Chapter - 3

Sugar Processing
Technology
1
Introduction
Sugar is the general term used in carbohydrate chemistry for all
nutritive mono and disaccharides sugar.
Sugar is a technical name for disaccharide sucrose. The
chemical formula of sucrose is C12H22O11.
In general monosaccharide sugar like glucose and fructose are
produced by inversion of sucrose.
This inversion occurs when the sugarcane is kept in cane yard
for long period of time after cutting.
• To avoid this inversion the sugarcane should be processed in
24 hours after cutting.
The raw material for this sugar is sugarcane. The major
constitutes are:-
10- 17% sucrose
12- 15% fiber and
58-85% water. 2
3
Main processing technology of sugar industries

Extraction: Separation of the sugared juice

from the bagasse/fiber
Clarification: Separation of non desirable or
impurities from juice
Evaporation: Separation of 80% of the water
Crystallization: Separation of sucrose from
different classes of molasses
Centrifugation: Separation of sugar crystals
Energy production: Steam and Power Generation
 Generally, sugar is manufactured by the following processes:

 Cane preparation  Vacuum pan operation

 Cane weighing  Crystallization

 Cane unloading  Centrifuge separation

 Cane size reduction  Drying

 Mill extraction  Grading

 Juice heating  Weighing & sewing

 Juice clarification/ sedimentation  Packing and sieving

 Juice evaporation  Molasses handling

 Juice sulphitation and liming

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 1. Cane preparation
 Maturation period of the cane for sugar processing is 19
months to the maximum.
 To facilitate sucrose extraction and decrease loads in the
consequent processes, the sugar cane is burned in the
field after maturation by fire to remove leaves, trashes,
water and etc.

 After the removal of those matters, sugarcane is

harvested, loaded to the bullock carts and transported to
the factory.
 Then sugarcane is stored in cane yard by bullock carts
for some time.
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Cane unloading

The sugarcane is unloaded by the crane from bullock cart and

fed to the feeder table by grapping.
Two tasks are performed in feeder table:
Separation of stones, soils, ashes and other foreign materials
through the holes of the feeder table
Leveling the sugarcane by using leveler machine which is used
to control uniform. feeding of sugarcane to the auxiliary cane
carrier due to screw conveyer

The main cane carrier has three parts:

 Horizontal cane carrier here there are size reducing machines
 Inclined cane carrier and
 Header
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 2. Cane size reduction (crushing)

 There are two sets of knives:

1.The first set
Their speed of 700rpm and cuts the cane in to pieces of 1-2 dm
length and splits it up to a bit. They are leveler knives, to even out
the layer of cane.
2. The second set( Shredder knives)
 The knives rotate at fast speed and fiberizes the cane making
ready for proceeding milling system. The purpose of these
machines is;
to increase the cell opening of sugarcane, complete the
preparation and disintegration of the cane, so as to facilitate the
extraction of juice by the mills.
The fiber (liquid like sponge) is passed through the inclined cane
carrier by belt conveyer to feed the first mill on the head after
leveling. 8
1. Cane Yard

2.Cane preparation
knives Shredders
3. Juice extraction (Mills and diffuser)

DIFFUSER
 The objective of diffuser is the same as that of
miller, to extract cane juice from prepared cane.
 Its efficiency to extract cane juice is twice of the
single miller.
 It fiberizes the crushed cane and extracts the juice
in a system of counter current flow of hot
water(steam) at 70-80 degree Celsius
 It is advisable to use diffuser with miller rather than
millers only.

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 MILLERS
The objective is to extract cane juice from the crushed cane.
The rolls are 100cm diameter wide and 1-3M long.
Have grooves of 2-5cm wide on rollers surface in order to increase
the extraction efficiency.
The millers can be arranged 3-7 in number and the extraction is
processing in progressive manner from one to another.
Millers have three components:
1. Feed roller: It feeds the crushed cane
2. Discharge roller: It carries out bagasse and extracted cane juice.
3. Top roller: It extracts juice with cooperating with feed and
discharge roller.
11
Cont.,
 The fibrous residue that extracted from cane juice is called
bagasse.
 Then the bagasse goes to boiling scheme in order to
generate power to the whole factory processing and
employees service in the company.
 The power generated when the bagasse is burn in boiler
furnace and heats up water, the water changes to steam and
the steam hits the turbine at a certain speed as a result
current is induced.
 In order to achieve a good extraction, imbibition of water
at the miller is processed.
 The capacity of miller is 30-300TCD.
12
Cont.,
• Imbibition is the process in which the water or juice is sprayed on
the bagasse to mix with and dilute the juice present in the bagasse.
• Maximum amount of juice is extracted from first mill without
Imbibition. The juice is called primary juice.
• For the other mills imbibition is required to enhance the extraction
of juice and to reduce loss of sucrose with bagasse.

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 Comparison between millers and diffusers

 Diffuser achieves twice of extraction efficiency of

single miller.
 The juice extracted from diffuser contains less
suspended solids (wax, gums, fats, monosaccharaides
etc.) than that of millers.
 The diffuser plant cost is much less than that of miller.
 But the weakness side of diffuser is the bagasse
extracted contains much more water than miller.

4.Weigher plant/ Servo balance

It is used to measure the weight of mixed juice and in
order to know the flow rate of mixed juice.
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5. Heater plant
The objective of heater is in order to kill
microorganisms that held on the juices and to
prepare for clarification processing.
It is pre preparing of the suitable condition for
which the reaction taking place in clarifier.
The heater heats the mixed juice with 100 Co of
steam in countercurrent flow.
The heater is made up from shell and tube pass
system.
The less fouling fluid (steam) enters through shell
and the more fouling fluid (mixed cane juice) enters
through tube.
15
 Cont.,
During heating there might occur inversion of
sucrose (conversion of sucrose into
monosaccharaides like fructose, glucose etc.) so
care should be taken.
Since there may be loss of sucrose.
The PH of mixed juice is around 5.5-6.5
Finally the ready and pre heated mixed juice goes
to clarifier for further processing.

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6. Clarifier Plant
 The clarification plant is known as Dorr clarifier.

The aim of clarification is:

To clear the juice by avoiding impurities( fats, gums, wax, mud
etc.)
To avoid the inversion of sucrose.
To ready the juice for next processing.

The mixed juice before clarification looks brown and

muddy with a trace of green from the chlorophyll.
 Inside the Dorr clarifier lime juice (CaO) is added to the
mixed cane juice.
As CO2 travels through the liquid lime(CaO), it forms
calcium carbonate.
CaO + CO2 CaCO3
17
 Cont.,
CaCO3 which is sticky in nature and precipitates non sugar
debris like fats, gums ,and wax. That is called “mud”.
The dorrco pump at the Dorr clarifier sack and remove the
mud from the Dorr at the bottom.
MgO is used in stead of CaO as it makes less boiler scale
on heaters and easy to remove because of it’s more
solubility. But it is costly.
Since the mud from Dorr contains trace amount of sucrose
therefor it goes to OSSI FILTER unit operation.
The clear juice from the top of Dorr clarifier goes towards
SULPHITATION.
The juice clarifier is brown in color and has trace
impurities.in order to bleach the color from the brown to 18
7. Sulphitation
Objective: to remove any remaining impurities from Dorr clarifier and to
bleach the juice from brown color to white color.
It starts with combustion of alpha Sulphur:
S+O2 SO2
 SO2 is added as bleaching agent
SO2+H2O H2SO3 (sulphurous acid)
CaO+H2O Ca(OH)2 (calcium hydroxide)

 The overall reaction yields neutralization.

H2SO3+Ca(OH)2 CaSO3 (calcium sulfite) +2H2O

Hence the PH of juice is raised from 5.5-6, to 7.

 Neutralization needs to avoid inversion and to inactivate
microbiological action. Inversion is caused due to PH and due to
invertase enzyme.
 CaSO3 is sticky in nature like CaCO3 and precipitates the rest 19
 Cont.,
 Finally the impurities goes to OSSI FILTER in order to
extract trace amount of mixed juice.
 The clear juice from the top of suphitation tank goes to
evaporator after treated in laboratory.
If there is impurities (microorganisms that doesn't killed at
heater temperature.), the chemical called flocculent is
added.
If necessary it is heated to 115 degree Celsius to increase
the evaporation rate for proceeding evaporation process.
Finally the clear juice transported to evaporator unit
operations.
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8.OssiFilter (Vacuum Filter)
 Objective: to extract trace amount of sucrose from the
mud that precipitated or decanted from the clarifier and
sulphitation tank.
 The body surface of ossifilter is made up of sieves.
 There is imbibition of water through all the rotating ossi
filter body these leads in high extraction of
juice(sucrose) from the mud by the mechanism of the
vacuum system.
 High vacuum sacks the mud and low vacuum sacks the
juice.
 The extracted juice returns back to sulphitation tank.

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9. Evaporators
Objective: To concentrate the clear juice and to
increase brix of clear juice from 15-16 % to 61-65%.
Since the clear juice contains 70-85% of water our
target is to concentrate the rest 15% of sucrose.
Water has largest of all latent heats of vaporization.
In order to remove this large amount of water
multiple effect evaporator is used.
Evaporators are made up of shell and tube pass
arrangement. steam enters in shell side and juice
enters through tube side.

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Cont...
To save energy consumption water leave as
vapor(steam) from the first effect uses to boil for
the next effect this continues for the whole multiple
evaporators.
The vapor(steam ) that is used to evaporate the
water is drained out as condensate.
The juice after evaporation is called syrup.
The evaporation exceeds until super saturation then
it is ready to form crystal seeds in the next
VACUUM PAN BOILING.
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10. Vacuum pan

 Objective: to facilitate the formation of desired brix and

increase the size of sugar crystal that concentrated at
evaporator.
 Also used to evaporate the water if there is the remains of
water in the solution.
 To save energy the vacuum pan operates at under
atmospheric (vacuum) pressure.
 The growth of sugar crystals is proceeded by feeding the
pan boiling with syrup, remelt and slurry.
 When the sugar crystal is complete its growth, then the
operator checks and dispatch to the crystallizer.
 The final solution that dispatched to crystallizer is called
“massacuiet.” 24
11. Crystallizer
Objective: To solidify the massacuiet and giving
shape to sugar in the crystallization process.

Massacuiet is the solution that contains sugar

crystals and molasses.

Crystallization process takes 24 - 48 hours.

It is done by allowing cold water counter currently
with massacuiet.

To separate molasses and sugar crystal, after

crystallization the massacuiet goes to centrifuging 25

machine.
 12. Centrifuge plant
Objective: To separate the massacuiet into molasses and sugar
hence, it separates solid from the liquid.
 Molasses is the raw material for ethanol production therefore it
goes to ethanol production plant.
 After centrifuging the separated sugar has moisture so it needs
drying.
13.Dryer Plant
 The commercial sugar leaving the Centrifuge, which is to be
packed for sale or export, generally has a moisture content of 0.5
– 2%. Moisture is very detrimental to keeping qualities of the
sugar, when it exceeds a certain limit, and particularly when it
rises above 1% and Safety factor.
 So, the sugar crystals are then given a final dry with hot air(steam)
sugar flows counter currently with in dryer, before being stored.
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 Cont..
 This limit depends on the proportion of impurities present in the
sugar. A given percentage of water is more detrimental with a
sugar of higher purity. If we put:

 then if:
𝒇 < 0.3: (sugar will not deteriorate, or deteriorate slowly)
𝒇 > 0.3: (sugar will deteriorate rapidly)

 However, there is no general agreement on the limiting value of

as the safety factor of the sugar (). for example, itis given as:
0.22 for white or refined sugars
0.20 for raw sugars

 Generally a figure of 0.25 is used instead of 0.3. Between these

values, keeping qualities are considered to be doubtful.
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Exhaustibility of molasses
Lacking a better criterion, the degree of exhaustion of a molasses
has generally been judged until recently by its purity, which was
not the apparent/target purity. However, it has been long realised
that the purity reached depended on composition of the
impurities contained in the juice and consequently in the
molasses. In particular, the purity attainable was:
a. Lower as the proportion of reducing sugars was higher
b. Higher as the proportion of ash was higher.
Quantity of molasses in manufacture
It is useful to know the quantity of molasses to be
obtained from the massecuite and syrups in stock at
the end of the week, in order to obtain an accurate
figure for sugar lost in molasses.
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14. Grading and Bagging/ Stores for bagged sugar
 There are different types of sieves inside the grader, Hence
the desired sugar with it’s corresponding diameter passes
through a set of grades (sieves) to get the required sugar
crystal sizes before bagging as the final product.
Raw sugar quality
The deterioration of sugar is retarded and the loss in test is
reduced if the moisture content of the sugar is reduced. The
water content of raw sugar is generally within the range of
0.5-2%. With a dryer, this may be reduced to between 0.2
and 0.5%.
Keeping qualities of sugar are worse:
a) At higher temperatures
b) At higher atmospheric humidity
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 Humidity in the sugar store should be uniform, as low as possible
and not rise above 65% with a uniform temperature as possible,
should not be opened except on dry and cooler days. It will be of
advantage to have a recording thermometer and hygrometer in the
store.

Volume required
 When the sugar is arranged in a closely packed stack, its bulk
density may be estimated at 800kg/m3 (50 of stack). It must not be
overlooked that it is necessary to leave corridors around the stacks
for traffic and for handling the sugar. It is likewise preferable not to
stack the sugar close against the walls.
 The use of portable conveyors and elevators reduces costs of
handling and stacking. The height of the stack may be 25 – 40 bags.
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 Cont...
Bulk storage
 Sugar stored in bulk in a silo deteriorates much more
slowly than sugar in bags.

 The surface of the stack absorbs some moisture, but then

forms a crust which slow down penetration of moisture
into the pile. The thicker this crust becomes, the more
effectively it retards penetration of moisture.

 It is possible in this way to keep dry sugar for several years

in tropical countries without appreciable loss of quality.
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 Cont...
For good keeping qualities of the sugar in a store, it is
necessary to observe the following
a. The sugar should be bagged dry, and not too hot. If the sugar is
at a temperature above 38°C, it harden in the sacks.
b. The bottom layer of bags should be protected from dampness,
by interposing a grating or a bitumen-lined paper.
c. The bags should be arranged in large stacks, cubical as nearly as
possible, to decrease the surface relative to the volume.
d. The stacks should be covered with bitumen-lined paper, at the
top and sides. And its more advantageous to cover the stacks of
bags with a layer of dry bagasse, designed to protect the stack
from radiation from the roof. It is advisable also to paint the
roof with aluminium paint to decrease its temperature.
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 Sucrose losses
 Maximizing sugar recovery can be restated as minimizing sucrose
loss, allowing the loss to be broken down into a number of
more specific components of the total loss. For a conventional
raw sugar mill the components of the total sucrose loss are:
Sucrose loss in bagasse
Sucrose loss in filter cake
Sucrose loss in molasses
Undetermined sucrose loss (i.e. sucrose that is unaccounted
for when completing a mass balance over the mill).

 All of these components need to be minimized to maximize

sugar recovery. The sucrose loss in molasses is particularly
important because it is normally by far the largest of the four
components of total loss (about double the other losses
combined)
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Thank you!

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