Sugar General term indicating sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates
Sugar, compound of C,H, & O belonging to a class of substances
called carbohydrates.
Sugars fall into three groups: Mono-, di- & poly-saccharides
The monosaccharides are the simple sugars : fructose & glucose.
The disaccharides are formed by the union of two monosaccharides
with the loss of one molecule of water.
Disaccharides : lactose, maltose, & sucrose
Obtained from plants, largely sugarcane & sugar beet plant. About two-thirds of the world’s sugar is now made from sugar cane, the rest is made from sugar beets.
• Sugar factory is an agro based industry.
• The sugar factories in Ethiopia The two factories Wonji Sugar Factory (1951) known by the Shoa Sugar Factory (1962) Currently name Wonji Shoa Metehara (1965) Sugar Factory Fincha (1975) operating Tendaho 1& 2 the first phase of the factory has started trial production in October, 2014. It is currently in regular operation. Arjo dediessa Kessem sugar factory Tana Belles Sugar (1 & 2) OMO-KURAZ II Sugar Factory The factory started trial sugar production since March, 2017. Omo Kuraz III Sugar Factory The factory started trial sugar production since October, 2018. Omo Kuraz I Sugar Factory WOLKAIYIT sugar (under construction)
Modern sugar industry was started in Ethiopia in 1951 at Wonji, 110 km east of Addis Ababa. Sugar Manufacturing Process: 1. Harvesting the Cane
2. Cleaning (Cane preparation for Milling)
3. Slicing/Shredding
4. Juice extraction
5. Clarification/Purification
6. Evaporation
7. Crystallization
8. Centrifugation
9. Drying
10. Refining 11.Separation and packaging
1.Harvesting of Sugarcane
• Two types – Manual – Mechanical Transport & Handling
• Trolleys • Trucks Sugar Cane Storage • Stored in cane yards After the cane arrives at the mill yards, it is mechanically unloaded,& excessive soil & rocks are removed. • Carried from cane yard to feeding area by – hook/chain – Cranes – Conveyer belt – Carry – Huge suction truck 2. CLEANING Cane cleaning
As a part of the cane carrier, cane cleaning is a process of cleaning
the cane by water from associated mud resulting due to harvesting.
The cane is cleaned by flooding the carrier with warm or by
spreading the cane on agitating conveyors that pass through strong jets of water & combing drums. Cleaning process/ Washing
At this point, the cane is clean & ready to be milled.
3. Shredding/ SLICING After the cleaning process, a machine led by a series of rotating knives, shreds the cane into pieces. This is known as "grinding.“
Cane knives to cut cane into small pieces
To aid the cane crushing
During grinding, hot water is sprayed on to the sugarcane to
dissolve any remaining hard sugar. The smaller pieces of cane are then spread out on a conveyer belt. Extraction is the removal of juice from the cane by crushing. The juice is extracted from the cane either by i) Milling: Juice extraction by milling is the process of squeezing the juice from the cane under a set mills using high pressure between heavy iron rollers.
The cane is pressed b/n heavy rolls or huge rollers.
ii) Diffusion: the cane is leached out with water
The primary objective of Milling machinery is to extract the greatest amount of
sucrose from the sugar cane in juice form. • Milling Machinery is composed of three huge rollers arranged in triangular form to press the juice out of the shredded.
The three rolls are known respectively as the top roll, the cane roll (entering) or feed roll, the bagasse roll or discharge roll. • The shredded pieces of sugarcane travel on the conveyer belt through a series of heavy-duty rollers, which extract juice from the pulp.
• Each mill unit is commonly driven by separate motor power, steam
engine, electric motor, or steam turbine.
A set of 3 to 7 machines. • Adding water or thin juice to the bagasse after each mill dilutes the content juice & increases the extraction as this juice is expressed. • The pulp that remains or "bagasse" is dried & used as fuel. The raw juice moves on through the mill to be clarified. Bagasse: the fibrous residue of sugar can remaining after the extraction of juice from the crushed stalks of sugar cane or similar plants.. . it is the first by-product of cane sugar production
used as fuel & for making paper, etc
Sugar cane Baggase
5.PURIFICATION/CLARIFICATION OF JUICE The raw juice from the mills is acidic (pH of about 4.0 to 4.5) and dark opaque liquid containing about 15% sucrose and small quantities of glucose, fructose, vegetable proteins, mineral salts, organic acids, colouring matter, gums and fine particles of bagasse suspended in it. Allowed to remain untreated for some time, it begins to ferment and the sucrose present changes to mixture of glucose and fructose. In order to avoid this, the juice is not allowed to stand untreated for a long time.
The clarification process is designed to remove both soluble &
insoluble impurities (such as sand, soil, & ground rock) from the juice by adding lime and heating the limed juice. • The lime neutralises acids and precipitates impurities which "settle out" in large specially designed vessels called clarifiers. The clear sugar juice is run off from the top of each clarifier.
• The degree of clarification has great bearing on the subsequent
stations of the factory, affecting the
pan boiling
centrifuging
quality of the products &
Most important of all, the yield of raw sugar.
Clarification is carried out by lime sulphitation .
There are two main processes for clarification of juice:
(i) Carbonation: Adding milk of lime and treating with carbon dioxide. (ii) Sulphitation: Adding milk of lime and treating with sulphur dioxide. The raw juice is treated with sulphur dioxide (sulphitation) which serves the same purpose as Carbonation and bleaches the juice in addition, and produces a juice with much lighter colour. It prevents formation of brown mass by oxidation, and brings about coagulation of gums and albuminoids more effectively. During the process of sulphitation the solution is maintained neutral. In some cases ‘sulphitation’ follows ‘carbonation’. The juice is filtered again to remove the precipitates. • To remove non-sugars & impurities – Liming – Sulphitation – Phosphatation – Carbonation
Phosphoric acid is added to make suspended solids float to the top, where they can be skimmed off. This part of the process is called phosphatation. Added Chemicals as follows: 1. Soluble phosphates (P2O5) clearer juice fewer lime salts in clarified juice more rapid settling faster mud filtration better sugar 2. Sulphitation: is the practice of adding SO2 in sugar factory :Decolourisation of sugar juices & syrups 3. Polymer flocculants: increases settling rate reduces mud volume & most important increases the clarity of the clarified juice 4. Lime: (as milk) in order to raise pH to 7. Calcium hydroxide, also known as milk of lime or limewater, is added to the cane juice to adjust its pH to 7. The lime helps to prevent sucrose's decay into glucose and fructose. The limed juice is then heated to a temperature above its boiling point. The superheated limed juice is then allowed to flash to its saturation temperature: this process precipitates impurities which get held up in the calcium carbonate crystals. The flashed juice is then transferred to a clarification tank which allows the suspended solids to settle. The supernatant, known as clear juice is drawn off of the clarifier and sent to the evaporators. Chemical clarification, based on modern cold lime sulphitation, is carried out to remove impurities which inhibit the formation of the crystals and can discolour the final product. The addition of lime also has the advantage of reducing the natural acidity of the cane juice, limiting the formation of invert sugars.
High temperatures and acid conditions can cause chemical
decomposition of the sucrose resulting in simpler sugars such as glucose and fructose forming. These sugars are known as invert sugars and are not desirable in the final product.
The clarificants do not react with the juice but coagulate during the heating process, trapping particles and contaminants and bringing them to the surface during boiling. The final clarified juice contains about 85 % water & has the same composition as the raw extracted juice except for the removed impurities.
Result of clarification:
The clarification process divides the whole juice into two
portions: -
1. The clarification that comprises 80 to 90% of the original
juice goes to the evaporators without further treatment.
2. The precipitated settling, the scrums or mud waters; which
are filtered after various methods of treatment. FILTRATION filtration is essential and remove up to 60% of non- sugars from the juice.
• Mud from clarifier still
contain some residual juice
• Filtered to extract residual
juice in Rotary Vacuum Filters • To increase filtration efficiency, hot water & fine bagasse are added to the mud. • Filtration Result: -Clarified Juice Sent directly to the evaporators -Filter Cake
The mud and bagasse mix (filter mud) extracted by the filters is used as a soil treatment on cane farms. 6. EVAPORATION Evaporation of water from the sugar solution to yield a final crystalline product.
i.e. Juice evaporated to obtain super saturated solution
The evaporation is done in two stages:
First in an evaporator station to concentrate the solution.
Second in Evapo-Crystallizer to crystallize the sugar from
solution. To concentrate this clarified juice, about two-thirds of the water is removed through vacuum evaporation. The clear juice from the clarifiers is concentrated by boiling it under vacuum in a series of connected vessels called effets or evaporators. The concentrated juice is called syrup.
The clarified Juice is preheated to around 85-110ᴼC to evaporate
moisture from it. Two types of evaporators Single effect evaporators Multiple effect evaporators
If the juice is over-boiled then crystals may be present which may
cause discoloration. If under-boiled, too much moisture will remain in the syrup which may, with time, cause cloudiness & shorten its shelf life. Multi-effect evaporator
The multiple-effect is usually extended to three, four, and more
effects. The syrup leaves the last body continuously with about 65 % solids & 35 % water. • Evaporation increasing the juice concentration of juice from about 15◦ Brix to about 65-70◦ Brix. Which is the Syrup.
Degrees Brix (symbol °Bx) is the sugar content of an aqueous
solution .
• One degree Brix is 1 gram of sucrose in 100 grams of solution &
represents the strength of the solution as percentage by mass.
• The °Bx is traditionally used in the wine, sugar, carbonated
beverage, fruit juice, and honey industries. 7.CRYSTALLIZATION • The crystallization process takes place in single effect high-vacuum boiling pans which boil the juice at lower temperatures under vacuum. The syrup (about 65-70 percent sugar) is concentrated by boiling in a vacuum pan and is seeded with small sugar crystals in a process called crystallisation.
• When the juice concentrates it is 'seeded' with tiny sugar crystals
which provide the nucleus for larger crystals to form and grow. When the crystals reach the desired size the process is stopped. • Three stages of crystallization – Nucleation – Initiation – elongation
The sugar crystals are grown to the required size by adding
more syrup while boiling continues.
When the crystals reach the required size (approximately
1.0mm), the mixture of syrup and crystals called massecuite is discharged from the pan. Evapo-Crystallizers: • The function of evapo-crystallizer is to produce satisfactory sugar crystals from syrup (seed grain) to serve as the nuclei for the sugar syrup.
• When Brix reaches 78-80, crystals begin to appear and the
nature of the material changes.
It’s then called “massecuite”.
Massecuite is a dense mass of sugar crystals mixed with mother liquor
obtained by evaporation after boiling of syrup. 8.CENTRIFUGATION • The basic function of the Centrifugal machines is to separate the crystals in the massecuite from the surrounding molasses or syrup by centrifugal force.
• The remaining mixture is a thick mass of large crystals, which is
sent to a centrifuge to spin and dry the crystals. The dried product is raw sugar, still inedible.
• The Raw sugar is then sent to dryers or refining unit according to
the type of desired final product.
• Molasses is by-product which is used as a raw material for other
products. Revolutions per minute is a measure of the frequency of rotation • Separate sugar from molasses
Centrifuge operates at 100-1800 rpm
• Molasses pass through perforations • Sugar crystals are washed with 85ᴼC water • Raw sugar and molasses
Molasses
The molasses can be sold for animal feed, or it can be further processed for human consumption. 9.DRYING Dryers: • The wet raw sugar from centrifuges goes to rotary drier to remove the water from the wet sugar to reduce moisture content to 0.5- 2%; using hot air at 110◦C which flow counter currently with sugar. The crystals can be dried in a number of ways: by placing them in the sun, or by using simple solar driers, or rotary or hopper driers which require fuel to provide drying heat.
The raw sugar produced is often refined to produce white
sugar. This sugar refining can be done either at a completely separate factory or at a back-end refinery which is attached to the raw sugar factory. • The color is due to molasses These processing steps will produce a brown or raw sugar 10. REFINING • Raw sugar is transported to a Cane Sugar Refinery for the removal of molasses, minerals & other non-sugars, which still contaminate the sugar. This is known as the purification process. Affination Raw sugar is mixed with a heated syrup solution in a vessel called a mingler. The mixing loosens impurities on the surface of the sugar crystals. Using syrup instead of plain water permits loosening the impurities from the surface of the crystals without dissolving them. The solution of heated syrup and crystals leaving the affination process is called magma. i.e. Magma is a mixture of raw sugar with high purity syrup (85%) mingler Clarifying The magma is clarified in three or more steps. Phosphoric acid is added to make suspended solids float to the top, where they can be skimmed off. This part of the process is called phosphatation. Next, lime and carbon dioxide are added to help precipitate more dissolved solids. Most refineries call this step carbonatation, but some call it carbonation. The final clarification step is filtering. Decolorizing Remaining molecules (primarily amino acids) that give the sugar a yellowish color are removed with activated carbon, ion exchange resins, or a combination of these materials. Activated carbon is usually in the form of charcoal. Spent charcoal is reactivated in a gas- or oil-fired regeneration furnace. The raw sugar color is removed by physical separation of plant materials & by carbon filters which absorb colored impurities.
Granular activated carbon (GAC)
Since the pure sugar crystals are naturally colorless, no bleaching
or whitening is necessary. Evaporating and Crystallizing Decolorized sugar solution is sent to steam-heated evaporators.
In the evaporators, water is boiled from the solution under vacuum and Sugar syrup evaporated up to super saturation crystallization.
Then, the juice is sent to crystallizers to cool under vacuum. This process is very similar to the crystallization process used in the raw sugar mill.
Centrifuging The sugar is centrifuged to remove more molasses and again to obtain refined sugar crystals, then it is sent back through crystallizing and centrifuging two or three more times. The sugar obtained from the final centrifuging process is considered refined sugar/affined sugar. This step is similar to the centrifuging step in the sugar mill. Conditioning Sugar is conditioned by drying it in a steam-heated, rotating drum granulator for approximately two to four days. Conditioning keeps the sugar from clumping during shipping and storage. Pulverizing If the finished product is to be powdered sugar, the crystals are pulverized to achieve the desired particle size and consistency. 11.SEPARATION AND PACKAGING • Screens separate the different sized sugar crystals.
• Sugar is made in different sizes &
accordingly classified into various grades.
• Sorting i.e. Sieving – Fine, medium and bold grains STORAGE Storage in a warehouse or other storage place – Cool, dry, moisture & odor free PACKAGING Large & small crystals are packaged & shipped, labeled as white, refined, sugar. Containers opaque, airtight, moisture/odor proof Glass canning jars or cans for liquid sugars RAW & REFINED SUGAR Raw sugar Obtained directly from sugarcane juice without refining Most natural sugar Brown in color due to molasses
Refined sugar Obtained after the purification process Have white luster & transparent Bleached to remove color & other impurities A byproduct of the cane and beet sugar refining process is molasses which has a multitude of uses. Molasses is an important feed stock in the production of antibiotics, bakers yeast, rum and fuel alcohol, as well as an animal feed supplement. By-products of the sugar making process Bagasse: a fibrous residue of cane stalk that is obtained after crushing and extraction of juice. It consists of water, fiber and relatively small quantities of soluble solids. usually used as a combustible in furnaces to produce steam, which in turn is used to generate power. also used as a raw material for production of paper and as feedstock for cattle. Molasses: Molasses is the only by-product obtained in the preparation of sugar through repeated crystallization. Molasses is mainly used for the manufacture of alcohol, yeast and cattle feed. Alcohol in turn is used to produce ethanol, spirit, potable liquor and downstream value added chemicals such as acetone, acetic acid, butanol, acetic an-hydride, etc. Nearly 90% of molasses produced is consumed by the industrial alcohol manufacturers and the remaining 10% is consumed by the potable alcohol sector. Fly ash: the residual output from the boiler furnace after bagasse has completely burnt out. This fly ash is used as a substitute for firewood. I rich in potassium and is also used by local farmers for cultivation. Press Mud: also known as oliver cake or press cake, is the residual output after the filtration of the juice. mixed with spent wash from the distillery and cultivated to produce high quality bio-manure. Emissions Particulate matter (PM), combustion products, and volatile organic compounds (VOC) are the primary pollutants emitted from the sugarcane processing industry. Combustion products include nitrogen oxides (NO ), carbon monoxide (CO), CO , and sulfur oxides (SO ). Potential emission sources include the sugar granulators, sugar conveying and packaging equipment, boilers, granular carbon and regenerated adsorbent transport systems, lime kilns, carbonation tanks, multi-effect evaporator stations, and vacuum boiling pans.
