Chapter-4

Sugar Processing

By :Yonas D. and Kedir Y.

Department of Chemical Engineering

KiOT, Wollo University

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 3.1 Introduction of Sugarcane
History of sugar
 Carbohydrates,sugar and starch are major foods for humans.

 These are synthesized by plants by using carbondioxide and water from the
atmosphere.

 The average person in Ethiopia consumes 32kg of sugar per year.

 It is difficult to determine when sugar first became known to humankind.

 But it probably travelled from New Guinea to India many centuries before
christ.

 The sugar trade between Asia and Europe was one of the most important
commercial items in the early centuries.

 Sugar was first extracted in North America in 1689 B.C. using cane from
West Indies. 2
 Cont..d

Steam driven crushing and grinding roller mills were introduced in the
later part of the Eighteenth century.
Bone-char decolourization was employed for the first time in 1812.
The vacuum pan was invented by Howard about 1824 B.C.
Multiple effect evaporation was proposed about 1834.
The first suspended centrifuge was developed by weston in 1852.
The use of granular activated carbon and ion exchange process to
remove colour and ash has become common.
Evaporation, centrifugation and filtration are the unit operations
applied in sugar making process.

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 Sugar Factories in Ethiopia

 Tendaho sugar Factory

 Wonji Sugar Factory

 Fincha sugar Factory

 Metehara sugar Factory

 Kuraz sugar Factory

 Tana Beles Sugar Factory

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Tendaho Factory

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Properties of Sucrose

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 Methods of Production
Classification of Processes:
i) Extraction of sugar cane to produce crystalline white sugar.
ii) Extraction of sugar cane to a dark brown sugar concentrate.
Extraction of crystalline sugar production from sugarcane:
Quantitative Requirements:
Basis: 1 ton of raw sugar(97% sucrose)
Sugar cane: 6-10.5 tons of 10-16% sucrose content
Water : 3-4 tons
Lime : 6-10 kg
SO2 : 12-17 kg
Plant capacity: 100-400 tons/day of sugar

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 Process description
Extraction of sucrose from sugar cane consists of several processing
steps.

They are as follows.

i) Sugarcane harvesting, ii)Cane preparation, iii) Milling/Extraction

, iv) clarification, v) Filtration, vi)Evaporation, vii) Vacuum pan,
viii) Crystallization, x)Centrifugal separation, xi)Molasses
exhaustion, xii)Drying of raw sugar cane.

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Process Flow sheet of Sugarcane (Bergius Process)

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Process flow diagram of sugar production

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 i) Sugarcane Harvesting
 Harvesting of sugar cane can be done either manually or
mechanically.

 It has a bamboo like stalk grows to a height from 3- 5 m.

 It contains 11-15% sucrose by weight

 The approximate period of growth of the cane in Cuba is 12-

15months.

 In Ethiopia, the growing season of sugar cane is 9-10 months.

 The cane is first washed to remove mud and debris
 Sometimes, burning of sugar cane field is done before manual
harvesting, in order to facilitate cutting the cane for field
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workers.
 ii) Cane preparation
 The preparation of sugar cane is a very important step which
affects the extraction of juice during milling.

 Since the sugar content of the sugar cane degrades, the cane
needs to be delivered to the milling station in less than 24
hours after harvesting.

 Before the cane is transferred to the crushing section, it is

usually washed to remove dirt that has been transported with

the cane from the harvest field.

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 iii) Extraction
 The next step is to chop up the washed cane in preparation for
crushing.
This step is skipped if the sugarcane was harvested by machines
because it is usually the harvester that cuts the cane stalks into
pieces.
These chopped up cane stalks are then crushed and milled to
extract the sugar juice.
 Baggase is produced as a by-product which is usually sent to
boilers for burning.
The equipment for milling can involve milling rollers, rotating
knives, and shredders (which require additional energy and
equipment).
For the extraction of the juice from the cane, a process called
imbibition is used 13
 Cont..d
 This is a process where water or juice is added in counter current
(see figure) in order to extract juice as it travels from mill to mill.

 The juice that leaves the final mill is called mixed juice and its
typical sugar content is 15 % (wt %).

 Bagasse contains 46-52% moisture, 43-52% fiber and some ash

(sand and grit from the field.

 A typical sugar cane physical composition can be 12-14% fiber

which generates 25- 30 tons of bagasse (50% moisture content) per
100 tons of cane and 10 tons of sugar.
 During the milling process, cane juice is produced which is the main
input for sugar production and ethanol.
 Not all sugar mills produce sugar and ethanol together. 14
 iv) Clarification
 First the juice is preheated

 The milk of lime is added to the juice and heated.

 These large tanks are called clarifiers or continuous settlers or

thickeners.

 This juice is treated by passing sulphur dioxide gas through it.

 This is known as sulphitation process.

 Then SO2 is next bubbled through the juice until the pH is 7.0 to 7.1

 This provides maximum flocculation of impurities

 Here, SO2 also acts as a bleaching agent

 This sulphated juice is then preheated again

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 Cont..d

 separation of impurities from the juice by adding flocculants

which will react with organic material and precipitation of
non-sugar debris (mud) will follow

 colloidal and suspended impurities are coagulated, most of

color is also removed during lime treatment

 The sludge is further filtered through filter press and then

disposed off as solid waste (press mud).

 The filtered clear juice is preheated before taken to

evaporator

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 v)Filtration/vacuum filtration
 Continuous Rotary drum vacuum filters are used to recover the
sugar from the settled out mud.

 The underflow mud are processed on a continuous rotary press

to recover sugar solution.

 This is passed either forward to the evaporator(or) backward to

the thickener again if it is not clear.

 The filter cake constitutes 1-4% of the weight of cane is used

for fertilizer.

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 vi) Evaporation
 The clarified juice from the third preheated is concentrated
from 80-85% water to 40% water.

 It is processed in a 4 or 5 Effect evaporator.

 Sucrose does not crystallize when a saturated solution is

reached.

 Calendria- type evaporators are used to concentrate the dilute

juice.
 A clarified juice of high lime content is evaporated to 40%
water in triple effect evaporators.
 At very high vacuum conditions crystallization is completed in
a vacuum pan unit
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 vii) Vacuum Equipment
The basic goal of the vacuum pan operation is to produce sugar crystals of a
specified size from a solution containing sugar and non- sugars.
 The first crystallisation takes place in the vacuum pans, where part of the
sucrose dissolved in the standard syrup crystallises as the water in the juice
evaporates.
Crystallization is initiated by adding a slurry of sugar fines and alcohol, which
provides the nuclei to start crystallization.
 In starting a batch boiling, liquor is concentrated until meta stable zone
reached
The vacuum pan becomes full of what is know as the A-massecuite which is
formed by crystallised sucrose, sucrose and non-sugars dissolved in a solution
known as mother liquor.

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 Cont..d

 All the pans operate in vacuum conditions, in order to lower

the boiling point of the products being processed in them and
thus prevent thermal decomposition of the sucrose (loss of
sucrose).

 The concentration of mother liquor surrounding sugar crystals

is controlled so that crystallization occurs without dissolving
any crystal or forming any new nuclei

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 viii)Crystallization
The mixture of syrup and crystals(massecuite) is dumped into a
crystallizer.
It is the horizontal agitated tank equipped with cooling coils.
Crystallization is done in batch wise operation.
Here additional sucrose deposits on the crystals already formed and
crystallization is completed.
x) Centrifugal separation
The massecuite is then centrifuged to separate the sugar from
molasses.
Centrifugal machine improved to yield and time of separation of sugar
crystals.
Centrifugal machine speed is 1800-2400 rpm speed.
Viscosity control & surface tension of syrup is important. 23
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 xi)Molasses Exhaustion
The final mother liquor is known as “blackstrap molasses”.
It is sent to distilleries for Ethyl alcohol production.
The molasses is used as a source of carbohydrates for cattle feed and also for
Citric acid production.

Xii) Drying of raw sugar

Finally the wet sugar crystals are dried in the vacuum drier unit(or)granulator.
It is a horizontal rotating drum about 2m in diameter and 8m in length.
The dried crystals pass over a series of screens where they are graded according
to size.
The white sugar containing approximately 97.8%sucrose.
It is shipped in bulk and outside the country.

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 Bagasse
 The pulp expelled from the last mill in sugar processing is known as “Bagasse”.

 It is used as steam boiler fuel.

 It is also used to make insulating board for building construction.

 Other uses of “Bagasse” are as fertilizer,cattle feed and for paper making.

Raw sugar Quality

 The level of Technology in the Indian sugar industry is quite very high in the
world.

 A number of developing countries including Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa

have borrowed the Indian sugar Technology.

 Powdered sugars are made by grinding granulated sugar in mills with high quality.

 High quality cube and tablet sugars are also prepared by mixing few types of
granulated sugars with a white syrup. 27
 By-products of the sugar Industry

 Molasses, bagasse and press mud are the major by-products

of the sugar industry.

 70% of molasses are used for Ethyl alcohol production.

 Press mud is used in the farms as manures.

 Bagasse is used as a boiler feed.

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Overview of sugar Production

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