperature of vapor in the steam chest of the second effect of
the evaporator, which is the same as the boiling point of vapor in the first effect (128°C) (see P-55). Fictitious
heating agent “FictHeatAgent” is selected as heating agent so that the cost of heating is zero. In addition, the
V/L Split Criterion for the “Water” pure component is set to “Liquid/Solid Only” through the procedure’s
“Default PS Calc Options” dialog (right-click on the procedure icon and then click “Default PS Calc. Options”
on the menu that pops up) to ensure that the output stream remains 100% condensate. The equipment’s
purchase cost is set equal to zero regardless of year of analysis. The operating labor is also set equal to
zero.
“Melter” 4-Stream Mixing procedure (P-65/MX-111)
“White (A) Crystallization” Continuous Crystallization procedure (P-66/CR-101)
Through the “Oper. Cond’s” tab of the operation data dialog, the operating pressure is set as 0.28 bar (210
mmHg), which corresponds to a water boiling point equal to 67.5°C. Through the “Volumes” tab of the same
dialog, the residence time is set as 2 hours.
Through the “Evap. Data” tab of the operation data dialog, the option “Perform Evaporation prior to
Crystallization” is checked and it is assumed that 40% of the “Water” pure component is evaporated (which
will produce a massecuite with about 87% dry substance). It is also assumed that the boiling point elevation
of standard liquor (see “Standard Liquor” stream), which has about 54% purity and 80% dry substance, is
about 7.5°C. Based on this, the Evaporation Temperature is set as 75°C (67.5+7.5). Water is selected as the
reference component for the “Evaporation Heat”, which is set as 559.088 kcal/kg (the heat of vaporization of
water at 0.28 bar). In addition, “Steam@100C” (LP steam at 100°C) is selected as heating agent. (Note that
usually, the crystallizer is heated by LP steam at near-atmospheric pressure produced by the third and fourth
stages of the evaporator.)
Through the “Crystal. Data” tab of the operation data dialog, the “Crystallizable?” option is checked for
Sucrose and Crystal Sugar is set as its crystal form. Sucrose is also selected as the Crystallization Design
Component. The Crystallization Yield is set as 4.34% to produce mother liquor (high-green (A) syrup) with
about 80% purity. Based on the specified evaporation and crystallization data, the crystal content of the
white (A) massecuite is about 30%. The Crystallization Heat is assumed to be zero. Finally, the
Crystallization Temperature is set as 60°C and Cooling Water is selected as the cooling agent.
The equipment’s Max Volume is assumed to be 250 m3 (e.g., BMA’s continuous vertical crystallizer VKT that
consists of a cascade of 4-5 crystallizers of 50 m3 net volume each).
“Condenser” Cooling procedure (P-67/HX-112)
The exit temperature is set equal to 67.5°C (the boiling point of water at 0.28 bar, which is the operating
pressure of the preceding crystallization procedure). Cooling water is selected as cooling agent.
“White (A) Centrifuging” Basket Centrifugation (Bottom Discharge) procedure (P-68/BCFBD-101)

Through the operation data dialog of the (default) Cloth Filtration operation, it is assumed that 99.99% of
Crystal Sugar is removed. It is also assumed that the sugar contains 1% of everything else. To simulate this,
it is assumed that everything else is liquid (zero removal %) and the cake’s loss on drying (LOD) is set equal
to 1%. In addition, the max cake thickness is set as 18 cm. It is also assumed that the filtration time is 2 min
and the filtrate flux is 3.75 m3/m2-h. This is derived by assuming that a basket centrifuge of 2 m diameter
(3.14 m2 area) can process about 400 MT/day of sugar and that the density of sugar is about 1480 g/L.
Therefore, the basket centrifuge can process about 12 m3/h or 3.75 m3/m2-h of sugar. The “High-Green (A)
Syrup” stream is selected as the filtrate stream.
In addition, a cake wash operation is added to this procedure. The wash stream (see S-161) is assumed to
contain Water (condensate) at 80°C and 5 bar. The flow of water is set as 5 MT/h (about 3% of the
massecuite flow). Through the “Cake Wash” tab of the cake wash operation’s data dialog, stream “S-161” is
selected as the wash-in stream and the “Available In Wash-In Stream” option is selected. The “Wash (A)
Syrup” stream is selected as the wash-out stream. The wash time is set as 5 seconds.
“High-Raw (B) Crystallization” Continuous Crystallization procedure (P-69/CR-102)
mmHg), which corresponds to a boiling point of water equal to 67.5°C. Through the “Volumes” tab of the
same dialog, the residence time is set as 4 hours.
Crystallization” is checked and it is assumed that 40% of Water is evaporated (which will produce a
massecuite with about 87% dry substance). It is also assumed that the boiling point elevation of the high-
green syrup (which has about 80% purity and 81% dry substance) is about 7.5°C. Based on this, the
Evaporation Temperature is set as 75°C (67.5+7.5). Water is selected as the Reference Component for the
Evaporation Heat, which is set as 559.088 kcal/kg (the heat of vaporization of water at 0.28 bar). In addition,
“Steam@100C” (LP steam at 100°C) is selected as heating agent (usually, the crystallizer is heated by LP
steam at near-atmospheric pressure produced by the third and fourth stages of the evaporator).
Component. The Crystallization Yield is set as 35.72% to produce mother liquor (low-green (B) syrup) with
about 72% purity. Based on the specified evaporation and crystallization data, the crystal content of the high-
raw (B) massecuite is about 25%. The Crystallization Heat is assumed to be zero. Finally, the Crystallization
Temperature is set as 60°C and Cooling Water is selected as the cooling agent..
“High-Raw (B) Centrifuging” Basket Centrifugation (Bottom Discharge) procedure (P-71/BCFBD-102)

and the filtrate flux is 3.75 m3/m2-h. This is derived by assuming that a basket centrifuge of 2 m diameter
(3.14 m2 area) can process about 400 MT/day of sugar and that the density of sugar is about 1480 g/L.
Therefore, the basket centrifuge can process about 12 m3/h or 3.75 m3/m2-h of sugar. The “Low-Green (B)
Syrup” stream is selected as the filtrate stream.
“Low-Raw (C) Crystallization” Continuous Crystallization procedure (P-72/CR-103)
mmHg), which corresponds to a boiling point of water equal to 67.5°C. Through the “Volumes” tab of the
same dialog, the residence time is set as 8 hours.
Crystallization” is checked and it is assumed that 37% of Beet Water and Water is evaporated (which will
produce a massecuite with about 90% dry substance). It is also assumed that the boiling point elevation of
the low-green syrup (which has about 72% purity and 83.5% dry substance) is about 7.5°C. Based on this,
the Evaporation Temperature is set as 75°C (67.5+7.5). Water is selected as the Reference Component for
the Evaporation Heat, which is set as 559.088 kcal/kg (the heat of vaporization of water at 0.28 bar). In
addition, “Steam@100C” (LP steam at 100°C) is selected as heating agent (usually, the crystallizer is heated
by LP steam at near-atmospheric pressure produced by the third and fourth stages of the evaporator).
Component. The Crystallization Yield is set as 41.67% to produce mother liquor (molasses) with about 59%
purity. Based on the specified evaporation and crystallization data, the crystal content of the low-raw (C)
massecuite is about 26.6%. The Crystallization Heat is assumed to be zero. Finally, the Crystallization
Temperature is set as 60°C and Cooling Water is selected as the cooling agent.
“Low-Raw (C) Centrifuging” Basket Centrifugation (Bottom Discharge) procedure (P-74/BCFBD-103)
and the filtrate flux is 1 m3/m2-h. The “Molasses” stream is selected as the filtrate stream.

Air Filtration procedure (P-75/AF-101)
The “Drying Air” stream contains air at 20°C and its flow is set to “Auto-adjust” (it is calculated by the Rotary
Drying operation).
“Sugar Drying” Rotary Drying procedure (P-76/RDR-101)
It is assumed that the moisture of dried sugar (“Final LOD”) is 0.03% and its temperature (“Final Solids
Temp.”) is 35°C. The temperature of outlet air (“Outlet Gas Temperature”) is also set equal to 35°C. The flow
of inlet air is calculated by the program based on the specified outlet gas temperature. The heating
requirement is assumed to be zero.
“Sugar Cooling” Cooling procedure (P-77/HX-115)
The exit temperature is set equal to 20°C. The fictitious cooling agent “FictCoolAgent” is selected as cooling
agent so that the cost of cooling is zero.
Sugar Storage (P-78/SL-102)
Economic data
Economic data of registered pure components, stock mixtures and utilities
A purchasing price of $0.5/MT is specified for the “Water” pure component and a purchasing price of $26/MT
is specified for the “Sugar Beets” pure component through their respective properties dialogs (click Tasks 
Pure Components  Register, Edit/View Properties and then double-click on the desired pure component
and then click on the Economics tab). For all other registered pure components, the purchasing and selling
prices and the waste treatment disposable costs are set as zero. The purchase prices of registered stock
mixtures (“Air”, “Coal”, “Coke” and “Limestone”) are listed in Table 3, the heat transfer agent costs are listed
in Table 5, and the purchasing and selling prices of power types are listed in Table 6. Additional economic
data used in this simulation are described below.
Equipment purchase cost data
Equipment purchase cost data can be specified through the “Purchase Cost” tab of the Equipment Data
dialog. To view or edit the simulation data dialog for an equipment resource, right-click on the corresponding
unit procedure and then select Equipment Data.
Through the “Purchase Cost” tab, you may choose among three cost estimation options: You can specify a
fixed cost (either for a certain reference year or independent of year of analysis), or instruct the program to
use the built-in cost model for this equipment resource type, or specify a user-defined cost model. This is
based on the following power law equation:
C = C0 (Q/Q0)a
where Q0 is the base equipment capacity, C0 is the base cost (i.e., the cost at equipment capacity Q 0) for the
reference year, “a” is the exponent of the power law, Q is the actual capacity and C is the actual cost (i.e.,

the cost at equipment capacity Q) for the reference year. The range of validity of the power law is also
specified by setting a low end value and a high end value for the capacity.
Table A.12 lists the cost estimation data for the most important equipment resources in this example. Note
that a fixed (i.e., independent of year of analysis) cost equal to zero is specified for the “Cossette Preheating”
equipment (P-17/HX-101) because the cost of that equipment is included in the cost of the “Cossette
Diffusion” equipment (P-18/SMSX-101). Also note that no purchase cost information could be found for some
equipment, such as the rake trash separator included in the “Stone & Trash Removal” equipment (see P-
4/CSP-101), the drum & spray beet washers that comprise the “Beet Washing” equipment (see P-9/WSH-
101), the coke burner represented by the “Generic Procedure” (see P-86/GBX-106), and the “Gas Scrubber”
equipment (see P-31/GBX-102). For equipment resources for which the purchase cost cannot be found, a
user-defined cost model is used with zero base cost.
Table A.12. Equipment Purchase Cost Information.
Equipment Cost Estimation Option Low End High End Base Base Cost Ref. Exponent
Capacity (C0) Year (a)
(Q0)
Beet Cleaning
Section
Beet Piling User-Defined Model 0 1000 MT/h 500 MT/h $250 000 2015 0.6
(P-1/SCR-101)
Beet Dry Cleaning User-Defined Model 0 1000 MT/h 500 MT/h $250 000 2015 0.6
(P-2/VSCR-101)
Fluming User-Defined Model 0 2500 MT/h 1500 MT/h $200 000 2015 0.6
(P-3/MX-101)
Stone & Trash User-Defined Model 0 2500 MT/h 1500 MT/h $200 000 2015 0.6
Removal
(P-4/CSP-101)
Beet-Lifting User-Defined Model 0 2500 MT/h 1500 MT/h $7 000 2014 0.6
(P-6/CSP-103)
Beet Washing User-Defined Model 0 2500 MT/h 1500 MT/h $0 2015 0.6
(P-9/WSH-101)
Flume Clarification Built-In Model
(P-12/CL-101)
Juice Diffusion
Section
Beet Slicing Built-In Model
(P-16/SR-101)
Cossette Set by User $0 Fixed
Preheating
(P-17/HX-101)
Cossette Diffusion Built-In Model
(P-18/SMSX-101)
Centrifugation (P- Built-In Model
27/DC-101)
Pulp Pressing (P- Built-In Model
21/PFF-101)
Press Water Built-In Model
Screening (P-

(Q0)
22/SCR-102)
Generic Procedure Set by User $0 Fixed
(P-86/GBX-106)
Rotary Drying (P- Built-In Model
23/RDR-102)
Pulp Storage (P- Built-In Model
25/SL-101)
Juice Purification
Section
Limekiln User-Defined Model 0 1000 MT/h 50 MT/h $740 000 2015 0.6
(P-26/GBX-104)
Slaker Built-In Model
(P-29/R-102)
MOL Dilution Built-In Model
(P-30/V-101)
Gas Scrubber (P- User-Defined Model 0 1000 MT/h 250 MT/h $0 2015 0.6
31/GBX-102)
Gas Compression Built-In Model
(P-32/G-101)
Cold Preliming User-Defined Model 0 200 m3 150 m3 $85 000 2003 0.6
(P-34/R-103)
Cold Main Liming User-Defined Model 0 200 m3 150 m3 $85 000 2003 0.6
(P-35/R-104)
Hot Main Liming User-Defined Model 0 200 m3 150 m3 $85 000 2003 0.6
(P-37/R-105)
First Carbonation User-Defined Model 0 200 m3 150 m3 $85 000 2003 0.6
(P-38/R-106)
Mud Separation Built-In Model
(P-41/PFF-102)
Mud Thickening Built-In Model
(P-43/PFF-103)
First-Carb Filtration Built-In Model
(P-45/PFF-104)
Second User-Defined Model 0 200 m3 150 m3 $85 000 2003 0.6
Carbonation
(P-47/R-107)
Second-Carb Built-In Model
Filtration
(P-48/PFF-105)
Juice Evaporation
Section
Reverse Osmosis Built-In Model
(P-15/RO-101)
Boiler Built-In Model
(P-52/SG-101)
Steam Turbine Built-In Model
(P-53/T-101)
5-Effect Evaporator Built-In Model
(P-55/EV-101)
Syrup

(Q0)
Crystallization
Section
White (A) Built-In Model
Crystallization
(P-66/CR-101)
White (A) User-Defined Model 0 10 m2 10 m2 $40 000 2003 0.6
Centrifuging
(P-68/BCFBD-101)
High-Raw (B) Built-In Model
Crystallization
(P-69/CR-102)
High-Raw (B) User-Defined Model 0 10 m2 10 m2 $40 000 2003 0.6
Centrifuging
(P-71/BCFBD-102)
Low-Raw (C) Built-In Model
Crystallization
(P-72/CR-103)
Low-Raw (C) User-Defined Model 0 10 m2 10 m2 $40 000 2003 0.6
Centrifuging
(P-74/BCFBD-103)
Sugar Drying
Section
Sugar Drying (P- Built-In Model
76/RDR-101)
Sugar Storage (P- Built-In Model
78/SL-102)
For each equipment resource, additional capital cost and operating cost adjustments can be specified
through the “Adjustments” tab of the corresponding equipment data dialog. The capital cost and operating
cost adjustments used in this analysis are listed in Table A.13. Note that this table also lists the labor
requirement of each hosted operation. Labor information is described in the next section.
Table A.13. Equipment Cost Adjustments and Operation Labor Information.
Equipment / Installation Maintenance Operators Procedure/ Installation Maintenance Operators

Operation Cost Factor Cost Factor (labor- Operation Cost Factor Cost Factor (labor-
(x (x Purchase hrs/hr) (x Purchase (x Purchase hrs/hr)
Purchase Cost) Cost) Cost)
Cost)
Beet Cleaning
Beet Piling 0.5 0.1 0.5 Beet-Lifting 0.5 0.1 0
(P-1/SCR- (P-5/CSP-
101) 103)
Beet Dry 0.5 0.1 0.5 Beet Washing 0.5 0.1 1.0
Cleaning (P-9/WSH-
(P-2/VSCR- 101)
101)
Fluming 0.5 0.1 0.1 Flume 0.2 0.15 0.1
(P-3/MX-101) Clarification

Cost)
(P-12/CL-
101)
Stone & 0.5 0.1 1.0
Trash
Removal (P-
4/CSP-101)
Juice
Diffusion
Beet Slicing 0.5 0.1 0.1 Press Water 0.5 0.1 0.05
(P-16/SR- Screening (P-
101) 22/SCR-102)
Cossette 0.5 0.1 0 Generic 0.5 0.1 1.0
Preheating Procedure
(P-17/HX- (P-86/GBX-
101) 106)
Cossette 0.5 0.1 1 Rotary Drying 0.5 0.1 0.5
Diffusion (P- (P-23/RDR-
18/SMSX- 102)
101)
Centrifugation 0.5 0.1 1 Pulp Storage 0 0.1 1
(P-27/DC- (P-25/SL-
101) 101)
Pulp Pressing 0.5 0.1 1
(P-21/PFF-
101)
Juice
Purification
Limekiln 0.3 0.1 1 Hot Main 0.3 0.1 1
(P-26/GBX- Liming
104) (P-37/R-105)
Slaker 0.3 0.1 1 First 0.3 0.1 1
(P-29/R-102) Carbonation
(P-38/R-106)
MOL Dilution 0.3 0.1 1 Mud 0.5 0.1 1
(P-30/V-101) Separation
(P-41/PFF-
102)
Gas Scrubber 0.5 0.1 0.05 Mud 0.5 0.1 1
(P-31/GBX- Thickening
102) (P-43/PFF-
103)
Gas 0.5 0.1 0.05 First-Carb 0.5 0.1 1
Compression Filtration
(P-32/G-101) (P-45/PFF-
104)
Cold 0.3 0.1 1 Second 0.3 0.1 1
Preliming Carbonation
(P-34/R-103) (P-47/R-107)
Cold Main 0.3 0.1 1 Second-Carb 0.5 0.1 1
Liming Filtration
(P-35/R-104) (P-48/PFF-
105)
Juice

Cost)
Evaporation
Reverse 0.4 0.1 0.5 Steam 0.5 0.1 0.05
Osmosis Turbine
(P-15/RO- (P-53/T-101)
101)
Boiler 1.53 0.1 1 5-Effect 0.5 0.1 1
(P-52/SG- Evaporator
101) (P-55/EV-
101)
Syrup
Crystallization
White (A) 0.3 0.1 1 High-Raw (B) 0.5 0.15 1
Crystallization Centrifuging
(P-66/CR- (P-
101) 71/BCFBD-
102)
White (A) 0.5 0.15 1 Low-Raw (C) 0.3 0.1 1
Centrifuging Crystallization
(P- (P-72/CR-
68/BCFBD- 103)
101)
High-Raw (B) 0.3 0.1 1 Low-Raw (C) 0.5 0.15 1
Crystallization Centrifuging
(P-69/CR- (P-
102) 74/BCFBD-
103)
Sugar Drying
Sugar Drying 0.5 0.1 1 Sugar 0 0.1 1
(P-76/RDR- Storage (P-
101) 78/SL-102)
Labor information
An operation’s labor information can be specified through the “Labor, etc.” tab of the corresponding
simulation data dialog. To view or edit the simulation data for an operation, right-click on the corresponding
unit procedure and either select Operation Data (if the procedure is continuous) or Operation Data 
<operation name> (if the unit procedure is batch). Table A.13 lists (in addition to equipment purchase cost
adjustment information) the amount of labor needed by the most important operations in this example,
expressed in labor-hours per operating hour.
Total capital cost
The total capital investment for this process is determined as the sum of the following section-based costs
over all flowsheet sections:
➢ Direct fixed capital (DFC),

➢ Working capital,
➢ Startup & validation cost,

➢ Up-front R&D cost, and
➢ Up-front royalties.
The above costs are specified for each flowsheet section through the corresponding “Capital Cost
Adjustments” dialog. To display this dialog, select the desired section name from the drop-down list box that
exists on the “Sections” toolbar and then click on the Capital Cost Adjustments button ( ) that exists on
that toolbar. Alternatively, you can click Edit  Process Options  Section: <section name>  Capital
Cost Adjustments on the main menu, or you can right-click on an empty space on the flowsheet and then
click Section: <section name>  Capital Cost Adjustments.
A section’s DFC can be either set by the user or estimated based on the section’s total equipment purchase
cost (PC). For this example, it is assumed that the section’s DFC is 3 times the section’s PC for all sections
(a composite PF factor of 3 is used in all sections).
A section’s PC is calculated as the sum of the section’s listed (added to the flowsheet) and unlisted (omitted
from the flowsheet) equipment purchase costs. For the “Beet Cleaning” section, in which the cost of many
equipment resources is unknown and has been set as zero, the Unlisted Equipment Purchase Cost is
assumed to account for 20% of PC. For all other sections, the Unlisted Equipment Purchase Cost it is
assumed to account for 5% of the total equipment purchase cost. This is reasonable considering that most
important equipment used in these sections have been added explicitly to the flowsheet.
For each section of this example, the working capital is estimated to cover expenses (e.g., labor, raw
materials, utilities, etc.) for 30 days. Also, the startup & validation costs are estimated as 5% of the section’s
DFC. The up-front R&D cost and up-front royalties are assumed to be zero.
Total operating cost
The total operating cost for this process is determined as the sum of:
➢ Section-based costs over all flowsheet sections (materials, waste treatment/disposal, consumables,
transportation, facility-dependent, labor, laboratory/QC/QA, heating/cooling and power utilities, and
miscellaneous), and
➢ Costs that apply to the entire flowsheet (advertising and selling expenses, running royalties, and failed
product disposal cost).
From these, the materials cost and the waste treatment/disposal cost is based on stream classification
information and on material storage units.
The stream classification information for this example can be viewed or edited through the “Stream
Classification” dialog. To display this dialog, select Stream Classification on the Tasks menu. For this
example, all input streams are classified as “Raw Material” streams. For each “Raw Material” stream, the
cost of materials (“Purchase Price”) is calculated by the program based on the composition of that stream
and the unit purchase costs of its constituents (pure components or stock mixtures). Note that the unit
purchase cost of a pure component or stock mixture can be specified through its properties dialog (click
Tasks  Pure Components  Register, Edit/View Properties or Tasks  Stock Mixtures  Register,
Edit/View Properties on the main menu, and then double-click on the desired pure component or stock
mixture).

Table A.14 lists output stream classification and cost information for this process. Four output streams are
specified as “Revenue” streams (“Sugar”, “Dry Pulp”, “Limecake” and “Molasses”). From these, the “Sugar”
stream is selected as the main product/revenue stream (for reporting purposes). Several output streams are
also classified automatically as solid waste (“Tare (a)”, “Tare (b)”, “Stones & Trash”, S-101, “Mud” and
“Ash”). As described earlier (see “Material Storage Units” under “Miscellaneous Modeling Tips”), these
streams are assigned to a receiving storage unit that collects solid waste (“Solid Waste Tank”). Through the
properties dialog of that storage unit, a common waste treatment cost ($10/MT) is specified for all solid
waste streams deposited to that tank. Similarly, several other output streams are assigned to another
receiving storage unit that is used for collecting aqueous waste (“Aqueous Waste Tank”), and these are
classified automatically as aqueous waste (“Scrubber Water Out”, “Brine”, S-160, S-145, S-151, S-159, and
S-166). A common waste treatment cost of $0.50/MT is specified for these streams through the properties
dialog of that tank. Other output streams are attached to vent/emissions ports, and these are classified
automatically as emission streams (S-142, “Wet Air”, S-132 and S-120). Additional output streams can be
classified as emission streams, manually (S-130, “Boiler flue gas (b)”, and “5th Effect Vapor”).
Note that for a few streams the classification is set as “(none)”. These streams are not considered as
revenue or waste or emissions. For example, stream S-170 is not really a waste as this stream contains
clarified water that can be re-used in the beet washer (see P-9/WSH-101) (although this has not been done
in this simulation). Another example is stream “For LP steam@100C”. This stream is not really a waste
stream as it is assumed to be used in order to produce heating agent “steam@100C”.
Table A.14. Output stream classification and costing.
Stream Name Classification Selling Price Disposal Cost

($/MT) ($/MT)
Tare (a) Solid Waste 10
Tare (b) Solid Waste 10
Stones & Trash Solid Waste 10
Mud Solid Waste 10
S-170 (None)
S-120 Emission
Dry Pulp Revenue 120
S-101 Solid Waste 10
Scrubber Water Out Aqueous Waste 0.5
S-130 Emission
S-132 Emission
Limecake Revenue 15
S-142 Emission
Brine Aqueous Waste 0.5
Boiler flue gas (b) Emission

Ash Solid Waste 10
For LP steam@100C (None)

Stream Name Classification Selling Price Disposal Cost
($/MT) ($/MT)
5th effect vapor Emission
S-166 Aqueous Waste
S-160 Aqueous Waste 0.5
Molasses Revenue 200
Wet air Emission
Sugar Revenue 800
The selling price of a revenue stream can be either set by the user or calculated by the program based on
that stream’s composition and the unit selling price of each of the pure components it contains. Similarly, the
treatment/disposal cost of a waste or emission stream can be either set by the user or calculated by the
program based on that stream’s composition and the unit disposal/ treatment cost of each of the pure
components it contains. For this example, user-defined values are specified for the selling prices of the
revenue streams. The treatment/disposal costs of the emission streams are automatically calculated by the
program as being zero (since the waste treatment or disposal cost of emitted pure components is zero).
Another operating cost item is the cost of consumables. The cost of a consumable is determined based on
the specified unit cost for that consumable (click Tasks  Other Resources  Consumables on the main
menu and then double-click on the corresponding item on the list) and its usage requirements determined by
the equipment specifications (right-click on the corresponding unit procedure that uses that equipment
resource, select Equipment Data to display the simulation data dialog for that equipment resource, and
switch to the “Consumables” tab). The only consumable used in this example is the reverse osmosis
membrane and the unit cost for this consumable is set as $15.00/m2.
Additional operating cost items calculated at the flowsheet section level include facility-dependent costs
(e.g., maintenance costs, fixed capital cost depreciation, insurance, local taxes, other), labor costs,
laboratory, quality control & quality assurance costs, utilities costs (heating transfer agents, electricity), and
miscellaneous expenses (on-going research & development, process validation, other). These are estimated
based on the specified parameters through the “Operating Cost Adjustments” dialog for each section. To
display this dialog, select the desired section name from the drop-down list box that exists on the “Sections”
toolbar and then click on the Operating Cost Adjustments button ( ) that exists on that toolbar.
Alternatively, you can click Edit  Process Options  Section: <section name>  Operating Cost
Adjustments on the main menu, or you can right-click on an empty space on the flowsheet and then click
Section: <section name>  Operating Cost Adjustments. In this example, default parameter values are
used for the facility-dependent costs, lab/QC/QA costs, utility costs and miscellaneous expenses. For the
labor costs, the option “Use Lumped Rate” is selected for all sections. This way, the total labor cost of each
section is calculated based on the $50/h lumped labor rate which was specified for the “Operator” labor

resource type through its properties dialog (by clicking Tasks  Other Resources  Labor on the Tasks
menu and then double-clicking on the “Operator” labor resource type).
Additional operating costs can be specified for the entire flowsheet. These include advertising/selling
expenses, running royalty expenses and failed product disposal costs. The advertising/selling and running
royalty expenses can be specified through the “Misc.” tab of the “Economic Evaluation Parameters for Entire
Project” dialog. To display this dialog, click Edit  Process Options  Economic Evaluation Parameters
on the main menu or right-click on an empty space on the flowsheet and then click Economic Evaluation
Parameters. The failed product disposal costs can be specified through the “Production Level” tab of the
same dialog. Note that for this example, all of the above costs are assumed to be zero.
From the “Economic Evaluation Parameters for Entire Project” dialog, you may also change a several time
parameters (year of analysis, year construction starts, construction period, startup period, project lifetime and
inflation) by visiting the “Time Valuation” tab. Through the same time, you may also specify three values
(low, medium, and high) for the interest rates used to calculate the net present value (NPV). For this
example, the low, medium and high NPV interest rates are set as 5%, 7% and 9%, respectively. Also, the
year of analysis and the year that the construction starts are both set to the year 2015, and the project
lifetime is set as 30 months. From the same dialog, you may also specify project financing and depreciation
information through the “Financing” tab. For this example, the depreciation period is set as 20 years. Default
values are used for all other parameters that exist on this dialog.
The total operating cost of the process can be reduced by utilizing part of the generated power by the turbine
(see procedure P-53) to compensate for the electricity requirement of the process. As described in section
“Input data” under “Other resources”, it is assumed that 100% of the generated “Std Power” type by the
turbine is “recycled” (i.e., it is available for consumption by the process). The operating cost savings due to
power recycling for this example are listed in Table 3.
The total operating cost of the process may also be reduced by adding implicit heat exchangers that use
existing process streams instead of heating agents for heating or cooling. For more information regarding
this feature, please refer to the “Energy Recovery” section under “Miscellaneous Modeling Tips”. The
operating cost savings due to heat recovery for this example are also listed in Table 3.
For more details on the program’s economic parameters, please consult chapter 9 (Economics) of the User
Guide or the “Economics” section of the Help documentation.

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Sugar Beets Processing – Cost Analysis and Optimization using SuperPro

Preprint · June 2020

Yannis Stavropoulos Demetri Petrides

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

Waste Valorization View project

Simulation of Water and Wastewater Treatment Processes View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

➢ Beet Cleaning (dark blue icons);

Beet Cleaning section

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Juice Diffusion section

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Juice Purification section

100 kg CaCO3 + 1788.7 kJ/kg → 56 kg CaO + 44 kg CO2

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3 kg Ca(OH)2 + 1 kg Nonsucroses → 4 kg Precip. Nonsucr.

Ca(OH)2 + CO2 → CaCO3 + H2O

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The first carbonation-filtration step is as follows:

The second filtration-carbonation step is as follows:

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Juice Evaporation section

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Syrup Crystallization section

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Sugar Drying section

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Overall Material Balances

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Material MT/yr MT/h MT/MT MP

Table 2. Overall Component Balance (MT/yr)

COMPONENT INITIAL IN OUT FINAL IN-OUT

Cost Analysis and Economic Evaluation

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Table 3. Executive Summary (2015 Prices)

Total Capital Investment 284,361,000 $

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Figure 1. Annual Operating Cost Breakdown.

Table 5. Materials Cost – Process Summary

Unit Cost Annual Annual Cost

NOTE: Bulk material consumption amount includes material used as:

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Material Storage Units

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Figure 3. The “Energy Recovery Opportunities” dialog (expanded view).

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Process operating mode and annual operating time

Pure components and stock mixtures

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Pure Source Pure New Purchasing Pure Source New Purchasing

Stock Source Stock Purchase

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Pure Coal Coke Limestone

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Heat Transfer Description Heating / Supply Return Mass-to- Agent Cost

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