How is sugar manufactured today?

Sugar manufacturing today involves several key steps and utilizes modern technology to efficiently extract and refine sugar from various sources, predominantly sugarcane and sugar beets. The process consists of the following stages:

1. Harvesting:

- Sugarcane: Mature sugarcane stalks are mechanically harvested using specialized machines.

- Sugar beets: Sugar beets are mechanically harvested, lifted from the ground, and topped to remove the greens.

2. Transportation:

- The harvested sugarcane or sugar beets are transported to sugar mills for processing.

3. Milling and Crushing:

- Sugarcane: The sugarcane stalks are crushed using powerful rollers to extract the juice.

- Sugar beets: The sugar beets are washed, sliced into thin strips called cossettes, and then pressed to extract the juice.

4. Juice Clarification:

- The extracted juice contains impurities such as soil, plant debris, and waxes. To remove these impurities, the juice undergoes a clarification process.

- Milk of lime (calcium hydroxide) is added to the juice, which raises the pH and causes impurities to coagulate and form a precipitate.

- The juice is heated and then passed through screens and filters to remove the impurities.

5. Evaporation:

- The clarified juice is concentrated by removing water through evaporation. This is achieved by boiling the juice in multiple evaporator vessels under vacuum conditions, which lowers the boiling point and prevents caramelization.

6. Crystallization:

- The concentrated juice, now known as syrup, is further cooled and seeded with sugar crystals.

- As the syrup cools and continues to evaporate, more sugar crystals form around the seed crystals. This process is called crystallization.

7. Centrifugation:

- The crystallized sugar mixture, known as massecuite, is separated into sugar crystals and molasses using centrifugal force.

- The massecuite is spun in high-speed centrifuges, causing the molasses to be forced through screens, while the sugar crystals are retained.

8. Drying:

- The moist sugar crystals obtained from centrifugation are dried using hot air in rotary dryers to reduce the moisture content and make the sugar free-flowing.

9. Screening and Packaging:

- The dried sugar crystals are screened to remove any remaining impurities and achieve the desired crystal size.

- The sugar is then packaged in various forms, such as granulated sugar, caster sugar, brown sugar, etc., and distributed to consumers and industries.

The manufacturing process of sugar today is highly mechanized and efficient, allowing for the large-scale production of sugar while ensuring consistent quality and food safety standards.