China’s population of more than 1.4 billion consumed 16.2 million tonnes of sugar in 2020. The country’s urbanisation has changed the younger generation’s eating habits, including a rapid rise in sugar consumption. For 2030 this is forecast to grow even further to 18.6m tonnes. The new Dafeng Yinmore Sugar refinery built together with BMA plays an important part in meeting this demand.
Refinery technology from BMA for China
To increase the output of refined sugar has required restructuring of the industry. Dafeng Yinmore Sugar, a subsidiary of China Bright Food Group based in the Yangtze River Delta, is a pioneer in this respect, having seized the strategic opportunity to build China’s most cutting-edge sugar factory. For BMA, this is a new chapter of a success story that has seen many orders of refinery technology from China. Its Guangxi region, for instance, has been the location of a number of BMA projects.
Maximum throughput, minimum operating costs
In 2014, Bright Food Group started on the development of a comprehensive sugar strategy. The ambitious goal was to build an unmatched refinery in China. This would not be a standard plant, but a complex with maximum throughput and minimum operating costs. The customer was looking for a partner to help bring this remarkable plan to life and, following close scrutiny of the bids and an assessment of the references, BMA won the contract. Once the contract for engineering had been signed, in April 2014, BMA prepared a basic concept in close collaboration with the customer. This included roughly outlining a customer-specific technological infrastructure, defining key performance indicators, and preparing a preliminary process flow diagram and balances. The next step was basic engineering, which involved specifying the details of BMA’s concepts: mass and heat balances, P&ID, and equipment lists. During the detailed engineering stage and the piping engineering, all details came together in a sophisticated 3D model. This would facilitate the final implementation of the general layout plan, on-site construction, and the routing of the pipes for the entire sugar house.
Collaboration between BMA and China Haisum
The greenfield development of a cutting-edge 4,000 t/d refinery is a highly complex project, which is why the customer commissioned China Haisum as his EPC contractor for the whole plant. The close collaboration between BMA and Haisum was the key to success – and now serves BMA as a blueprint for working with local businesses in China. Since both national and international collaboration are essential in such a project, BMA China played a key role from start to finish. To ensure high-quality end products, international partners for sugar conditioning and packing also joined the team as subcontractors. If you consider engineering the heart of a plant, its machinery and equipment are the skeleton and muscles. They go together perfectly when they come from a single source: BMA. The contract for supply of machinery and equipment was signed in 2016. From raw sugar melting to drying and cooling, the state-of-the-art plants from BMA – such as its FFE, VKT, DVK, OVC, centrifugals, drum dryers, or fluidised-bed coolers – produce brilliant sugar (excellent quality) and a brilliant mood at the customer’s (energy efficiency).
Digital commissioning support
Commissioning of Dafeng Yinmore Sugar had been planned in two stages – with the second scheduled for the extraordinary year that was 2020. Across the globe, most sugar projects were halted or delayed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thankfully we have digital technologies – and have gained plenty of experience with digitalisation in recent years. And so, November 2020 marked a first for BMA: a performance run with remote support – at Dafeng Yinmore Sugar! In a non-stop 72-hour run, outstanding benchmarks were achieved:
- 4,004 t/d output
- 0.654 t steam/t sugar steam consumption
- 97.98 % sugar yield
And while this success for BMA with China’s largest and most cutting-edge refinery may be the end of one chapter, a new one is bound to start soon. With BMA’s Passion for Progress and our global networks, nothing can stop a further collaboration.