sasta news - sasta.co.za december 2016… · and davis ®paper on “matlab ... , delegates were...

SA Sugar Technologists’ Association

SASTA contact details: [email protected] Telephone: 031 508 7543 Website: www.sasta.co.za

IN THIS ISSUE• SASTACongress2017–

announcement and call for abstracts

• ReportonSASTA Congress2016

• Reporton SASTAAGM2016

• PrizewinnersfromSASTACongress2016

• NewSASTAmembers

• SASTAPricelistfor2017

• SASTAfleecesforsale

• SASTACouncil2016-2017

CALL FOR ABSTRACTSThe 90th SASTA Congress will be held from the

15-17th August 2017 at the ICC, DurbanAbstractsubmissionsaredueby20thJanuary2017

Paperscanbesubmittedinthefollowingcategories:Full length papers, Review papers,

Short non-refereed papers, Operational papers, Posters, Commercial papers, Success stories.

Abstracts must be submitted on the SASTAABSTRACTTEMPLATE

Please refer to the “Instructions to Authors 2017” and the “SASTA Abstract Template”

available at www.sasta.co.za or contact the SASTA Administrator at [email protected]

SASTA CONGRESS 2017

SASTA Congress 2016 was opened withan “out of this world” address from the guest speaker Dr Adriana Marais. Adriana has stirred much interest in her bid to be selected for the Mars One mission, which will establish the first human colony onMars in 2025. Since childhood she hasdreamed of living on another planet, and is currentlyoneofthe100MarsOneProjectastronaut candidates in the running to move totheredplanetin2025.ForherPhDshestudied quantum effects in photosynthesis and is interested in the origins of prebiotic molecules and life itself. She hopes one day to continue her research in quantum biology on Mars, and possibly even contribute to the discovery of evidence that life once existed there.

Adriana’s presentation was inspirational; she believes that we are living in a new era of innovation in space exploration, and

possible colonisation. Contributing to thediscovery of evidence of extra-terrestriallife is what Adriana Marais finds mostfascinating about the prospect of being amongst the first Earthlings to move toMars. One cannot help but feel that in twenty years or so, we will be saying “Gosh, remember we actually met her when she came to give a talk at SASTA!”

The number of delegates who attended Congressin2016was551,verysimilartothoseofthelasttwoyears(550in2015and557in2014).DespitetheeconomiccrunchexhibitorshadagoodshowingatCongressand SASTA continues to be grateful for their support. The consistent support from both delegates and exhibitors, even during difficult times, is a great compliment toSASTACongress. Delegates enjoyed thegeneral layout of the venue which included space for some casual seating.

Newsletter of the SA Sugar Technologists’ AssociationNewsletter of the SA Sugar Technologists’ AssociationSASTA NEWS

DECEMBER 2016DECEMBER 2016

SASTA CONGRESS 16-18 August 2016

▲ Dr Adriana Marais


As expected, the majority of delegateswere from SouthAfrica (83%), with 10%from other African countries, and 7% from overseas. The Table (right) summarises,for interest, the country of origin of the delegatesatSASTACongressoverthelastfour years.

KeepingwithCongresstradition;theplenarysession focused on the annual industry reviews from theAgricultural and Factoryperspectives. These reviews did not herald much good news with the industry in the grip of one of the worst droughts on record. The general mood of the session was lifted though, with presentations on monitoring energy consumption in sugarcane processing factories (Foxon et al), anda review paper from Tom Webster on ten years of integrated pest management against Eldana in the Midlands NorthregionofKwaZulu-Natal(Conlongetal).

A workshop on “Lessons learned fromDROUGHT” was held on the afternoonofDAYONE,chairedbyDrAdeyWynne.Speakers from both agriculture and factory sectors set the scene for a healthy debate and contributions from the floor.Many valuable points were made that were referred to by delegates on several occasions during the remaining two days ofCongress.

CountryNumber of

delegates in 2013

Number of delegates in

2014


2015


2016

South AfricaSwaziland IndiaUnitedKingdomZimbabwe Mauritius Germany Tanzania Mozambique Nigeria Australia Zambia Vietnam Brazil Malawi Belgium CostaRicaColombiaFrance ReunionSpain Thailand Uganda Sweden USA StKitts&NevisNetherlandsItaly Kenya ChinaPakistan

526344744-12--3-24---6

--1-1--11--

4611611868424292--3--63--2-1-22---5

4589752

14934-44-6-11-5-11114----25

457221197665543332221111-----------

▲ Dr Adey Wynne

Speakers at the Drought workshop: left to right: DeborahSweby(SASTACouncil),RobbieChildes(Netafim), DerekWatt(SASRI),SureshNaidoo(SACGA),NkanyisoManqele(THS),AdeyWynne(USM),MuziNinela(THS),SeelanNaidoo(SASA-CTS),KevinDrew(THS),PaulSchorn(THS)

▲

Opening Session speakers: left to right: MrSureshNaidoo (SASTAPatron), Mr Tim Murray, Dr Adriana Marais and Mr Gavin Smith (SASTAPresident)

▲

Delegates at the “Lessonslearnedfrom

Drought” Workshop

▲


Highlights from the Agriculture Session papers

Day Two of the Agriculture programme commenced with a session directed at research on white grub control. This session was followed by presentations that highlighted research on some of the ways to improve crop growth. The late morning session on soils was followed by lunch and then a short session on case-studies of rural women in cane growing regions of South Africa and one on Kasinthula Cane Growers’ Association inMalawi,andafewAgriculturalEngineeringposter presentations. This was followed by the Exhibition Open Time, a two-hourperiod where non-delegates can visit theexhibition, thus extending the exposure for the stand-holders to an increasedaudience.

The Paper authors attended theAuthors’Dinner in the evening, this year held at the DurbanCountryClub.ThiseventisSASTA’sway of thanking and acknowledging the authors for their hard work in preparing papersandpresentationsforCongress.

ThemorningofthethirdDayofCongresskicked off with a session on Varieties and Breeding. The next short session before morning tea contained the best paper delivered in the Agricultural section of Congress, that of Dimpho Elephantand Neil Miles on the “Prediction of thepotassium requirement factor for soils of the South African sugar industry”, for which they won the Kynoch award. The finaltwo Agriculture sessions were devoted to sevenpapersonEntomologywithafocusonIntegratedPestManagement.

Highlights from the Factory Session papers

The factory sessions of the 2016 SASTAcongress began with a session on energy and design. Three posters, two of which focussed on NIRS, formed the secondfactory session. After morning tea, an excellentsessiononFactoryPerformancesaw thebestandoneof the twosecond-best papers delivered in the factory section ofCongressbyauthors from the industry(notfromaresearchinstituteoruniversity),with Ephraim Dlamini winning the Cecil-Renaud Factory Award, and Dairam etal winning one of the highly commended awardsintheCecilRenaudprizesection.Factory Session Four concentrated onextraction and engineering, and after lunch there followed the first few commercialpapers. Commercial papers may containadvertising and marketing of products, but are neither peer-reviewed, nor refereedand edited and hence, although forming part of the programme, are not formally publishedintheSASTAProceedings.

Thefinaldayofthecongressopenedwithafew more commercial papers, and a paper on the SMRI Interlaboratory proficiencyscheme.TwopapersonRefiningfollowed:one from Nchalo (Mpesi et al) and onefromHulref(Moodleyetal),andthenafewmore commercial papers before lunch. The finalfactorysessiondealtwithboilersandmodelling, and contained the paper that won theTalbot-Crosbie prize for the bestpaper in the factory section: the Starzak andDavis paper on “MATLAB® modelling of a sugar mill: model development and validation”.

Accreditation by ECSA

SASTA Congress, once again, receivedaccreditationfromtheEngineeringCouncilof SouthAfrica (ECSA) as a ContinuousProfessional Development (CPD) event.In 2016, thirty five engineers availedthemselves of this opportunity of earning CPDpoints.

Congress 2016 Exhibition

TheSASTACongressexhibitionwasevenbusier than in previous years. The casual seating arrangements around the free spaces in the exhibition hall encouraged delegates to stay in the exhibition space, which generated a pleasant, energetic atmosphere.

Days TWO and THREE split into parallel agriculture and factory sessions, and contained a record number of presentations, with31agricultureand27factorypapers.

AftertheDroughtWorkshop,delegateswereabletorelaxandsocialiseattheMeetandGreetcocktailfunctionheldintheExhibitionHall,which maximised contact between delegates and exhibitors.


The exhibition prizegiving was heralded by the now traditional trumpet solo from HenningSpringer.

Thegoldawardforthebeststandin2016waswonbyBoschProjects.Goldchocolatemedals and the trophy were presented by Sumita Ramgareeb, the CongressOrganising Committee Chair. The Silverawardwent toBMG.TheBronze toJohnThompson.

Lucky Draw prizes

Several Lucky Draw prizes took placeafter the Exhibition Awards. The SASTAsponsored Samsung tablet was won by Washington Matatu, and the Bartens sponsored book was won by Selby Shongwe. The Bell sponsored bags were won by Sanjay Ramsingh, LetitiaPadayachee and Christo Helm, whilstthe Kelvion hamper was won by Arnot de Speville. The BMG tools were won by NarainDairam.

That brought yet another very successful SASTACongress to a close.TheSASTACouncilthanksallExhibitorsandDelegatesthat attended Congress and hope to seeyouatCongress2017.

Seen at Congress 2016

Henning Springer (Mecosa): Hear Ye! Hear Ye!

Exhibition stands prizes: Gold, Silver and Bronze trophies and medals

▲BoschProjects’prize-winningexhibitionstand:SeanHulleywiththeLamellaClarifierDemonstrationUnit

▲ Washington Matatu

▲ TheBoschProjectsexhibitionstandteam:MurrayStevens,LynnKnox,SeanHulleyandNeilduPlessisreceivetheirgoldmedalsfromDrSumitaRamgareeb

▲WernVanMolendorff,BrettCarrollandRobinBlake of BMG receive their Silver trophy from DrSumitaRamgareeb

▲FabioMatteis,twoguests,Etiennede Villiers,SchalkvanderMerweandChristofKotzeentertainsomevisitorstotheJohnThompson exhibition stand

▲GavinSmithlookingonasSumitaRamgareebpresents the bronze medals and trophy to EtiennedeVilliersfromJohnThompson

▲ Selby Shongwe

▲ The Bearing Man Group exhibition stand


SASTA turned 90 years old this year. The AGMwasheldattheKingfisherConferenceCentreinMountEdgecombeon5October2016. Forty five members and four non-members attended the meeting.

Before the business of the meeting was conducted,MrSiduduzoMyeza,NutritionManager, SASA presented a guest lecture on“Theproposedtaxonsugar-sweetenedbeverages”, to be introduced by the Minister of Finance in April 2017. Therationale, put forward by the South African government, for the proposed tax was to try and curb obesity in the South African population, thereby improving the health of the people and reducing their load on the health budget.

Mr Myeza explained some of the research

Mr Myeza explained some of the research findings carried out in studies in Mexico,USAandEurope,whichdidnotthesupportany link between sugar taxes and reducing obesity. No robust conclusions could bedrawn on the impact of food taxes on health.

However, possible unintended con-sequences were that consumers respond by purchasing cheaper brands or shopping in cheaper shops, thereby not decreasing their calorie intake, taxes take a greater share from the poor than the rich, and taxes on sugar sweetened beverages lead consumers to switch to higher calorie drinkssuchasfruitjuiceoralcohol.

The economic impact of the tax on the sugarcane and sugar industry in South Africa could be significant. The 23%increase in price of sugar-sweetenedbeverageswould lead toadropof27.6%of sugar in the beverages, equating to a loss of 10% of total current sales or a loss of sale of 170 000 tons of sugar. This would have serious consequences for the future sustainability of an industry already burdened by significant externalpressures. It would impact small scale-farmers disproportionately, in turn affecting the government’s objective of building athriving rural economy.

SASA has made recommendations to the Treasury that they should recognize the need for multiple evidence-basedinterventions to prevent and manage obesity in South Africa, that they should defer the implementation of the tax until a full assessment of the causes of obesity has been undertaken, and that they should conduct a socio-economic impactassessment in order that the impact on multiple industries throughout the value chain is considered. The possible joblosses due to the proposed tax could amountto7200jobs.

Prizegiving

The winners of prizes from SASTA Congress 2016 were presented withtheir awards. See the separate article on Prizewinners fromSASTACongress2016for all the details and photographs.

Lucky Draws

Seen at the AGM

SASTA AGM 2016

Mr Siduduzo Myeza▲

▲ The two lucky draw prizes of a bottle of wine were won by: Adriaan Serfontein and ArestiParaskevopoulos.

▲ Twelve lucky draw prizes of “SASTA 90 years” coffee mugs were won by: Peta Campbell, Anton Stein, Riekert vanHeerden,SumitaRamgareeb,NancySutar,Tania van Antwerpen, Stanley Munsamy, PaulSchorn,KeithMcFarlane,RobScott,Sunthosh Balchund and Brendon Small.


CECIL-RENAUD PRIZE: Highlycommended:Rishen Naidoo and Leon Smith

NaidooRandSmithL:Use of design and design tools to extend equipment life safely.

The prizes, except for the Robin RentonAward, were presented by Dr Sumita Ramgareeb at the SASTA AGM, heldrecently at the Kingfisher ConferenceCentre. The Robin RentonAward will bepresentedbyPGBIataseparatefunction.

ROBIN RENTON MEMORIAL AWARD: Stefan Hess

HessS:Initial study on solar process heat for South African sugar mills (byHessS,BeukesH,SmithG,andDinterF).

Judges’ comments: The presenter confidently presented an excitingopportunity for the sugar industry to tap into solar energy opportunities. The paper was thoroughly researched, well written and contained novel ideas for the use of solar energy in various factory areas. The paper demonstrated that solar energy could become part of the future sugar industry.

TALBOT – CROSBIE AWARD: Maciej (Mathew) Starzak and Stephen Davis

Starzak M, and Davis SB: Matlab modelling of a sugar mill: Model Development and Validation.

Judges’ comments: The author used Matlab to model a generic sugar factory and used actual results from across Southern Africa to verify the results. Excellentresults were obtained and a new solubility coefficient equation was proposed. Thisrepresents a massive undertaking and an impressive result with potentially far reaching influence in future techno-economic modelling of sugar factories and biorefineries.

CECIL-RENAUD PRIZE: Ephraim DlaminiDlamini EM: Vicious cycles in factory operations.Judges’ comments: This author presented a widely enjoyed lively and

fascinating review of some typical operational challenges. The take-homemessage of the importance of attention to detail, thorough inspections, and clear thinking are timeless. This was a well presented, entertaining operational paper.

PRIZEWINNERS FROM SASTA CONGRESS 2016


SASTA STUDENT PRIZE: AGRICULTURE: Adriaan Serfontein

Serfontein AJ: Development of handling and transport protocols for Eldana saccharina for Sterile Insect Technique (by Serfontein AJ, Addison P and Conlong DE).

Judges’ comments: This paper was well presented and the author came across as having a very good general understanding of the topic. Adriaan handled the questions raised after the presentation very well. The research was thorough and the positive results from this research have clear implications for the implementation of SIT in the industry.

KYNOCH AWARD: Winner: Dimpho Elephant and Neil Miles

ElephantDandMilesN:Prediction of the potassium requirement factor for soils of the South African sugar industry.

Judges’ comments: This paper was well presented and the research can add significantvaluetogrowers.Goodpracticalapplication of the research findings. Thepaper presented comprehensive and novel research that was very well articulated.

CECIL-RENAUD PRIZE: Highlycommended: Narain Dairam, Rendani Ramaru, Sphamandla Ngema, Nancy Sutar and Shaun Madho

DairamN,RamaruR,NgemaS,SutarNand Madho S: Sucrose losses across the Gledhow evaporators determined using NIRS predictions.

POSTER AWARD: FACTORY: Stephen Walford

WalfordSN:Optimisation of NIRS analysis of mill intermediate samplesJudges’ comments: The poster highlighted thebenefitsofalmostimmediatereportingofresultsandtheabilityofNIRStoanalysemany samples over a short period of time. It was a practical, clear, and informative presentation presented with enthusiasm.

KYNOCH AWARD:HIGHLYCOMMENDED:Brian van Vuuren, Linke Potgieter and Jan van Vuuren

VanVuurenBJ,PotgieterLandvanVuurenJH:Design of an agent-based model for simulating the population dynamics of Eldana saccharina.

Judges’ comments: Brian van Vuuren presented his paper very well and was able to explain a complex topic in a clear and highly competent manner. POSTER AWARD: AGRICULTURE: Jointwinners:Peter Tweddle; Peta Campbell, Aresti Paraskevopoulos and Surashna Huripurshad

Tweddle P: Payload determination for vehicle combinations.

Judges’ comments: The poster was excellent: professional, practical, logically organised, and with a very clear flow ofinformation. The additional copies of the material that observers could take away with them for later consideration was also very thoughtful.

Campbell PL, Paraskevopoulos A andHuripurshadS:Practical measurement of granular Servian® for knapsack application to control Cyperus rotundus.

Judges’ comments: The poster was excellent: very creative and innovative, and the content practical and applicable.


Bennett,Steve(VivoZest(Pty)Ltd)

Bosch,Kevin(THS-TEG)

Botha,Willem-(NetafimSouthAfrica)

Couteaux,Bernard(DSEngineers)

Delfosse,Gaetan(DSEngineers)

DeRosnayEmmanuel(Emineo)

deSan,Loulia(DSEngineers)

deValence,Willem(KEMIRA)

Dunbar-Krause,Brett(NalcoAfrica(Pty)Ltd)

Elephant,Dimpho(SASRI-PERC)

Field,John(TurbineGeneratorServices)

Ford,Sheldon(Illovo–Noodsberg)

Gemmell,Christopher (SACaneGrowersAssociation)

Gombera,Simba(ZenthalInvestmentsCC)

Greef,Andre(Illovo–HO)

Helm,Christo(TopconPrecisionAgriculture)

Kadi,Dineo(THS-Amatikulu)

Löffler,Warren (BellEquipmentCompanySA(Pty)Ltd)

Makhathini,Xolisile(THS–Refinery)

Manqele,Nkanyiso(THS–Amatikulu)

Masiza,Sharon(THS-Refinery)

Matsika,Munyaradzi(UCLCompany)

Mchunu,Musa(SASRI–BFRU)

Mthimkhulu,Sandile(SASRI)

Mzobe,Snothando(THS–Refinery)

Naidoo,Levitta(SMRI)

Naidoo,Lucian(AdaptIT(Pty)Ltd)

Ngcobo,Mfundo(SASRI–BFRU)

Ngema,Sphamandla(Gledhow)

Nxumalo,Sifiso(THS–TEG)

Oosthuizen,Neil(BrukerSouthAfrica(Pty)Ltd)

Phenyane,Mxolisi(Illovo–Noodsberg)

Prakash,Kannan(FivesCail-KCPLimited)

Rajoo,Reuben(UCLCompany)

Rambakus,Zyven(THS–Refinery)

Schonken,Johannes (CrookesBrothersLimited)

Shongwe,Selby(SASRI–Extension)

Singh,Amith(THS–TEG)

Slater,Kerrie(SonkorEngineering(Pty)Ltd)

Stipcich,Tony(LakesideEquipment)

Swanepoel,Eddie(VescoPlasticsSales)

Tamminidi,Anil(VRLAutomation)

Thwala,Sifiso(SASRI-Biosecurity-P&D)

Zulu,Maphilisi(SASRI–BFRU)

(since December 2015)

NEW SASTA MEMBERS

SASTA price list for 2017

CONGRESS 2017

SASTA FLEECE JACKETS FOR SALESASTA fleece jackets @ R275.00 available from the SASTA office.

Sizes available: Ladies XS, S, M, L, XL and Mens S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL

Item 2017 2017 excl Vat Vat incl Vat

Fullmembership R201.75 R28.25 R230.00

Associatemembership R219.30 R30.70 R250.00

Retiredmembership R50.44 R7.06 R57.50

Corporatemembership R728.07 R101.93 R830.00

Correspondingmembership R380.00 NoVat R380.00

Exhibitormembership R197.37 R27.63 R225.00

SASTAfleeces R241.23 R33.77 R275.00

Sugarspoons R114.04 R15.96 R130.00

Ties R26.32 R3.68 R30.00

Laserpointerpenstorch R17.54 R2.46 R20.00

Golfumbrellas R52.63 R7.37 R60.00

CDProceedings R223.68 R31.32 R255.00

LabmanualCDformembers R280.70 R39.30 R320.00

LabmanualCDfornon-members R491.23 R68.77 R560.00

Memberearlybird R1864.04 R260.96 R2125.00

Nonmemberearlybird R2421.05 R338.95 R2760.00

Memberstandard R2298.25 R321.75 R2620.00

Nonmemberstandard R2912.28 R407.72 R3320.00

Memberlate R2754.39 R385.61 R3140.00

Nonmemberlate R3403.51 R476.49 R3880.00

MemberDaydelegate R1548.25 R216.75 R1765.00

NonmemberDaydelegate R2092.11 R292.89 R2385.00

Exhibitionstandbottomofrange R21236.84 R2973.16 R24210.00

Exhibitionstandtopofrange R31929.82 R4470.18 R36400.00


Seelan Naidoo

Seelan joined the sugar industry in 1997and has worked as the CTS Managerat Entumeni (1997-1999), Darnall andAmatikulu (1999-2000), CTS RegionalManager (2000-2003) and as the SASACTS General Manager (2003-current).Prior to joining the sugar industry heworked as a Research Technician at theUniversity of Natal (1992-1995) and asa Lab Controller at BTR Dunlop (1995-1997). He is a member of the SASTAFactory Control Advisory Committee.He was previously co-opted to SASTACouncil. He is the Chair of the industryRVForecastingCommitteeandcustodianof industry cane payment data. He hastwo decades of professional experience in general laboratory management, cane testing method development, cane testing and cane payment systems. Seelan has

Officers

GavinSmith–President

CarolynBaker–Vice-President

AdrivanderNest–Treasurer

SumitaRamgareeb– CongressOrganisingCommitteeChair

Elected Council members

KathyHurly

WarrenLawlor

Shaun Madho

KeithMcFarlane

SeelanNaidoo

AlanaPatton

NatashaSharma

Deborah Sweby

Co-opted Council membersRichardNicholson

PaulSchorn

David Sutherland

a MSc in Biochemistry and a MBA. Hiscurrent role in SASA is as divisional head of CaneTestingServiceandAutolab.Seelanwill be managing the work on the SASTA LabManual,toupdateitandprepareitforpublication on the SASTA website.

Richard Nicholson

RichardhasaBScAgriEconomics,aBInstAgrar Hons (Extension), and a MScAgriEconomics.HiscurrentpositionisManager:Economic Research at SA CanegrowersAssociation.Hewouldliketocontributetothe increased collaboration and knowledge sharing between scientists as well as the transfer of knowledge and information generated to relevant stakeholders within the sugar industry. Richard will beworking with Keith McFarlane and DavidSutherlandonthe“SASTAWorkshopssub-committee”, hoping to rekindle the interest and attendance at workshops by growers.

SASTA COUNCIL 2016/2017New Council members

sasta news - sasta.co.za december 2016… · and davis ®paper on “matlab ... , delegates were...

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