Sugar is one of the products familiar to every modern person, which is almost always on everyone’s table. White sweet crystals are used in the confectionery business, when creating home-made preparations, and simply in order to sweeten the morning cup of coffee or tea.
How is the basis of all sweets produced, from which and how does crystalline white powder appear? A detailed study of the process occurring in the factory or factory conditions will allow you to understand the nuances.
What is sugar made of?
Sugar is produced from cane or beets (beetroot). In Russia, a beetroot is available, it is with it that domestic producers work, because reed is a tropical plant.
To get sweet crystals, you must first grow a crop of sugar beets, which are called beetroot, and bring the ripened root crops to the plant. Beets, cut into small chips and water, which first washed the sweetness out of vegetables and then evaporated to get the dry residue in the form of familiar small granules - these are the main components of production, allowing you to get the base product that is in demand throughout the country.
Sugar processing for sugar
The root crop grown on farmland is loaded into cars and brought to the plant. Raw materials are weighed and loaded into bunkers in order to carry out primary processing - to wash root crops from the ground.The automated system allows you to quickly wash tons of vegetables, also eliminating tops, stones, straw - any impurities, pollutants. After thorough cleaning, which is important for obtaining a high-quality final product and protecting the entire plant system from clogging, the beet falls into beet cutting. Inside this unit from whole root crops create chips with special indicators - smooth, thin. Recoverability of sugar from raw materials in many respects depends on the quality of the slices; thin, even, smooth slices are needed. Ready chips are sent to a diffusion column through which water of a certain temperature circulates - air is not allowed here.
The water is saturated with beet sugar, but the waste in the form of sugarless beet pulp is subsequently sent to livestock feed. It is pre-dried under air flow, making the unloading and delivery of by-products to farms the most simple, profitable and expedient task. In the pulp there are many nutrients that make it suitable for feeding large, small cattle. It is a healthy nutritional supplement for farm animals.
Beetroot Juice Processing
The juice accumulates in the lower part of the column, it contains sugar and a mixture of other substances, which are called non-sugars. Their presence spoils the quality of products, because they are removed during the physico-chemical processing processes. For this, the juice is mixed with milk of lime, the precipitate is removed.At different stages of processing, the juice is filtered, other manipulations are performed. The result after all stages of purification is evaporated - it is necessary to remove excess moisture from the syrup. This operation is one of the most important. When “cooking” the syrup, a white powder crystallizes, which is sugar.
For boiling, specialized vacuum aggregates are used, which allow boiling at 70 degrees Celsius. After all, you should not exceed this temperature indicator, sugar can simply burn. All systems are automated, the extraction also takes place in closed systems and tanks under the control of equipment, the readings of which are monitored by personnel. Intervention in the process is carried out by sending signals of trouble. Also, at all stages of the mixture, they are periodically checked, sugar factories have their own laboratories that allow for rapid analyzes.
At the final stages of boiling, the powder crystallizes, the sugar is almost ready. It is called massecuite, it is sent for centrifugation to dry and assemble in a container. Crystals are collected on the walls of the drum, excess elements are transferred to waste containers. It remains only to dry the crystals, which remain somewhat wet after centrifugation, the process is feasible using plants that supply hot air. After drying, the result cools to room temperature. Once the sugar has cooled, it can be packaged in bags or other containers.Sweet crystals of white color are completely ready for use.
This is the process of making sugar - factories work year-round, processing tons of beetroot, so that the sweet powder is constantly on the table in every home.
The production of the same product from sugarcane occurs in approximately the same way, the raw materials are also crushed to collect juice and sugar, the syrup is dried, and the result is served on the table. But in any case, experts point out that beetroot is tastier. Although the choice of such things still remains a matter of taste for each individual person. Beetroot option is affordable, and its benefits and harms can be debated for a very long time - there are many opinions on this.
