Redpath Sugar, with its bright red script logo on sugar bags and boxes, has been a respected brand name in Canada since John Redpath opened Canada’s first sugar refinery in Montreal in 1854. Over the years, the company has grown and prospered under the family’s leadership and Redpath became Canada’s premier sugar brand, a name synonymous with high quality.

The complex of buildings at the immense Redpath Sugar refinery in Toronto and the procession of ocean vessels delivering raw cane sugar to the docks have been landmarks on the Lake Ontario harbor front since 1959. It was the first industrial facility built in Canada to coincide with the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

Today the refinery is located on a 10 1⁄2 acre site and is instantly recognizable in Toronto because of the life-size whale mural by marine artist Wyland.  The mural covers an entire wall of the towering raw sugar shed.

Redpath is now a part of the North American Division of Tate & Lyle PLC, a global leader in the production of carbohydrate ingredients. All refining is done at the Toronto facility, while distribution and warehousing is handled at a facility in Montreal.       

The broad range of products processed by Redpath include packaged sugar for the consumer market, individual sugar envelopes (ISE), package and bag sugar for the foodservice market, and a wide array of industrial grade sugars.

Despite the refinery’s size, finding room in the busy buildings to expand and install new processing equipment to meet higher production needs is challenging. Space limitations quickly became an issue for Process Engineer Colin Flock when he was developing plans for the installation of new sugar screeners in early 2000.

Sugar screeners play a critical role near the end of the processing. After white granulated sugar crystals have been dried, various size crystals are still present. Since the sugar is sold in specific ranges of crystal size, the mixture must be sorted to obtain granular sizes that correspond to Redpath’s Fine, Special Special Fine, Verifine and Powdered varieties of sugar. The screeners are utilized just before the sugar is conveyed to bins for storage, prior to packaging. Since 1990, the screening has been done with ten Rotex Automatic-Tensioning Screeners, each with four screening surfaces. The Rotex equipment is also designed for cleanability required for food processing operations.

As Redpath grew and demand for its products increased, the company was faced with the need to increase production capacity. To address this challenge, Redpath would need to install a new screening system, while working within the tight floor space limitations.

“The space I had to work with is between four pillars and measures about 15' square. The severe space limitation quickly eliminated a number of conventional screeners that might have been considered for the new installation because their footprint was simply too large,” said Flock.

Based on Redpath’s previous experience with Rotex screeners, Flock once again approached the Cincinnati based company for a solution. Rotex answered with the compact, high capacity MEGATEX^™ M100 Series Screener. It features 120 sq. ft. of screening area, capable of screening high volumes of material that would overwhelm a single conventional machine. It also reduced capital outlay as well as installation, operation and floor space costs.

“The 10' x 10' x 12' footprint of the MEGATEX fit perfectly in the space available,” Flock said.  “It also met all our volume requirements.” Put into operation, in March 2001, the MEGATEX has operated beyond expectations. “We’re very pleased with the results—the MEGATEX is exceptionally efficient. And I’ve been highly impressed with the service Rotex provided before, during, and after the installation.” 

The performance of the equipment is so impressive that Redpath now has plans to install two additional MEGATEX M100 Series Screeners. The unique design of the MEGATEX evenly splits and distributes the incoming flow of sugar to stacked 4' x 8' screen decks – the equivalent of a bank of four screeners in a single machine.

Rotex developed the line of MEGATEX Screeners to provide efficient, accurate separations at production rates greater than other large capacity screening options. Providing 100 to 350 square feet of screening area, MEGATEX is ideal for other high volume screening applications such as:  industrial minerals to 200 TPH; grain/agricultural products to 1,000 TPH; dry chemicals from 60 to 100 TPH; particle board furnish to 20 TPH; agricultural chemicals and fertilizers to 150 TPH and plastic pellets from 60 to 150 TPH.

MEGATEX Screeners achieve greater productivity through two design innovations: wide screens and long-stroke, gyratory motion.

Utilizing screen surfaces that are wider, rather than longer, significantly reduces bed depth, enabling MEGATEX Screeners to handle increased capacity while maintaining screening accuracy.  Expansion of the total screen area is key to increased screener capacity – but all screen area is not equally productive. Increased screen width expands capacity more effectively than increased screen length. To achieve a wide screening area, MEGATEX screeners use a two-bank, multi-level screen deck arrangement to present 16' to 50' of width to the feed, which keeps bed depth low and maintains screen accuracy and efficiency at high capacities.

MEGATEX’s long stroke, low frequency motion creates a force level that serves two important functions. First, it equally spreads the material across the full width of the distribution panel and into the feed doors to proportionally feed each of the screen levels. This ensures full use of the entire screening area.

Secondly, the long stroke and low frequency motion produces effective ball mesh cleaning to control screen blinding and provide long-term, uninterrupted operation that ensures product quality.

The low frequency, gyratory screening also produces extremely low noise levels, far lower than those produced by vibratory screeners, and well within the comfort zone.

MEGATEX is available in two models for different application requirements. The MA design, supplied to Redpath is available with 120 or 180 square feet of screen area. Designed for high capacity, fine process screening as fine as 200 microns, the MA models have a unique lift rail system for positive sealing to prevent cross-contamination within the screener. 

The MA models feature an auto-tensioning design that utilizes spring tension clips to provide constant screen tension, which when combined with a drawer type screen frame, provides quick and easy screen changes.

The MG model is available in three sizes – 210, 280 or 350 square feet of screen area, and is designed for higher capacity applications of materials in the 12 mm to 850 microns size. The MG is ideal for high capacity screening demands in export grain terminal operations, inland grain cleaning, fertilizer loading, particle board face/core separations and wood chip classification.

In addition to the Rotex and MEGATEX Screeners, ROTEX Global engineers and manufactures a full line of screening equipment including GRADEX^™ Particle Size Analyzers; and LIQUATEX^™ Liquid/Solid Separators.  The company serves a global market in such industries as chemical processing, food processing, mineral processing, plastics compounding and agribusiness.  Rotex-xpress offers a full range of parts and rebuild services available through Rotex headquarters in Cincinnati, OH.

For more information, contact ROTEX Global, 1230 Knowlton St., Cincinnati, OH 45223, (800) 453-2321, Fax (513) 541-4888 or e-mail info@Rotex.com.