Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
References
Timeline
Generic

Frederick Mncube

Process Engineer
Verulam

Summary

I am process engineer at Tongaat Hulett Sugar, based at Maidstone sugar mill. My area of responsibility is from juice clarification to sugar drying. My experience is not limited to back-end operations only. I worked as a process engineer responsible for front end operations as well as laboratory and water systems. My core area of expertise is the crystallisation process (pan boiling). I assisted the operations to improve the pan boiling process to reduce molasses losses and hence improve sugar recovery. I also specialised in improving the automatic boiling of the batch for both raw house and the refinery. I have co-authored 4 SASTA papers and 1 SIT paper.

I am currently acting production manager overseeing the whole process department including the laboratory.

Overview

9
9
years of professional experience
4
4
years of post-secondary education
2
2
Languages

Work History

Process Engineer

Tongaat Hulett Sugar
  • I am currently a process engineer at Tongaat Hulett Sugar, based at Maidstone sugar mill
  • My area of responsibility is from juice clarification to sugar drying
  • My experience is not limited to back-end operations only
  • I worked as a process engineer responsible for front end operations as well as laboratory and water systems.

Process Operations Support Engineer

  • I worked as process operations support engineer for 10 years
  • My duties included optimising the process performance of different process units such as the diffuser, juice clarification, multiple effect evaporation, sugar crystallisation vessels (pans), centrifugation and sugar drying to meet the bench mark standards
  • Also assisted the operations in troubleshooting the causes of deviation of some performance indicators such as pol factor and undetermined loss
  • I have commissioned 3 TH designed continuous pans in Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines.

  • My core area of expertise is the crystallisation process (pan boiling)
  • I assisted the operations to improve the pan boiling process to reduce molasses losses and hence improve sugar recovery
  • I also specialised in improving the automatic boiling of the batch for both raw house and the refinery
  • I have co-authored 4 SASTA papers and 1 SIT paper.

01.2020
  • I was transferred to Maidstone Sugar Mill after the restructure in 2019
  • I am responsible for the back-end operations of the sugar factory
  • This includes juice clarification, evaporation crystallisation and sugar drying
  • I joined the Maidstone team during when the mill was resurrecting the second tandem
  • My contribution was identifying the bottlenecks in the back-end operations that hindered the mill from coping with a second tandem
  • These are as follows: 1
  • Resolving the condensate withdrawal from the pans, which debottlenecked the pan floor operations 2
  • Optimising the sugar drying which resulted in better throughput in the centrifugals
  • 3
  • Resolving A seed supply system which allowed enough A seed supply into the A continuous pan and eliminated false grains
  • 4
  • Improved throughput into evaporators.

Tongaat Hulett
06.2000 - 01.2009
  • I was employed at Tongaat Hulett as a development Lab technician at TMD
  • My primary duty was to boil the WSM syrups in the pilot pan
  • My duties extended to conducting the pilot experiments such as carb flotation, testing of RF probes etc
  • I studied B Tech part time which I completed in 2003 and then became a process EIT at Amatikulu in 2004
  • During my EIT period I resurrected and improved the auto boiling of the B and C pans at Amatikulu
  • After finishing the EIT programme, I was appointed as a juice extraction engineer which included the laboratory and portable water and waste water treatment plants
  • During my tenure I was representing the process in the installation of new spray flaps in the diffuser
  • The CRE was improved after the installation and optimising the operation of those sprays
  • In 2006 Amatikulu embarked on a project to improve effluent treatment
  • The project was split into phases 1 and 2
  • Phase 1 was the erection of the head of works to remove all the foreign matter in the effluent and also to regulate the effluent flow into the anaerobic dam to improve performance
  • I was a TH representative during the construction period and commissioning
  • In 2008 I then moved to be responsible for the back end operations i.e evaporation to sugar drying.

Education

Some College (No Degree) - Management Development Program

University of Stellenbosch
Cape Town
06.2015 - 12.2015

B Tech Chem Eng - Bachelor of Technology Environmental Management (C

University of South Africa
Durban
02.2009 - 12.2010

Sugar Technology - Sugar Technology Course

SMRI
Durban
08.2003 - 11.2003

Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering - Engineering

Durban University of Technology
Durban
06.2002 - 05.2003

Skills

Continuous Improvement

References

Mr M. Sithole, mfundo.sithole@tongaat.com, 072 142 0826

Timeline

01.2020

Some College (No Degree) - Management Development Program

University of Stellenbosch
06.2015 - 12.2015

B Tech Chem Eng - Bachelor of Technology Environmental Management (C

University of South Africa
02.2009 - 12.2010

Sugar Technology - Sugar Technology Course

SMRI
08.2003 - 11.2003

Bachelor of Technology in Chemical Engineering - Engineering

Durban University of Technology
06.2002 - 05.2003

Tongaat Hulett
06.2000 - 01.2009

Process Engineer

Tongaat Hulett Sugar

Process Operations Support Engineer

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