Model of a sugar factory with bioethanol production in program Sugarse Svatopluk Henke, Zdenek Bubnı ´k * , Andrea Hinkova ´, Vladimir Pour Institute of Chemical Technology Prague, Department of Carbohydrate Chemistry and Technology, Technicka ´ 5, 166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic Available online 25 August 2005 Abstract This work shows an application of the program Sugars TM for modelling and simulation of a sugar factory with subsequent pro- duction of bioethanol and animal fodder. The designed scheme was further adjusted and verified using the data from the Czech sugar industry (i.e. processing of 10.000 ton of sugar beet per day, 17% of sucrose in sugar beet, 2.5% of impurities and 98% effec- tiveness of ethanol fermentation. If all parameters of equipment, operating units and pipelines are set, this scheme enables to cal- culate a production of refined sugar, bioethanol and other by-products. According to an actual commodity price on the market, one can chose an optimal ratio between sugar and ethanol production. Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: Sugar; Ethanol; Stillage; Modelling; Sugar plant; Fermentation 1. Introduction The paper deals with an application of the program Sugars TM (see Sugars International LLC) for modelling and simulation of a sugar factory (Alvarez, Baez-Smith, & Weiss, 2001; Morgenroth & Weiss, 2003; Weiss, 1999) with subsequent production of bioethanol and animal fodder. The used production scheme was developed by Bub- nik et al. (1996–2000) in a grant project of the Czech Agricultural Grant Agency (9660461373-01): ‘‘Produc- tion and application of ethanol from agricultural sources. Part: Optimization of ethanol production by evaluation of by-products’’. The scheme suggested as a non-waste technology starts from a traditional production of raw juice by water extraction of sliced sugar beet. Obtained raw juice can be used either directly for ethanol and sugar production during the campaign, or it can be concentrated in an evaporator and stored for several months. Stillage obtained by fermentation is partly recy- cled back to the extraction and fermentation stage or used for concentrate dilution. The residual stillage from fermentation is concentrated, mixed with exhausted beet pulp and dried to obtain a fodder. Thus, the outputs are sugar, ethanol and animal fodder. 2. Production scheme description The used production scheme is shown in Fig. 1. It starts from a traditional production of raw juice by water extraction of sliced sugar beet. Obtained raw juice can be used either directly for ethanol and sugar produc- tion during the campaign, or it can be concentrated in an evaporator and stored for several months. Fresh juice and/or concentrate can be used both for sugar production by cooling crystallization and for fermentation to produce bioethanol. In the first case, juice needs to be purified by two-step filtration involving pulp separation and microfiltration to remove bigger particles, high molecule colorants, proteins and 0260-8774/$ - see front matter Ó 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2005.07.007 * Corresponding author. Tel.: +42 2 20443112; fax: +42 2 20445130. E-mail address: zdenek.bubnik@vscht.cz (Z. Bubnı ´k). www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng Journal of Food Engineering 77 (2006) 416–420