The Crompion LLT Clarifier is an excellent technology for mud filtrate clarification. It has many benefits, including the reduction of sucrose inversion by eliminating the detrimental recirculation of mud filtrate back to the process. This implementation also increases the main clarifier capacity by 15 to 20% and reduces invert sugars, which lead to color generation in the factory.

Since its first industrial implementation, the Crompion LLT Clarifier for mud filtrate clarification has shown an outstanding performance. Studies show that the clear filtrate attained by the LLT Clarifier, operating with a retention time of 10 minutes, has comparable quality to the clear juice from the main clarifiers (Grimaldo, 2013).

A follow-up of the filtrate clarifier installed at Alma Plantation, operating with 10 minutes retention time, showed the following results:

• The clear filtrate turbidity had an average value of 250 NTU, which was lower than several batch settling tests performed in parallel to the filtrate clarifier operation.
•  We observed an average turbidity of 165 NTU units when we combined the clear filtrate with the clear juice of the main clarifiers. This turbidity is considered good (<180 NTU) under Louisiana conditions.
• Color removal in the clarifier was 17%, with an average value of 5730 IU in the clear filtrate, The color of the clear filtrate was lower than the expected color of the clear juice from the main clarifiers. 
• The suspended solids removal showed an average value of 87% with a mean suspended solid concentration of 900 ppm.

Table 1 shows a summary of these results.

Table 1: Performance of the Crompion LLT Clarifier for Mud Filtrate Clarification during the 2012-2013 Campaign.

Finally, reports show that by eliminating the mud filtrate recirculation, an incremental recovery of 0.02% can be attained. Dollars-and-cents, this represents an incremental revenue of approximately 92,000 dollars per every million tons of Cane ground, considering an average price of sugar of 21 cents per pound.