The challenge

A large sugar refiner wanted to reduce the cleaning and calibration frequency of the pH control system in their evaporation and boiling sugar refining process.

High temperature, calcium deposits and viscous sugar syrup required aggressive cleaning and time-consuming calibration.

They were also experiencing frequent sensor failure and the replacement time was slowing production. During refining, lime is being added to the process to optimise yield and minimise energy consumption making pH control a critical factor to plant efficiency, so a better solution was required.

The solution

We designed a Turtle Tough sensor with a thick wall, crack-resistant pH glass sensing element, combined with a specially engineered ultra-high temperature resistant non-porous conductive polymer reference system. By closely matching the expansion coefficients of all the components we were able to reduce sensor failure from the severe temperature cycling. A temperature sensor was embedded in a sealed design to avoid failure, which is a common failure mode of many sensors.

The result

The resulting sensor greatly lowered maintenance frequency and sensor failure providing a greater product yield and reduced operating costs.