refining and processing beet sugar

• Refining and processing beet sugar

  Sugar beets grow in temperate climates and store sugar in their roots. Sugar beets weigh about 2 pounds (910 g) each and contain 16 to 18 percent sucrose in their raw form. Their growing season is about five months long. Unlike sugarcane, the process for refining sugar beets takes place all at one location, generally near the growing area, as the beets do not travel well.
• NO 1 step:

   To wash and slice the beets
• 2:Then they are placed into a “diffuser,” where they are agitated as hot

  water washes over them.
• 3; The sugar-laden water is drawn off, and the remaining beet pulp is processed separately, usually for livestock feed.
• 4; The watery beet juice is treated with milk of lime and carbon dioxide in carbonation tank
• 5; After the juice is filtered, it is thin and light brown. This is evaporated under vacuum, where it becomes syrup.
• 6;  The syrup is filtered again, boiled again, and crystals now begin to form.
• 7; The crystal and syrup combination, as in cane sugar production, is called “massecuite.” The “massecuite” is sent to a centrifuge and, after spinning, is washed to produce pure white crystals of sugar.
• 8; These are dried and sifted to separate the crystals by size before they are packaged.