Mill hits targets despite boiler blow out
WILMAR'S Proserpine mill has overcome a hiccup with its number four boiler to meet this week's crush target of 87,000 tonnes of sugar cane.
Last Saturday morning (November 12) crushing stopped following the failure of expansion joints in boiler No. 4.
Mill manager Danny Van der Berg said following an inspection it was decided to resume operation until Sunday night.
"We had planned a scheduled maintenance stop to conduct repairs to the expansion joint. The scheduled stop was extended through to Tuesday morning to enable us to carry out repairs to No. 4 boiler,” he said.
Last Friday the mill had crushed 80% of cane and since resuming operations at 9am last Tuesday, the mill has been achieving budgeted crushing rates and expects to complete the 2016 crush before Christmas.
Cane bin weights have averaged 9.47 tonnes for the week just gone and Wilmar is reporting a steady increase in CCS levels which exceeded 13 units last week for the first time this year.
Current levels are averaging 13.5 for the week to date and cane purity has been consistent at 84.5%which is promising, Mr Van der Berg said.
"We have three short planned scheduled stops remaining for the season to allow for tippler cleaning, roller spotting and shredder tip changes.”
