Reliability through experience
ISSCT Joint Engineering and Processing Workshop 6th to 10th October 2024 in Berlin, Germany
De Smet Engineers & Contractors (DSEC) participated at the ISSCT Joint Engineering and Processing Workshop from the 6th to 10th October 2024 in Berlin, Germany.
This year Sébastien Schellen (Vice-President Decarbonization and Sustainability) & Jean-Pierre Laurent (Technical Director) participated in the workshop sessions about “Innovations in the Sugar Cane Industry –Enhancing Sustainability, Quality and Efficiency”.
The workshop Innovations in the Sugar Cane Industry – Enhancing Sustainability, Quality and Efficiency included three full days of scientific presentations and discussions.
Workshop Topics
Processing Section:
- Sugar Quality
- Mass and energy balances
- Sustainable processing practices
- Factory data analyses and trends
- NIRS technology applications and updates
Engineering Section:
- Material handling and testing
- Contribution of the cane sugar industry to decarbonization with special focus on Carbon Capture Storage and Utilization (CCS & CCU)
- Green cane harvesting
- Trash collection
- Fuels including pre-treatment
- Beet & Cane – Potential joint topic
- Energy management
- Industry 4.0
WORKSHOP ABSTRACT:
Shaping the future of the cane sugar industry with significant energy savings
Session Summary:
For over three decades, De Smet Engineers & Contractors has been dedicated to enhancing sugar processing, prioritizing the design of efficient equipment and techniques to ensure top-quality sugar. In recent years, DSEC’s cross-functional activity “Decarbonisation, Energy Efficiency, and Renewable Energies” has been deeply involved in developing energy efficiency projects tailored for the sugar industry.
In the cane sugar industry, the pursuit of energy efficiency is not merely about operational optimization but also a response to clients’ demands for low-energy-intensive sugar products. Clients increasingly prioritize goods with a reduced environmental footprint, compelling cane sugar producers to innovate and invest in energy-saving technologies to meet these expectations. This paper explores the imperative of energy efficiency within the industry, showcasing its direct impact on fulfilling customer expectations and enabling sustainable production.
Building upon the current benchmark cane sugar factory, De Smet Engineers & Contractors has envisioned a strategy to guide clients towards optimal energy utilization in their plants. Understanding that investment projects cannot be undertaken all at once, we collaborate with our clients to develop projects incrementally. Leveraging our simulation tools and profound process knowledge, we propose coherent investment packages, starting with those that offer the greatest economic sense.
During our presentation, we will highlight several real cases of optimisation for each part of the plant, from extraction to crystallisation, not forgetting the plant’s energy core: evaporation. We will outline scenarios that we hope you will recognize as potential pathways for your plant’s future.
Session Authors:
Sébastien Schellen (Vice-President Decarbonization and Sustainability)
Marc Vandemortele (Senior Process Expert)
Vincent Couplet (Senior Process & Energy Expert)
Jean-Pierre Laurent (Technical Director)
Pierre Noël (Business Development Manager)
Keywords:
Cane sugar industry, Energy efficiency, Low-energy-intensive sugar, Sustainable production.
Workshop topic: “Innovations in the Sugar Cane Industry – Enhancing Sustainability, Quality and Efficiency”
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Sebastian Schellen is Vice President – Energy Efficiency and Sustainability at De Smet Engineers & Contractors. With a master’s degree in mechanical engineering, he started out as an energy and process engineer and later became a project manager. Since September 2021, he has been responsible for the development of projects related to energy efficiency, decarbonization, CO2 recovery, renewable energies and alternative fuels.
De Smet Engineers & Contractors (DSEC) support the development of companies active as bio-refineries at different technology readiness levels.
Thanks to our agro- and bio-industrial experience, we help them to de-risk their investment decision (FEL1/2/3) or project execution (EPCM/EP+CM/EPC).
In any step, DSEC integrates their process or the technology from a licensor in the overall design in order to deliver a plant allowing them to demonstrate their performances.