Seismic Travel Time Tomography

Abstract

The miller's responsibility for the process commences at the siding or loading pad where the harvested cane is left for collection. The cane is transported to the mill by rail (predominantly) but also by road (all cane in northern New South Wales, Maryborough district, on the Atherton Tableland, and Ord River irrigation region in Western Australia). There are 3600 km of purpose-built rail system in the Australian sugar industry. The system is predominantly 610 mm gauge. In rail systems, cane is held at the mill in 'full yards' with several hours crushing capacity and at the district rail sidings. In road systems, storage is usually at the field pads with a just-in-time system governing arrival of cane at the mill. There are also systems in which road-delivered cane is transferred to rail bins for final transport to the mill. The Australian sugar industry tailors its harvesting, delivery and crushing operations to ensure that the time between cutting and crushing does not exceed 16 hours. It aims for the lowest possible delay to minimise cane deterioration and consequent sugar loss. Weighbridges for rail systems are typically weighing tipplers introducing the cane to the mill. Standard weighbridges are used with road transport with subsequent tipping into a purpose-built cane carrier for milling. A grower's parcel of harvested cane is maintained segregated in transit and at the mill prior to crushing. The size of a parcel is limited by the requirement that individual parcels are processed at the mill in less than 20 minutes of crushing time. The cane is weighed prior to processing. Cane payment to growers depends on this weight and on quality measurements. Millers provide facilities for sugar cane analyses. SUGAR mills are located within the cane lands and process cane supplied by the growers to produce raw sugar. A mill crushes and washes the juice from the cane. Then, over a series of operations, it separates as much as possible of the sucrose from the water, impurities, fibre and dirt that make up the balance of the cane juice.