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Comparison of the quality of intermediate and final products of sugar beet and sugar cane processing

For centuries, sugar has been a highly valued and widely traded commodity. Major raw materials in sugar manufacturing are sugar beet and sugar cane. Basic sugar production method is extraction of sucrose from plant material, with subsequent removal of impurities and water. Beside sugar, beet root and cane stalk contain various compounds, whose shares, as well as ratio, depend mostly on the cultivation conditions. Some of these compounds can affect efficiency of sugar manufacturing process and quality of final product. Samples of the most important intermediate products (molasses, afinated C sugar, massecuite A, massecuite B and massecuite C) as well as the final product (crystalline sugar) were taken during the process of sugar manufacturing. In order to define their quality, dry matter content, polarization, purity quotient, pH, invert sugar content and color were determined. In the case of sugar, water content, ash, SO2, type and granulation were also determined. According to the selected parameters of quality, both sugar types were found to have a satisfactory quality equal to the average of the former ten years. Since the quality of the final product depends on the quality of the raw material and the efficiency of the manufacturing process, obtained results indicate adequate quality of sugar beet and sugar cane as well as appropriate processing methods.

Crystalline sugar; Molasses; Quality; Sugar beet; Sugar cane

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