SUGAR AND STARCH INDUSTRIES

SUGAR
Humans desire sweetness in their diet and provides it from several sources. The average person in the United
States consumes 32 kg of sugar per year, but this amount has been slowly diminishing. The world average is only one-
third of this but is increasing. Sugar is not prized for its sweet taste alone, for it supplies about 13 percent of the energy
required for existence. As a result, sugar production and refining is a huge industry, consuming 8.3 × 10 6 tons of sugar in
the United States alone in 1982. The total world sugar production is estimated at 95.8 ×10 6 tons.

HISTORY
It is difficult to determine just when sugar first became known to humankind but it probably traveled form New
Guinea to India many centuries before Christ.
1400 - A record of crude methods found having been brought from the East to Europe
1689 - Sugar was first extracted in North America using cane from the West Indies
1747 - Beet sugar was discovered
1751 - Cane was grown on the American continent
1811 - The first preparation of dextrose 1811 led to the development of the corn-sugar industry
1824 - Vacuum pan was invented by Howard and steam-driven crushing and grinding roller mills were introduced in
the latter part of the eighteenth century
1872 - The first manufacturing of liquid glucose began
1970 - high-fructose corn-derived sweetener (HFCS) became commercial

MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR
 Sugarcane is a member of the grass family. It has a bamboo-like stalk, grows to a height of 3 to 5m, and contains
11 to 15% sucrose by weight.
 The cane is first washed to remove mud and debris.
 The cane is then chopped and shredded by crushers in preparation for removing the juice.
 The juice is extracted by passing the crushed cane through a series of mills, each of which consists of three
grooved rolls that exert heavy pressure. Water and weak juice may be added to help macerate the cane and aid
in the extraction. About 93% of the juice is extracted from the cane. The spent cane (bagasse) is ether burned
for fuel or used to manufacture paper, hardboard, or insulating material.
 The juice is screened to remove floating impurities and treated with lime to coagulate part of the colloidal
matter, precipitate some of the impurities, and change the pH. Phosphoric acid may be added because juices
that do not contain a small amount of phosphates do not clarify well. Lime in slight excess over that theoretically
required to precipitate all the phosphate is then added.
 The mixture is heated with high pressure steam and settled in large tanks called clarifiers or in continuous
settlers or thickeners.
 To recover the sugar from the settled-out muds, continuous rotary drum vacuum filters are generally used as
manure.
 The filtrate, a clarified juice of high lime content, contains about 85% water. It is evaporated to approximately
40% water in triple or quadruple-effect evaporators to a thick, pale yellow juice.
 The resulting thick juice goes to the first of three single-effect vacuum pans, where it is evaporated to a
predetermined degree of supersaturation. Sugar-crystal nuclei are added (shock seeding) and, by the addition of
thick juice and controlled evaporation, the crystals are grown to the desired size in these “strike” pans. The
mixture of syrup and crystals (massecuite) is dumped into a crystallizer, which is horizontal agitated tank
equipped with cooling coils. Here, additional sucrose deposits on the crystals already formed, and crystallization
is completed.
 The massecuite is then centrifuged to remove the syrup. The crystals are quality high-grade raw sugar, and the
syrup is re-treated to obtain one or two more crops of crystals. The final liquid after reworking is known as
blackstrap molasses.
  The raw sugar (light brown in color), containing approximately 97.8% sucrose, is shipped in bulk to the refinery,
frequently outside the country of origin.
 The molasses is shipped to the United States and other countries in full-tank steamers and is used s a source of
carbohydrates (a decreasing use) for cattle and for citric acid and other fermentation.

CANE-SUGAR REFINING
 The first step in refining is called affination, wherein the raw-sugar crystals are treated with a heavy syrup (60 to
80% Brix) in order to remove the film of adhering molasses. This strong syrup dissolves little or none of sugar but
does soften or dissolve the coating of impurities. This operation is performed in minglers, which are heavy scroll
conveyors fitted with strong mixing flights.
 The resulting syrup is removed by a centrifuge, and the sugar cake is sprayed with water. The crystals are
dumped into the melter, where they are dissolved in about half their weight of hot water, part of which is sweet
water from the filter presses. The syrup from the centrifugals is divided, part being diluted and reused as mingler
syrup and the remainder diluted to about 54 0 Brix and sent either to the char house for clarification and
reflitration or to the pans to be boiled with remelt.
 The melted and washed raw sugar (in refineries, melted means dissolved) is then treated buy a process known
as clarification or defecation. Either mechanical or chemical processes can be used. Mechanical clarification
requires the addition of diatomaceous earth or similar inert material; the pH is then adjusted and the mixture
filtered in a press. This system gives an absolutely clear solution of slightly improved color and is inherently a
batch process.
 The chemical uses either frothing clarifier or a carbonation system. Liquor treated for frothing, containing
entrapped air bubbles, enters the clarifier at about 65 0C. In the clarifier it is heated, causing a froth to form
which rises to the surface carrying gelatinous tricalcium phosphate and entrapped impurities. The clarified liquor
is filtered and sent to decolorization. This process reduces the coloring matter present by 25 to 45%, which
greatly reduces the size of the subsequent decolorizers.
 The carbonation system adds carbon dioxide from scrubbed flue gas to the melted sugar, which precipitates
calcium carbonate. The precipitate carries down with it over 60% of the coloring matter present and is removed
by filtration.

Vacuum Pan
Cross section of vacuum pan with mechanical circulator. The syrup is heated by passage upward through the
tubes of the steam chest, or calandria, near the bottom. The liquid boils t the upper surface, and vapor is drawn out
through the large central downtake pipe. A set of screw impellers forces the liquid back through the large central pipe.
The stirrer is motor-driven and has recording and controlling watt meters in its circuit.

BAGASSE
The burning of about 70% of the bagasse produced furnishes enough steam for power heat to run the mill.
Hence 30% is available to make an insulating and building board like Celotex or to digest the bagasse with chemicals
(NaOH, etc) to pulp for paper manufacture on Fordrinier machines. Furthermore, often much more than the 30% is used
for such by-products when other fuel is available at a cheaper price than the 85 per ton traditionally assigned to
bagasse. The amount of bagasse usually available is equal to the sugar yield.
The bagasse is conveyed by an endless belt to the rotary digesters, which are 4.3m in diameter, and is cooked
under pressure in order to render the fibers pliable, loosen the encrusting material, dissolve organic material,
and sterilize then fiber. The resulting pulp, in a 2 to 3% suspension, is pumped to swing-hammer shredders and washed
in specially designed rotary washers in order to remove dirt, soluble compounds, and some pith. From the washers, the
pup enters half stock chests, where the sizing, usually papermakers rosin and alum, is added and the mass stirred with
powerful agitators to remove any irregularities. The fibers are refined in conical refiners to give optimum fiber size. The
refined fiber goes to stock chests, from which it is fed, as an approximately 2% suspension, to the head box of the board
machine is. In the head box, it is diluted to about 0.5%. The board machines, although of special design, are similar to
Fourdrinier machines. The stock is fed onto forming screens and led to drying felts and finally to press rolls. The sheets
do not appear laminated but are felted together to give the required thickness. The board from these machines is 4m
wide, contains 50 to 55% water, and is produced at the rate of 60 m/min. It is dried in a continuous sheet, at 150 to
2300C in a gas or steam-heated dryer 250 to 300m long. The product must be sprayed with water as it leaves the dryer in
order to bring it up to its normal water content of approximately 8%. The board is then fabricated.
Acoustical and structural wallboard, agricultural mulch and litter, plastic filler, furfural, paper and plastic reinforcing
fibers have all been made from bagasse. A high-quality wax has also been extracted.

BEET SUGAR
Canes grows well only in tropical and semitropical climates, but sugar beets grow well in the temperate zones.
Only a skilled chemist can tell whether a sample of refined sugar originated from the cane or the beet. Sucrose content
of both sugars is very high, over 99.9%. For all normal purposes, the sugars obtained are interchangeable. All plants
produce some sugar, but only beets and cane are major sources. Other minor sources are the maple tree, certain palm
trees, and honey. Food value and sweetness (but not sucrose) are economically obtained from corn, which increasingly
effectively competes with beets and cane. Corn seems to be gradually diminishing the beet market in the US.
 The beets are rewashed, weighed and, and sliced into long narrow strips called cossettes.
 The cossettes are dropped into a specially designed continuous countercurrent diffuser.
 The sugar is extracted countercurrently with water at 70 to 80 0C. The resulting raw juice is a blue-black 10 to
12% sucrose solution with a small amount of invert sugar and 2 to 3% ash. The pulp remaining contains 0.1 to
0.3% sugar (based on the beets). The pulp is dewatered in presses, dried in a rotary dryer, and sold as cattle
feed. The change in the beet industry to automatic countercurrent continuous diffusers eliminates the sweet-
water handling costs and reduces the labor required by the battery. The amount of energy consumed is sharply
reduced.
 The juice is given a rough screening to remove foreign materials.
 Milk and lime is added until the concentration is equivalent to about 2 to 3%. The lime aid in the precipitation of
undesirable impurities. Any calcium saccharate is decomposed in carbonators by passing carbon dioxide from
the lime kiln through the juice continuously. The foaming that occurs at this stage is reduced by adding a small
quantity of antifoam.
 The sludge produced by the lime is equal to 4 to 5% of the weight of the beet charged. This is removed by
thickening and filtering on rotary filters.
 Lime is added again until the concentration is equivalent to 0.5% and the juice is again carbonated, this time hot.
 It is then filtered on pressure filters.
 The resulting filtrate is bleached with sulfur dioxide. The precipitate of calcium sulfite is removed by pressure of
plate-and-frame filters.
 The purified juice is concentrated from 10 to 12% sugar to about 60% sugar in multiple effect evaporators. This
increases the concentration of calcium ions again. Some calcium precipitates out.
 A Spreckles’ plant uses also a countercurrent decolorizing reactivated carbon adsorption system to purify and
decolorize the thick juice in towers, where the juice rises against the falling carbon.
 The resulting thick juice is grained in vacuum pans, centrifuged, washed, dried in a granulator, screened, and
packed in much the same manner as described for cane sugar.

MISCELLANEOUS SUGARS
Lactose, or milk sugar, is made from waste skim milk. Sorbitol is manufactured by hydrogenation of dextrose under
pressure, using a nickel catalyst, or by reduction in an electrolytic cell. Mannitol, made by hydrogenating sucrose to yield
a 3:1 sorbitol/mannitol mixture difficult to separate, is used in pill manufacture and electrolytic condensers. Xylitol, a
sugar alcohol made by reduction of xylose, is now produced on a large scale. It can be assimilated by diabetics without
use of insulin, is nonfermentable, and does not promote dental carries, so it is used in high priced dietetic candies,
chewing gum, toothpastes, etc. Gluconic acid, made by oxidizing glucose by fermentation or by electrolytic oxidation,
forms useful calcium and iron salts used pharmaceutically.

CORN SWEETENER
 A major portion of nutritive sweetener now comes from starch (mainly corn) conversion into fructose-containing
syrups. Conversion of starch into glucose by treatment with acid or with the enzyme amylase has been practiced for
many years, and the syrups thus obtained are nourishing but not very sweet tasting.
Glucose syrup prepared from starch by treatment from starch by treatment with amylase can be treated with different
immobilized enzyme which can convert up to 42 percent of the glucose to fructose, which has 1.8 times the sweetening
power of sucrose. This syrup can be used directly as sweetening syrup over the enzyme, 55% fructose can be made. This
material can be dried, but because the solid formed is hygroscopic, it is not very desirable for home use.

Starch
Starch consists of a chain of D-glucopyranosyl units and has the general formula (C₆H₁₀O₅)ₙ with n=250 to over
1000. Two major components are recognized as usual, a branched-chain form, amylopectin (75 to 80% in common
starches), and a linear form, amylose
Is one f the most common substances existing in nature and is the major basic constituent of the average diet. it
is used in more than 300 modern industries, including the manufacture of textiles, paper, adhesives, insecticides, paints,
soaps, explosive, and such derivatives as dextrins, nitrostarch, and corn sugar. In recent year such derivatives as heat-
resistant adhesive, ester comparable with cellulose esters, carboxylic acids from the oxidation of dectrose, and wetting
agents have been produced.

History
3500 B.C. - Ancients used starch in manufacturing paper (as an adhesive and stiffener)
The Egyptians of this period cemented papyrus together in this manner.
A.D. 700 and 1300 - most paper was heavily coated with starch but the pactice was abandoned toward end
of the fourteenth century
1744 - Textiles demands soon brought about the induction of potato starch to supplement the wheat starch
1811 - In the discoveries of kirchtoff with respect to glucose and the thinning of starches by enzymic action gave
great impetus to starch manufacture through the increased fields application created.
1821 - The use of roasted starch
1831 - White potato stach produced antrim, N.H.
1842 - Kingsford began the production of cornstarch

Manufacture process of starch

Corn wet refining is a large industry more than 12.8 x 109 kg of corn per year. Chemically, the corn kernel
consists of from 11 to 20% water, with the following average constituents, expressed in percent.

Moisture 16
Sugar 1.6
Ash 1.3
Fiber 2
Proteins 9
Starch 61
Oil 3.8
Pentosans 5.3

On this basis, 100 kg of corn yields 51.3 kg of starch, 39.2 kg of products (gluten meal, corn bran, germ-oil meal, and
steep water), and 2.8 kg of corn oil. The refining processs utilize wet milling in a dilute sulphurous acid medium using
shelled corn as the raw material.

 The first operation consists of cleaning the corn by means of screens, compressed air, and electromagnets. The
cleaned corn is soaked (steeped) for 2 days in circulating warm water (46 to 52°C) containing 0.10 to 0.30%
sulphur dioxide to prevent fermentation during the soaking period.
 The steep water dissolves salts, soluble carbohydrates, and protein.
  The cleaned and softened kernels are degreminated between two studded steel plates, one rotating and one
stationary, which tear the kernels apart and extricate the corn germs without crushing them.
 The corn germs are liquid-sepearated from the hulls in so-called germ seperators, formerly large, agitated tanks.
Now stationary cone-shaped hydroclones are more efficient, using continuous gravity separation of the germ by
the centrifugal action of a tangentially infected suspension of germ-fiber starch with the lighter germ in the
overflow(top center).
 The remainder of the corn kernel contains starch, gluten, and cellulosic fiber.
 It is wet-ground in impact fiber mills and passed through high-capacity stationary screens called sieve bends.
 In the sieve bends the starch and gluten are washed countercurrently with process water to remove them from
the fiber, which is the oversized material, all of which was mechanically separated in the fiber-milling operation.
 To separate the heavier starch from the gluten, the old, cumbersome, gravity starch tables have been discarded,
and this separation is now done in pressure-nozzle discharge centrifuges and purification by pumping through
starch-washing hydroclones from which the middlings are returned to the centrifuge for recycling. These
centrifugal devices intensify the force of gravity, require less space and are cleaner. Since they are completely
enclose.
 The gluten is sent to be mixed with oil cake and fiber for animal feed. Some gluten is partially dehydrated and
sold as an adhesive or alcohol-extracted to yield zein.
 The highly mechanically purified starch is dried and sold or cooked to heat-convert it to soluble dextrins and
gums.
 Over 70 percent of the cornstarch produced by wet milling is now used in the manufacture of corn sweeteners,
principally HFCS. A modest percentage of the syrup formed is converted to crystalline dextrose using
crystallizers.
 If commercial starch is to be made, the starch is removed from suspension with vacuum rotary string-discharge
filter. The cake is broken and dried by flashing or in a continuous tunnel dryer traveling countercurrent to the
air.
 The starch enters with a moisture content of 44% and exits at 10 to 14%. This form is sold as pearl starch.
 Powdered starch is ground and screened pearl starch.
 Lump or gloss starch is made from powdered starch containing a slightly higher percent of moisture.
 Precooking the starch yields gelatinized starches.
 For thick-boiling starch, alkali conversion is used; for boiling starch, mild acid conversion.
 Oxidized starch, also known as dialdehyde starch, is made by treating starch with hypochlorite or electrolytically
produced periodic acid.
 Specialized food starches known as across-linked starches result from treatment of starch with POCl₃
epichlorohydrin, or sodium metaphosphate.
 Starch esters such as starch acetate and ethers made with ethylene or propylene oxide enjoys considerable use
as textile sizes.
 Another product of corn refining is dextrin, or roasted starch. Starch itself is not soluble in water, but its
derivative, dextrin, dissolves readily to give various commercial adhesives pastes, and gums. Conversion is
carried on in round, steam-jacketed tanks equipped with a scraper and open at the top. The scraper prevents
sticking during the heating period, which may vary from 2h for some white dextrin to 15h for certain gums. The
temperature also influences the kind of dextrin being prepared.

MISCELLANEOUS STARCHES
Amylose
Occurs to the extent of 27% in cornstarch, the other 73% being amylopectin. Amylose is a linear chain of dextrose units
and resembles cellulose, which it can supplant for many uses such as in films, adhesives and paper. Waxy corn is almost
all amylose and is being grown in increasing amounts. However, there are a number of processes for separating the two
starches. One process heats the cornstarch slurry under pressure to prevent boiling, whereupon the mixed starch
dissolves, upon slow cooling to about 49 C the amylose crystal form and are covered, leaving the amylopectin to be
precipitated upon further cooling
White potato starch
Contain 10 to 30% starch. Upon being received at the factory, the potatoes are washed and disintegrated to a
water pulp, using a hammer mill. The pulp is related with sulfur dioxide gas, in the ratio 0.5 kg per kilogram of starch and
sent to a continuous horizontal centrifuge with an imperforate conical bowl and a continuous-spiral-ribbon starch
remover. The protein–water mixture is separated from the starch cellulose and skins and the latter three substances are
resuspended in water. The suspension is sieved and the pulp from the sieves is reground and received. The liquor from
the second sieving is again passed through a centrifuge, suspended in water and sent to separation devices. From this
point on operations are similar to those used for the manufacture of cornstarch. Two other processes are also used. In
the batter process, which is similar to Martin’s process, the dough formed is dispersed in water and dispersed gluten
collected on a sieve. Using alkali in similar process disperse the gluten sufficiently that the starch settles out on standing.
Rice starch
This made from cargo rice which still has the brown outer cuticle attached or from broken white grains rejected
as foodstuff. The rice is steeped for 24 h with dilute caustic soda slolution (1.005 specific gravity) in tanks with
perforated false bottoms. At the end of the period the liquor is withdrawn the rice washed, fresh liquor added, and
steeping continued for another 36 to 48 h. the resulting softened grains are ground with a caustic solution to a specific
gravity of 1.24 and the mash is centrifuged. The solids obtained include all sorts of fibrous material, starch and gluten.
These are resuspended, a small amount of formaldehyde is added to inhibit fermentation, and they are recentrifuged
and washed. A bleaching or bluing agent may be added at this point. The liquor is screened adjusted to a specific gravity
of 1.21 and sent to disk cetrifuges. The resulting starch is dried for 2 days at 50 to 60 C
Cassava (tapioca) starch
This is obtained from the roots and tubers of the manioc plant. Imports are mainly from Thailand and brazil. The
average starchcontent varies from 20 to 30%. In general the roots are pulped and washed on sieves to obtain the starch.
separating and purifying operations are similar to those described for potato starch.
Sago starch
This obtained from the pith of sago palm and also from yams in the East Indies and Borneo. Pearl sago starch is
made by dying the starch so as to form a plastic dough, which is then forced through sieves and dried in the air.
Other starch sources
Sweet potatoes, sorghum, waxy sorghum, and waxy corn are all currently important sources of starch which is
obtained from them by methods substantially similar to those described here.