During the Soviet era, low raw material prices led to stagnation in the sugar industry, and there were no incentives that would have encouraged improvements in performance or technical progress like in Western Europe. Today, the Ukrainian sugar factories are privately owned and have to purchase raw materials and energy at high and constantly rising market prices. Government funding has gone down, while competitive pressure has intensified.

The years 2011 and 2012 were marked by considerable sugar overproduction in Ukraine. Since there were no external markets, the price for sugar dropped below the cost price, and many sugar factories were forced to suspend production in the middle of the 2013 campaign. While 63 sugar factories were still in operation in the 2012 campaign, this number had gone down to 38 by 2013, and many of these factories even had very short campaigns. Products that meet European standards, and the use of high-tech production equipment are essential assets under these conditions.

Higher competitiveness based on experience

BMA has gained extensive experience with the conversion of sugar factories in Europe, especially as regards saving energy costs, and, as a consequence, improving competitiveness. Relying on its acquired know-how and many years of experience, BMA develops and builds highly efficient equipment, such as extraction plants, continuously operating apparatus for sugar crystallisation, and evaporator plants. Due to its short ROI, high-tech equipment made by BMA is an excellent investment

New centrifugals for Salivonkovsky

A prime example of efficient investments is the replacement of old centrifugals in Ukrainian sugar factories with the new generation of batch-type E centrifugals and continuous K centrifugals. BMA’s new centrifugal machines have an ROI of about one to two campaigns. They also produce sugar of a much higher quality, which is an important factor for many consumers in Ukraine, who are increasingly demanding European sugar qualities.

The Ukrainian Svitanok group, for instance, equipped the centrifugal stations of their Salivonkovsky sugar factory with modern, highly automated BMA E1820 and K3300 centrifugals for A, B and C products in 2013. This has allowed them to considerably enhance the sugar factory’s efficiency, while increasing output with a reduced payroll.

Studies analysing the operation of new BMA centrifugals show that the following aspects play an essential role:

• Energy recovery and optimisation of the mechanical centrifugal components help reduce power consumption to almost one sixth.
• Since less wash water is applied, smaller amounts of runoff are produced. The quality of the products leaving the centrifugals is also higher than with the old machines.
• Due to the high liquor quality, no re-crystallisation is necessary; this enhances the energy efficiency and the quality of the product.
• The new E centrifugals come with BMA developments such as the new syrup separator, the monoaxial discharger and the electronic layer thickness measuring unit. This results in a better performance at a reduced energy consumption, but also means consistent run-off and sugar qualities, which is an important parameter for sugar factory operation.

Roman Schumacher
BMA AG
roman.schumacher@bma-de.com