Sugar Research Australia provided a bursary that funded work placement at the MSF Sugar Maryborough Mill for local CQUniversity Australia mechanical engineering student Daniel Nicholson and University of Queensland chemical engineering student Georgia Nilon.

Georgia and Daniel have a career head-start thanks to a successful sugar industry work placement during the 2016 crushing season at MSF Sugar’s Maryborough Mill.

The bursary is an initiative of SRI and SRA and provides an opportunity for undergraduate engineering students to work on specific factory projects.

Georgia’s project focused on a shredder turbine analysis to detail the efficiencies and increased production gained from MSF Sugar’s decision to replace the pre-existing turbine with a newly installed turbine.

Georgia performed a comparative analysis to examine a series of variables between the newly installed shredder and its predecessor.

“The new shredder turbine’s increased productivity is apparent early in the 2016 crushing season, thus warranting the old turbine’s replacement and capital expenditure outlay,” Georgia said.

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my work placement at the Maryborough Sugar Mill and have learnt so much about the industry in a short period of time.”

In November, Maryborough local Daniel Nicholson completed a work placement project to analyse the mill’s current compressed air distribution system of piping and its replacement.

Daniel draws upon his previous experience in the mill where he did his boiler- maker apprenticeship, qualifying as a tradesman in 2008. This previous experience has given him a depth of understanding and insight to use as an engineer which he described as “very valuable”.

Both students have now completed their final assessments and are qualifying as engineers, ready for a career in the sugar milling industry.

Without the support of the MSF Sugar’s Stewart Norton, Hitesh Prasad and Michael Wroe and the bursary from SRA these valuable work placements could not occur.