BACKGROUND ART The crystallisation stage of sugar recovery and manufacture from clarified, concentrated cane or beet juice is nowadays commonly performed in continuous pans. Most of these continuous pans are designs of the"horizontal type". These incorporate a horizontally arranged calandria, into which steam or vapour is fed to cause heating and boiling of the massecuite (sugar crystals and molasses). As the massecuite boils in the calandria, vapour (steam) bubbles form. These bubbles and the higher temperature lower the massecuite density, inducing the massecuite to circulate up through the calandria. The vapour separates at the surface and the massecuite then returns down around the calandria through an open, unheated"downtake"passage, into the zone beneath the calandria.

Vigorous circulation is highly desirable both for even crystal growth and for good heat transfer from the calandria.

In all the conventional pan designs, the zone beneath the calandria is bounded by the cool outer shell of the pan vessel. This cools the adjacent massecuite, causing two problems: Density of the massecuite is increased in an area where upflow is desired, and A layer of sugar/massecuite may settle and solidify in this area.

The encrustation on unheated surfaces is of particular concern and has been reported in technical literature on continuous pans.

It is an object of this invention to provide an arrangement which reduces or at least prevents increased massecuite density and solidification due to cooling in the zone beneath the calandria.

THE INVENTION According to the invention a continuous pan crystalliser includes one or more heated zones located below a calandria.

In the preferred form of the invention, a heated zone comprises a steam chamber.

Also in the preferred form the steam chamber has one or more inlets from the base of the calandria which is vertically disposed. This enables steam circulating in the calandria to enter the steam chamber to heat the base of the pan by conduction.

The base of the chamber may be curved inwardly and upwardly toward the centre of the pan, thus forming a circulatory flow-path for the massecuite toward the calandria.

The primary cause of cooling of massecuite and encrustation in the cooler zones is the cold surface of the pan, particularly in areas below the calandria. The introduction of a steam chamber as described above, together with the arcuate nature of the base of the pan firstly eliminates or at least greatly reduces the cooling effect and secondly encourages a vigorous circulatory flow through the calandria and around the pan. Even crystal growth is achieved as a result.

EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION The preferred embodiment of the invention is described below with reference to the accompanying drawing: Figure 1 which is a plan view of a continuous pan crystalliser according to the invention; And Figure 2 is a sectional side view of the pan.

In Figure 1, massecuite flows into the pan 10 at 12 and circulates in the direction of the arrows exiting at 14. The pan massecuite space is divided by baffles 16 into (usually) 8

compartments, comprising 4 along each side of a central baffle 18. Massecuite enters usually at one end compartment. It then flows successively through the compartments on that side, crosses over between compartments 4 and 5 (at the end of the pan 20), and returns along the other side of the pan, being discharged from compartment 8 at outlet 14.

Heating by the calandria 22 causes the massecuite to bubble up between the tubes thereof 24. The circulation induced by the calandria therefore produces a spiral flow (arrows 26) path along each side of the pan.

As evaporation occurs along the pan, additional syrup or molasses feedstock is introduced in each compartment. This provides further sucrose which is assimilated onto the existing sugar crystals in the massecuite, so that the crystals in the discharged massecuite are considerably larger than in the original seed massecuite.

In Figure 2, a continuous pan crystalliser is generally referenced 10 and is circular in section. Massecuite 28 flows into the pan and is heated primarily by the calandria 22. The calandria is heated by steam which enters the calandria at 30 (Figure 1), is circulated through the calandria tubes 24 and down into the steam chamber 32.

The steam chamber is defined by a base 34 and curved walls 36 which extend upwardly and inwardly from the base of the pan to converge at an outlet 38 from the base of the calandria.

Massecuite is heated by the calandria and bubbles up passageway 40 before dropping off over the top of the calandria and recirculating in the direction indicated by the arrows.