WATCH: Vryheid engineer invents a sweet solution to a hard sugar problem

VRYHEID engineer and businessman, Hendrik van Zeeventer (58), is savouring the sweet taste of success after inventing a machine that solves one of the most common problems faced by the sugar industry.

Drawing inspiration from systems used in mining, Hendrik was able to pioneer an innovative machine that breaks down hard lumps of sugar into sugar crystals.

It began with a request from one of South Africa’s largest sugar producers, TSB Malelane, to propose a solution that would help them recover one ton bags of sugar by getting all the lumps out.

“A crusher would not work, because that would reduce the sugar to powder, and what we actually want are sugar crystals, so I had the idea of building a screen,” says Hendrick.

His first machine was based on a proposal made by peers in the mining industry. However, it became evident that the initial concept would not work in the food industry.

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“The machine we built did not meet the standards and requirements of the food industry and it had too many moving parts, which meant that special safety and security measures would be required to operate the machine,” explained Hendrick.

This setback, however, did not deter him from trying again. He chatted to everyone from his hairdresser to his barman for ideas and carefully mulled each suggestion in his mind before conceptualising an improved screen.

“One of the best decisions I made was employing my wife,” admits Hendrik. “Men tend to look at the problem from a mechanical point of view, while women consider it as a product.”

He realised that placing the motor at the bottom of the machine would reduce the number of exposed movable parts and having a screen grid directly above the motor would create a high frequency vibration that would have a similar effect to that of a sieve you would use to remove lumps in your sugar at home. In this way, the crystals could be separated without being harmed. Magnets were added to ensure that the end product contained no iron filings and all of the contact surfaces are stainless steel.

“I was excited when I got a call from TSB and they agreed to allow me a demo. I asked them for their largest lump of sugar and they brought me one this big (he raises his hands to demonstrate a lump of sugar that was more than a meter in width and slightly more than 800mm high). My machine managed to reduce it to 99% crystals which could be repackaged for distribution. They then offered to rent the machine from me and after they had paid it off one and half times, they decided to buy it,” laughs Hendrik.

Hendrik has sold seven more screens to various sugar mills in the country.

“There was one instance when 6000 tons of sugar was sent back to the refinery by a customer that uses large amounts of sugar to sweeten beverages. The company in question does a quality check on two or three bags of sugar and if they find too many lumps, they send back the entire batch. With my machine, these lumps can simply be broken down into perfectly usable crystals and returned to the manufacturing process,” says Hendrick, explaining how his machine can be used to reduce costs and increase production efficiency.

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Being a perfectionist who pays meticulous attention to detail, Hendrik takes great pride in putting together every last nut, bolt and washer himself during the assembly process. He makes use of Vryheid suppliers as far as possible to source the parts that he requires.

Looking to the future, Hendrik is looking to manufacturing food quality rubber, which he feels is desperately needed in the industry. He also applied for a ‘Registration of shape and/or design’ to protect his intellectual property should someone try to copy his invention.