For the Australian sugar industry to substantially increase revenue from bagasse through cogeneration, biofuels or animal feeds, the pan stages during milling must operate effectively on low pressure vapour to reduce the steam consumption to below 35 per cent on cane. Currently the lowest steam consumption in Australian factories is around 40 per cent on cane.

Tighter control of the pan stage would improve sugar recovery and quality, pan stage throughput, steam and water use. This project will determine appropriate changes to pan stages for effective operation on low pressure vapour that is cost-effective while maintaining production throughput, thus achieving high levels of sugar recovery and high-quality shipment sugar. This offers financial benefits to the Australian milling industry. Adoption of the outputs will substantially reduce the process steam consumption and improve the financial viability of factories for new ventures which require large increases in the commercial use of surplus bagasse for increasing cogenerated power output, animal feed or chemical production.