Solex re-visits successful Michigan Sugar installation

Sugar cooling system described as 'virtually maintenance-free'

Author: Jamie Zachary

In this month's blog, we're taking you to the Midwest as we check in on our installation at Michigan Sugar Company’s historic sugar beet processing plant in Croswell, Michigan.

The Croswell facility first opened back in 1902 as the Sanilac Sugar Refining Company – four years before Michigan Sugar Company was founded. Today, it produces an estimated 200 million pounds of sugar annually under the Pioneer Sugar and Big Chief Sugar brands.

In 2016, Michigan Sugar launched a substantial capital upgrade, part of which included modernizing its cooling system. Having previously worked with Solex Thermal Science at its sister facility in nearby Sebewaing, the company decided to replace its existing rotary drum cooler with one of our plate-based moving bed heat exchangers.

Installed in 2017, the system is typical of the many that Solex has installed around the world over the past 20-plus years. It’s efficient plate design takes take hot granulated sugar produced at the facility and indirectly cools it as it flows, by gravity, in-between a series of parallel stainless-steel plates. Once it’s reached the desired temperature, the sugar is then packaged into bags or sent to silos for storage.

In the six years since its installation, Michigan Sugar says the unit has been virtually maintenance free, with no reports of caking in the unit or in storage.

As told by Randy Lesniak, Factory Manager at Michigan Sugar: “We have two units from Solex operating, one in Sebewaing and one in Croswell, and we’ve never had any issues with either of them. Both have been very low maintenance. If there was an opportunity, we would definitely work together again.”

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Want to learn more?  Let’s talk! Our team is available to discuss your sugar cooling process. Contact us today.

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This entry was tagged Cooling and last updated on 2023-5-16

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