Table Of Content"Sucrose Crystal"
(Courtesy of Dr. A. van Hook, and Sugar Research Foundation, Inc.)
V. E. BAIKOW
Manufacture and Refining of
Raw Cane Sugar
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To my wife Frances
and children David and Tanya
"The great sugar-house was a wilderness of tubs and tanks and vats and
filters, pumps, pipes, and machinery. The process of making sugar is
exceedingly interesting. First, you heave your cane into the centrifugals
and grind out the juice; then run it through the evaporating-pan to ex-
tract the fiber ; then through the bone-filter to remove the alcohol ; then
through the clarifying-tanks to discharge the molasses; then through the
granulating-pipe to condense it : then through the vacuum-pan to extract
the vacuum. It is now ready for market. I have jotted these particulars
down from memory. The thing looks simple and easy. Do not deceive
yourself. To make sugar is really one of the most difficult things in the
world. And to make it right is next to impossible. If you will examine
your own supply every now and then for a term of years, and tabulate
the result, you will find that not two men in twenty can make sugar
without getting sand into it."
Mark Twain
"Life on the Mississippi*'
Preface
The purpose of this book is to give an operating manual to the workers
in cane raw sugar factories and refineries. There are many excellent
reference and text books written by prominent authors, but I do not
know of any that tell briefly to the superintendent of fabrication the
best and simplest procedures in sugar production. From my own ex-
perience I know how difficult and sometimes confusing it is to compile
information taken from reference books, and it of course requires time,
since those books must be thoroughly read. They are of enormous
value when the reader has enough experience to be able to choose and
classify information that at times is contradictory. It should be remem-
bered that this book is meant, not to replace or belittle existing books
treating sugar production, but rather to supplement them. It also has
to be remembered that all that is written in this book, each chapter of
which deals with a separate station in a raw sugar factory and refinery,
is based on material already published and known to many sugar men,
as well as my personal experience of over forty years in the sugar in-
dustry. The methods that in my opinion are best to follow are indicated.
I believe that this book will be valuable also for designing a new
factory or for modification of an old one. Several chapters were written
by men with high standing in the sugar industry and highly specialized
in their particular fields.
I sincerely hope that this book will be helpful to all who work in the
cane sugar industry.
V. E. BAIKOW
Acknowledgement
This book would be quite incomplete without chapters written by
Messrs. F. A. Beale, F. M. Chapman, Henry Huse, E. E. Molinet,
E. F. Rice and H. G. Serensen, to all of whom I express my deep
appreciation and gratitude. To Mr. A. M. James of Tate & Lyle
Technical Services Ltd. who supplied detailed descriptions of the
Green-Smith massecuite reheater and the continuous system for crys-
tallizers for low grade massecuites, and to Mr. Theodore T. Meehan
of Edwards Engineering Corporation who in personal notes described
Edwards Hydraulic accumulators and Auto-cane-carrier drive I extend
my thanks for their collaboration.
I wish to extend my sincere thanks also to Dr. Andrew Van Hook,
Messrs. A. F. Alciatore, W. J. Baptiste, P. Carrefio, M. A. Mascaró,
F. Mittelberger, J. I. Warner and A. L. Webre, Jr. for reading drafts
of various chapters in this book and for making valuable suggestions.
My thanks also go to all sugar machinery manufacturers who gener-
ously supplied me with photographs, drawings and information regard-
ing their equipment. Refined Syrups & Sugars, Inc., Link Belt Co.,
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Industrial Research Services, Drs. Zimmer-
man and Lavine and Mr. L. A. Tromp kindly allowed me to use tables,
formulas and diagrams previously published in their books, for which
I am thankful. I am very grateful to my wife for proof-reading the
whole manuscript. In fact to all who participated in the work and
made it possible to publish this book goes my deepest gratitude.
Contributors to this Book
Hans G. Sorensen, Consultant Agronomist, Miami, Florida, U.S.A.
Frank A. Beale, Executive Vice-President, Central Aguirre Sugar Co., P.R.
Enrique E. Molinet, E.E. & M.E., Okeelanta Sugar Refinery, Inc., Florida,
U.S.A.
Eugene F. Rice, Director and Former President of Central Aguirre Sugar Co.,
Ford Wayne, Ind.
Frank M. Capman, Technical Adviser, Tate & Lyle, Ltd., Plaistow Wharf,
London
Henry Huse, Nash International Co., Norwalk, Conn., U.S.A.
Chapter 1
Sugar Cane
by Hans G. Sorensen
Miscellaneous Notes on Sugar
For centuries the word sugar has been not only a name for a brown or
white product but, because of the product's delightful qualities, it is
also used world-wide as an expression of endearment and affection.
Recently, however, sugar has become a word to induce mistrust, and
even fear. Manufacturers of artificial 'sweets', suddenly discovering the
chance of a lifetime in having a weight-conscious consumer at hand,
began high-pressure propaganda a few years ago, telling people over
any medium of communication that if they would use artificial sweets
in coffee, tea, soft drinks, desserts, etc., they would forever stay slim,
pimple-free, and happy.
That the propaganda worked is obvious because practically every
home now has the 'sweets' on the kitchen shelves; and smartly-shaped
little bottles are carried in women's handbags, or in the coat pockets of
men. On top of that, it is human nature to heap all sorts of bad char-
acteristics on a product, or something, that is being generally dis-
credited, and therefore, it is not unusual to hear someone remark that
sugar will cause diabetes, heart attack, bad teeth, or what have you.
The Importance of Sugar in the Diet of Man
As everyone should know, man cannot live without a certain minimum
level of sugar in his blood, and a diabetic person is a good example to
show what happens when the blood sugar falls below that minimum
level.
Before it was discovered that insulin was essential for normal body
function, a person with a defective pancreas (where insulin is formed)
did not have long to live, because the greater part of sugar consumed
would not burn up normally, but was eliminated by the kidneys. Such
a person in the later stages of the disease would always be thirsty,
2 SUGAR CANE
hungry, and weak. Often he would pass into shock and come out of it
only by drinking some sweet juice, or by taking a few spoonfuls of
honey. As the malfunction became worse and worse, he would die.
When the sugar level of a healthy person begins to drop he feels
hungry, and the more it drops, the hungrier he gets. The sugar level,
then, is the mechanism that regulates the food intake. Therefore, if a
person wishes to eat less, all he needs to do is to eat a portion of well-
sweetened fruit gelatine, a portion of ice-milk sweetened with sugar, or
a few pieces of a confectionary product made for that particular pur-
pose and sold in any drugstore. In doing this one half hour or 40 minutes
before meal time, his blood sugar level will begin to rise, and by the
time he sits down at the table he does not feel so hungry and will eat less.
Let it be remembered, therefore, that sugar is a MUST, and if not
eaten as such, it must be made from other carbohydrates in his food ;
but since sugar is the lowest in caloric value of all carbohydrates in an
ordinary diet as well as the cheapest, a person should use it liberally,
but wisely. A few spoonfuls of sugar daily in coffee or tea represent only
60 or 70 calories which can easily be counteracted by eliminating a
dabble of fatty substances or slow-burning starch in the food.
Sugar Producing Plants
A large number of different sugars are found in plants as well as in
products of animals and insects. However, when sugar is mentioned
we usually think of sucrose (or saccharose) a disaccharide which by
hydrolysis inverts to two monosaccharides, glucose (dextrose) and
fructose (lévulose).
Sucrose is found in appreciable quantities in many plants - in
flowers, non-acid fruits, stems, tubers, etc.
As we all know, the two most important plants for sugar extrac-
tion are the sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) and the sugarcane (Saccharum
officinarum, or hybrids thereof).
The sugar beet as a source for sugar making on a large scale is quite
recent. It is only a little more than a hundred years ago that the per-
centage of sugar in Beta plants barely reached four or five percent.
During the last 60 years, however, there has been an impressive increase
in sugar yield by crossing and selection, and the modern sugar beet
varieties of today run as high as twenty percent sucrose, and even a
little better.
The oldest and cheapest source for sugar manufacturing is the sugar
