Process of Refining.
—The manipulation attending the refining of sugar is a somewhat simple one, but experience has shown that it can only be done economically in very large establishments, many of which cost millions of dollars. The attempt to refine sugar on a small scale makes the product too expensive to compete commercially with the product of the large refinery. The raw sugar is first mixed with water and melted and reduced to the condition of a sirup. In this state it is treated with lime and clarified as has been described for sugar cane juice. Sometimes at this stage it is also treated with sulfur fumes, but not usually. After clarifying the juice is filtered through bags or filter presses so as to free it from all suspended matter. In order to decolorize it it is then passed through large cylinders filled with bone-black from which it emerges quite or almost water-white. When the bone-black loses its decolorizing properties it is removed from the cylinder and reburned in closed retorts, by which process it regains its power to decolorize the sugar solution. The decolorized juices are next taken into vacuum strike pans, as has already been described in the manufacture of sugar, only of a much larger size. In these pans they are evaporated and crystallized and the sugar separated in centrifugals as described above. After the sugar comes from the centrifugal it is placed in a granulating apparatus, a large revolving drum supplied with a steam jacket from which it emerges dry. Granulated sugar is almost chemically pure, often containing 99.9 percent of pure sugar. The molasses from the centrifugal is diluted, passed through bone-black, and reboiled and a new lot of sugar obtained. Finally when the product becomes so low in sugar as not to yield a white product lower grades of brown sugar are made, which are usually sold without drying and contain considerable quantities of moisture and some molasses. The final molasses which no longer crystallizes is sold usually for mixing with glucose to make table sirup. It contains so much mineral matter in solution as to be hardly suitable for food purposes.
Loaf sugar, cut loaf, etc., are forms of pure sugar which are pressed or cut in the forms in which they appear on the market and then dried instead of being dried in a granulated state as described. Powdered sugar is dry refined sugar reduced to a fine powder.
In the refining of sugar it is quite customary to wash the crystals in the centrifugal with ultramarine blue suspended in water. This is done in order to form with the blue water and the yellow tint, which sometimes accompanies the crystals, a perfectly white appearance, on the optical principle which shows that when a blue and a yellow tint are mixed a white color results. This process is not required for the first-class product coming from the first crystallization and very often dealers require sugar for special purposes which has not been so treated. It would be advisable if all consumers should demand a sugar of the same character.
While the refining of sugar can probably never be abolished it should not be forgotten that the very finest sugar, from a palatable point of view, is that made from the maple or sugar cane without refining in which the crystals retain their natural yellow color. If consumers understood thoroughly the value of a sugar of this kind they would demand it instead of the dead white product which is now in vogue.
As has been stated a raw sugar of this kind could not be used if made from beets.
Sugar Crops of the World.
—These figures include local consumption of home production wherever known.
Willett and Gray’s estimates of cane sugar crops, Oct. 18, 1906:
| Crop Begins: | 1906-07. | 1905-06. | 1904-05. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | — | Louisiana | September | 265,000 | 330,000 | 335,000 |
| Texas | September | 14,000 | 12,000 | 15,000 | ||
| Porto Rico | January | 230,000 | 213,000 | 145,000 | ||
| Hawaiian Islands | November | 395,000 | 385,000 | 382,576 | ||
| Cuba, crop | December | 1,250,000 | 1,175,000 | 1,163,258 | ||
| British West Indies | — | Trinidad, exports | January | 50,000 | 55,000 | 31,000 |
| Barbados, exports | January | 43,000 | 49,680 | 41,600 | ||
| Jamaica, crop | January | 18,000 | 18,000 | 16,000 | ||
| Antigua and St. Kitts | January | 24,000 | 24,000 | 24,000 | ||
| French West Indies | — | Martinique, exports | January | 35,000 | 33,000 | 29,986 |
| Guadeloupe | January | 36,000 | 36,000 | 36,000 | ||
| Danish West Indies | — | St. Croix | January | 13,000 | 13,000 | 11,000 |
| Haiti and San Domingo | January | 50,000 | 50,000 | 47,000 | ||
| Lesser Antilles, not named above | January | 13,000 | 13,000 | 13,000 | ||
| Mexico, crop | December | 110,000 | 105,000 | 107,038 | ||
| Central America | — | Guatemala, crop | January | 8,000 | 8,000 | 7,640 |
| San Salvador, crop | January | 6,000 | 6,000 | 5,588 | ||
| Nicaragua, crop | January | 5,000 | 5,000 | 4,235 | ||
| Costa Rica, crop | January | 3,000 | 3,000 | 2,305 | ||
| South America | — | Demerara, exports | Oct. & May | 120,000 | 121,693 | 101,278 |
| Surinam, crop | October | 13,000 | 13,000 | 13,000 | ||
| Venezuela | October | 3,000 | 3,000 | 3,000 | ||
| Peru, crop | October | 140,000 | 150,000 | 150,000 | ||
| Argentine Republic, crop | June | 140,000 | 137,308 | 128,104 | ||
| Brazil, crop | October | 260,000 | 275,000 | 195,000 | ||
| Total in America | ...... | 3,244,000 | 3,233,681 | 3,005,608 | ||
| Asia | — | British India—Exports | December | 30,000 | 15,000 | 30,000 |
| Siam (cons’n 30,000 tons, mostly imported) | ...... | ..... | ..... | ..... | ||
| Java, crop | May | 950,000 | 993,900 | 1,008,900 | ||
| Japan (cons’n 260,000 tons, mostly imported) | ...... | ..... | ..... | ..... | ||
| Philippine Islands, crop | December | 160,000 | 135,625 | 106,875 | ||
| China (cons’n large, mostly imported) | ...... | ..... | ..... | ..... | ||
| Total in Asia | ...... | 1,140,000 | 1,144,525 | 1,145,775 | ||
| Australia and Polynesia | — | Queensland | June | 170,000 | 170,000 | 147,688 |
| New South Wales | June | 20,000 | 20,000 | 21,525 | ||
| Fiji Islands, exports | June | 40,000 | 40,000 | 47,000 | ||
| Total in Australia and Polynesia | ...... | 230,000 | 230,000 | 216,213 | ||
| Africa | — | Egypt, crop | January | 60,000 | 65,000 | 60,000 |
| Mauritius | August | 200,000 | 188,364 | 142,101 | ||
| Reunion | September | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | ||
| Total in Africa | ...... | 290,000 | 283,364 | 232,101 | ||
| Europe | — | Spain | December | 15,000 | 14,512 | 18,592 |
| Total Cane sugar crops (W. & G.) | ...... | 4,919,000 | 4,906,082 | 4,618,289 | ||
| Europe Beet sugar crops (F. O. Licht) | September | 6,570,000 | 6,954,000 | 4,708,758 | ||
| United States Beet sugar crops (W. & G.) | July & Oct. | 345,000 | 283,717 | 209,722 | ||
| Grand total Cane and Beet Sugar—Tons | ...... | 11,834,000 | 12,143,799 | 9,536,769 | ||
| Estimated decrease in the world’s production | ...... | 309,799 | ..... | ..... | ||