home » Chart of accounts » Sugar business, how to set up your own sugar factory. Making sugar from sugar beets at home

Sugar business, how to set up your own sugar factory. Making sugar from sugar beets at home

I happened to visit a sugar factory, where I got acquainted with the process of making a product familiar to everyone - sugar.
Actually, it all starts with the entrance, where guests are first greeted by a gilded V.I. Lenin, somehow hinting with his gesture: “Comrade, look! Sweet there, for God's sake!
And most importantly, don't cheat. Sugar is really there, in commercial quantities.

Everyone knows that sugar cane does not grow in our country and sugar has to be extracted from beets, this not at all glamorous root crop.

Cars heavily loaded with beet are driven to the acceptance point

Weigh and then unload the contents of bodies and trailers into the bunker

It should be noted that the entire production process is automated, as evidenced by the presence of a variety of panels and consoles at all key points in the technological chain.

From the bunker, the root crops fall on the conveyor belt, which carries the raw materials into the dungeon.

It is clear that before using the beets, you need to clean it from the ground, tops, adhering stones, sand and other impurities - all this cannot get into the finished product in any case, but it is easy to ruin the equipment. To do this, the beet, following the path of supply to the production, passes through various straw traps, stone traps, sand traps. For the final cleaning of beets from contamination, root crops pass through a beet washer.

The whole process is controlled by the operator. On the monitor on the right is a diagram of the processes taking place at the cleaning and washing area, which displays operational information. The monitor on the left displays a video from a camera installed above the belt conveyor, through which the washed raw materials go to the next section.

And here is the same conveyor that the camera is looking at. Clean root crops are sent to the beet cutter.

Beet roots are fed into the beet cutter hopper and carried inside the housing, where under the influence of centrifugal force they are pressed against the cutting edge of the knives, sliding along which the beet is gradually cut into beet shavings. It is problematic to observe the process itself, but the knives look like this:

The "sugar recoverability" depends very much on the quality of the chips. It should be of a certain thickness, with a smooth, crack-free surface.

The chips obtained at the previous stage are sent along the belt conveyor to the diffusion apparatus.
Inside the diffusion column there is a screw (such a thing as in a meat grinder), with the help of which the chips move at a certain speed from the bottom up. Opposite to the movement, water continuously flows through the column of chips from top to bottom. Passing through the crushed raw materials, the water dissolves the sugar in the beet chips and becomes saturated with it. The whole process takes place without air access and at a certain temperature. As a result of the process, juice saturated with sugar accumulates at the bottom of the column, and pulp (sugar-free beet chips) is unloaded from the upper part of the apparatus.

Freshly squeezed pulp enters the pulp dryer. This is a huge, continuously rotating drum, inside which the pulp is dried in a stream of hot gas.

Dried beet pulp granules are picked up by the air flow of a pneumatic conveyor and carried away through pipes to a warehouse for subsequent sale - the “squeezed out” beet cut is fed to livestock.

The juice obtained in the process of diffusion, in addition to the sucrose we need (that is, sugar), contains many different substances, united by the term “non-sugar”. All non-sugars, to a greater or lesser extent, interfere with the production of crystalline sugar and increase the loss of a useful product. And the next technological challenge is the removal of non-sugars from sugar solutions. Why use various physical and chemical processes.

The juice is mixed with milk of lime, heated, and the precipitate is precipitated. Predefinition, defecation (that's right, I didn't misheard and didn't make a seal - in Russian it's just cleansing), saturation and many other interesting terms. At one of the stages, the juice is filtered in such installations

Along the perimeter of the filtration apparatus one can see glass flasks through which the purified juice is driven.

The resulting juice is thickened by evaporation. The resulting syrup is boiled until it crystallizes. "Cooking" sugar is the most important operation in the preparation of a sweet product. In the photo - our guide and chief technologist at the control point of the boiling section

Before us is the heart of production - vacuum devices for boiling syrup. "Cooking" takes place in a rarefied atmosphere, due to which the syrup boils at 70 degrees Celsius. At higher temperatures, the sugar will simply burn. How it happens in a frying pan :) The control panel is visible on the left. At one point, one of them yelled a siren and turned on a red flasher, signaling the need for human intervention in the automated process. Immediately one of the workers appeared and the console fell silent with satisfaction.

The device can be "milked" a little and visually check the quality of the syrup.

The syrup on the glass slide crystallizes before our eyes. It's practically sugar!

Boiled syrup - massecuite, sent for centrifugation

In the centrifuge, all excess is separated from the massecuite and goes into a special collection under the installation. And on the walls of the drum there are crystals of granulated sugar. The following photos were taken within one minute and clearly show a trace of sugar.

Unloaded from centrifuges, wet granulated sugar is transported for drying

Drying plant. The drum is spinning. Sugar inside the drum is blown with hot air (more than 100 degrees).

After drying, the sugar is cooled to room temperature with continuous mixing in the same plant. At this time, you can get to it from the end and open a secret hatch!

The dryer drum rotates and the sugar is poured, cooling.

It's time to taste the finished product! Sweet!

Dried and cooled granulated sugar is fed to the sieving machine. The photo does not convey movement, but the whole structure sways like a sieve in the hands of a grandmother :)

At the end of the sieving, the sugar is sent for packaging.

Unfortunately, at the packing station, I was asked not to shoot. Filming was allowed only after the end of the work shift and the stop of the conveyor.

The photo shows semi-automatic packing bins, next to which packers sit on benches. A bag is taken from the stack, put on the neck of the hopper, the dispenser pours 50 kg into the bag. After that, the conveyor belt shifts, the neck of the bag enters the “sewing machine”, which sews the bag and then the sewn bag goes to the warehouse along the conveyor belt.

The company also has an automatic packaging line, it is almost the same, only there are no packers. All the action takes place in a translucent tunnel, in fact, you can only see how the machine picks up a bag from a stack, puts it on the bell of the bunker, loads a portion of granulated sugar, then sews it up and sends it to the finished product. For some reason, there were no photos of the process. Apparently he was hypnotized by self-propelled bags :)

That's all.

p.s. The production is very noisy, I did not catch much of what was said. So if I was not accurate in describing the technology and processes, do not blame me.

Attachments: from 3 500 000 rubles

Payback: from 1 month

In the food industry, there are several branches of production with high profitability: almost all people use the products. One of the areas of promising business is the production of sugar from sugar beets. Consider the benefits and risks of such a business and calculate the possible costs.

business concept

According to statistical studies, any resident of our state consumes about 20 kilograms of sugar per year. The product is in constant demand, and if sugar production is established as a business, it will bring high income.

More than 90% of sugar in Russia is produced from imported raw materials. Its prices are quite high.

If you use local raw materials, you can significantly benefit from the difference in selling prices.

Such production requires a decent start-up capital. You need to buy expensive equipment and hire skilled workers. There are two ways to set up a business:

Buy a ready-made plant. You immediately get an established production with high capacity, infrastructure and often well-established supply chains. However, maximum caution is required, because sometimes collapsing buildings with outdated equipment are offered. To avoid this situation, use the services of a competent appraiser.
Buy or rent the necessary premises and assemble the production workshop yourself from a variety of machines and assemblies. For a novice businessman, this is the most suitable way.

You can sell products in bulk to hypermarkets, confectionery factories, catering establishments and canning factories.

Additional profit will be brought by the sale of industrial waste: cake, molasses and molasses. They are sold to suppliers of raw materials or through trade.

What is required for implementation

The future workshop must comply with the standards for the production of food products. Its area is selected based on future production volumes. On average, it is 80-100 square meters. The premises are subdivided into the workshop itself, storage compartments for raw materials and finished products, recreation and hygiene areas for workers.

This production requires the following equipment:

washing;
hydraulic conveyor;
unit for lifting raw material;
cake dryer;
screw press;
diffusion aggregates;
cutting machines;
separator conveyors;
settling tanks;
filtration devices;
evaporating structure;
centrifuges;
dryers and coolers;
vibrating sieve and vibroconveyor.

The line is served by 8 workers. In addition to them, a specialist in the purchase of raw materials and the sale of goods, a storekeeper, and a cleaner are needed.

Step by step start instructions

First, the entrepreneur needs to formalize the production. The best choice is an LLC, which allows you to cooperate with large clients, which will increase the financial benefits. But at first, you can register individual entrepreneurship. Taxation system USN (income minus expenses), OKVED 10.81.11.

You also need to obtain permission from the fire and sanitary services, certificates of product quality and production level.

Processing beets into sugar is a process that takes place in several phases:

Purification of raw material.
Grinding. A special unit with sharply sharpened knives is used. Chopped beets are easier to process in the future.
Juice extraction using a diffusion plant.
Juice purification and clarification. In special devices, the juice is filtered from the sediment.
Juice thickening. At the evaporating unit, the concentration of sugar in the raw material rises to 60-75%.
Obtaining sugar crystals. In vacuum devices, the syrup is processed and massecuite is obtained - crystallized sugar.
Subsequent processing of the massecuite and the isolation of white sugar in a centrifuge.

In the production process, in addition to sugar, molasses, cake and filter cake are formed. The first product can be used in the manufacture of alcohol, citric acid, animal feed. Fertilizers are made from the filtered sediment. Cake is used as the basis for the manufacture of animal feed. All this can serve as an additional source of income.

Financial calculations

Before starting production, all preliminary calculations must be made in the business plan. With proper planning, you can avoid serious mistakes at the beginning of work.

Starting capital and monthly expenses

The main part of the initial investment will be spent on the purchase of a production line and the purchase of raw materials. If you plan to open an enterprise with a daily capacity of about 100 tons, you need to make at least 10,000,000 rubles in the expense item for the purchase of equipment. A mini-plant in the basic configuration costs about 1,200,000. But it will not “raise” more than 10 tons per day.

In addition, it is necessary to take into account the following costs (in rubles):

paperwork - 50,000;
rent of premises for the first month - 10,000;
wages to workers for the same period - 150,000;
purchase of raw materials (at an average price of 5,000 rubles per ton) - 2,000,000;
expenses for the purchase of a cash register and online accounting - 30,000;
transport and contingencies - 40,000;
website creation and promotions - 20,000.

In total, at the start, the entrepreneur needs to have 3,500,000 rubles. Monthly expenses will include additional purchase of raw materials, rent, wages, transport and contingencies. They will amount to at least 1,000,000 rubles.

How much can you earn and payback periods

Beet sugar at wholesale costs an average of 35 rubles per kilo. If 10 tons of products are produced daily, then 220 tons of sugar come out for 22 shifts per month. If you manage to sell everything and do without losses, then you will gain 7,700,000 rubles. With a competent approach to the supply of raw materials and marketing, the company is able to pay off in one month.

Advantages and possible risks

The sugar business has both pros and cons. The main disadvantage can be considered that a small plant will have to be opened in places where raw materials are grown, otherwise you can go broke on transport costs.

Additionally, you can master the manufacture of refined sugar in the form of cubes or curly sweets in the form of stars, hearts, circles. Sugar figurines are also used as confectionery decorations.

The production of sugar from beets is a highly profitable business. If you establish the work of the enterprise and can sell products, the profit will be very decent.

Sugar cane was the main raw material for obtaining pure sucrose until 1747, when the German chemist Andreas Sigismund Marggraf obtained crystalline sucrose from sugar beets. In 1799, Franz Karl Achard confirmed that the production of this product was justified from an economic point of view, and as a result of this, the first sugar beet factories appeared already in 1802. The discovery that sugar can be obtained from sugar beet led to the fact that now sugar has turned from an expensive and exotic flavoring additive into a mass consumption product. There are two main types of sugar produced in our country: granulated sugar and refined sugar. In addition, liquid sugar is produced for the food industry.

Getting granulated sugar

It begins with the collection of sugar beet root crops of the first year of development, containing 20-25% dry matter, including sucrose from 14 to 18%. The rest of the solids are non-sugars (on average 3%), which include reducing sugars and raffinose, nitrogen-containing and nitrogen-free organic substances, and minerals. At the same time, root crops of conditioned sugar beets must meet the following requirements:

- physical condition not lost turgor
- flowering root crops,% not more than 1
- dried root crops,% no more than 5
- root crops with strong mechanical
- damage,% no more than 12
- green mass,% no more than 3
- the content of mummified, frost-bitten, rotten root crops is not allowed.

The preparation of sugar beet and the extraction of juice from it is carried out in the beet processing department. Beets accepted for processing from borage are transported by a hydraulic conveyor to the workshop. At the same time, the beets are washed with water and freed from impurities (straw, haulm, stones, sand). Then, in special washing machines KM-3-57M, the beets are finally cleaned of dirt and impurities. Efficient laundering is carried out in jet beet washers. Metal impurities are removed on an electromagnetic separator. Beet peeling is of great importance, as it affects the quality of the diffusion juice and the sugar yield.

Pure beets are cut on centrifugal, disk or drum beet cutters with thin chips of grooved, diamond-shaped, lamellar and other shapes, depending on the quality of the beets and the type of diffusion apparatus.

The technological scheme for obtaining granulated sugar includes the following operations

The extraction of sugar from beet chips is carried out using hot water (70-75°C) by countercurrent diffusion in diffusion apparatuses. Sugar and other soluble substances diffuse through the cell walls into the water and form diffusion juice. Desugared shavings are called pulp, they are used for livestock feed and for pectin production. The duration of active diffusion, depending on the type of apparatus, ranges from 60 to 80 minutes.

Diffusion juice contains 15-16% solids, including 14-15% sucrose and about 2% non-sugars. It foams strongly, has an acidic reaction, a characteristic odor and a dark, almost black, color due to the presence of beet tyrosine and catechol oxidation products.

All non-sugars (soluble proteins, amino acids, pectin substances, reducing (restoring) sugars, etc.) delay the crystallization of sucrose and increase the loss of sugar with molasses, so physico-chemical purification is carried out in several stages:

1. Defecation - treatment of juice with milk of lime to neutralize acids, coagulate colloidal and coloring substances, precipitate calcium, magnesium and other impurities. In the process of defecation, from non-sugars that have passed into solution, hard-to-filter calcium salts and coloring substances are formed that worsen the quality of the purified juice. Therefore, after defecation, saturation is carried out.
2. Saturation - treatment of juice with saturation gas containing 30-34% carbon dioxide. During this operation, excess lime is removed in the form of finely crystalline calcium carbonate CaCO3, on the surface of which colored non-sugars that have not been removed during diffusion are adsorbed. After saturation, the juice is filtered to remove sediment and subjected to sulfitation.
3. Sulfitation - treatment with sulfur dioxide to provide and reduce alkalinity.

As a result of cleaning, the content of non-sugars in the juice is reduced by 30-35%. Purified juice contains 12-14% solids. Of these, 10-12% sucrose, 0.5-0.7% nitrogenous substances, 0.4-0.5% nitrogen-free organic compounds, 0.5% ash. The purity of the juice is 85-92%.

To obtain sugar in crystalline form, the juice is thickened by evaporating water in two stages. First, a syrup with a solids content of 65% is obtained from juice using four-shell evaporators and a concentrator. The syrup is mixed with yellow sugar tincture and sulphited to pH 7.8-8.2 at a temperature of 80-85°C, then heated to 90-95°C and filtered with the addition of active carbon or other adsorbents. The purified syrup is boiled in a vacuum apparatus for massecuite, which contains 92.5% solids and consists of sucrose crystals (about 55%) and intercrystalline solution containing non-sugar and saturated sucrose solution.

To accelerate the formation of crystals, a little finely ground powdered sugar is introduced into the syrup - seeds, seeds, particles of which serve as crystallization centers. After winding, the crystals grow. To do this, new portions of the syrup are introduced into the vacuum apparatus with simultaneous intensive evaporation of moisture.

The massecuite of the first crystallization is lowered into the massecuite mixer, from where it enters the centrifuges through the massecuite distributor. During centrifugation, sucrose crystals and two effluents are separated. A thin film of intercrystalline liquid remains on the surface of the crystals. For its more complete removal, the crystals in the centrifuge are whitewashed with water at a temperature of 70-95°C in the amount of 3-3.5% by weight of the massecuite. The first runoff is the intercrystalline solution of the massecuite, the second is the solution obtained by whitening sugar. To maximize the extraction of sugar contained in the beets, the crystallization of sucrose is carried out repeatedly.

After a probelka, granulated sugar is unloaded from a centrifuge with a water content of 0.8-1% to a vibrating conveyor and fed to a drying-cooling plant by an elevator. The sugar is dried with hot air to a standard moisture content of 0.03-0.14%, and then cooled to a temperature of 25°C. To remove ferrous impurities, sugar is passed through a magnetic separator, and lumps of unbleached or sticky sugar are removed in a sorting plant and three fractions are separated according to the size of the crystals. Ready granulated sugar enters the bunker for storage or packaging.

A complete typical technological scheme for the production of granulated sugar

Sugar is a sought-after product that is used in its pure form in the confectionery, beverage, pharmaceutical, plastic and other industries. Thus, an entrepreneur who has established an efficient production of sugar can count on a high profitability of the business.

The main advantage of the sugar business is that the products are in demand regardless of the season. Moreover, the volumes of its consumption are constantly increasing, which creates prerequisites for the opening of new enterprises. On average, one resident of Russia eats 20 kg of sugar. Huge volumes are needed by the food industry. Thus, there is every chance to establish mutually beneficial cooperation with large consumers in almost any region of the country.

Advantages and disadvantages of this business

The main disadvantage of this business is a significant dependence on the places where raw materials grow. On the territory of the Russian Federation, most of the products are made from sugar beet, the cultivation centers of which are concentrated in the Central, Volga and Southern districts. Thus, for manufacturers from other regions, transportation costs increase significantly.

The basic advantage lies in the single-component nature of the product - it is enough for an entrepreneur to find one or two responsible suppliers to ensure uninterrupted supply of the enterprise. In addition, the level of sugar consumption is high, and the organizational costs are relatively low, which allows for a quick return on investment.

Organization of sugar production

To open a large-scale business, the organizational form is optimal. It is also necessary to issue permits to the SES, fire inspection and other authorities. Specific norms are recommended to be clarified locally, as they may vary from region to region.

The requirements for the final product are regulated by a number of standards, the main ones being:

Sugar beet. Specifications (R 52647-2006);
Sugar beet. Test methods (R 53036-2008);
Method for the determination of sucrose (12571-2013);
Sugar production (R 52678-2006).

Types of sugar products

Using various technologies, it is possible to obtain products that differ in their properties. There are 4 types of sugar:

Refined - sucrose of a high degree of purification in the form of separate pieces (more often - a cubic shape).
Sand - in the form of crystals 0.5-2.5 mm in size.
Raw - in the form of separate unground crystals.
Powder - powdered sucrose obtained by grinding crystals.

Sugar production equipment

Each production stage requires the use of certain units. Thus, a set of plants for the preparation of raw materials includes washing machines, a water separator, stone, sand and top traps, a hydraulic conveyor and beet lifting equipment.

The basic line is completed with beet cutter, pulp dryers, screw press, diffuser, scales, conveyor with magnetic separator.

Juice purification is carried out using settling tanks, sulfitators, saturators, filters with a heating option, defecation units.

Crystallization is carried out with the participation of an evaporator with a concentrator, a centrifuge, a vacuum apparatus, a drying and cooling chamber, a vibrating sieve and a vibrating conveyor.

You can organize a plant both from scratch and by purchasing a ready-made sugar production line. In the first case, the cost of equipment directly depends on the power. For example, equipment designed to produce up to 10 tons of products per day will cost about $20,000. The price of the complex, which allows to produce 50 tons of sugar, is about $200,000.

When buying an existing complex, it is important to assess the degree of wear and tear. As a rule, specialized organizations are involved in this. On average, the price of equipment launched before 2000 is up to 2,000,000. More modern complexes can cost $5,000,000 or more.

Raw material

In the CIS, a stable tradition of sugar production from sugar beets has developed. But at the moment, more and more manufacturers prefer imported raw materials. Along with root crops from the USA, France, Germany, widely used:

stalks of bread sorghum (mainly from China);
starchy rice and millet (obtaining malt sugar);
palm sap (from Southeast Asia);
sugar cane (supplied from India, Cuba, Brazil).

Sugar production technology + Video how they do it

Beet sugar

The classical technology for making sugar from sugar beets includes the following steps:

Extraction. Root crops are washed, peeled, weighed and sent to shavings. The obtained intermediate product is loaded into a diffuser, where it is mixed with water and heated, thus obtaining a diffuse juice with 15% sucrose content.
Diffuse Juice Purification. Milk of lime is added to the mass and several stages of purification are carried out.
Evaporation of liquid. Under the action of high temperature, the water gradually evaporates. The result is a syrup in which about 50% of the volume is sucrose.
Crystallization. The syrup is sequentially fed into centrifuges, massecuite distributors and vacuum units. Having passed the listed stages, the raw material turns into sugar, which the consumer is used to seeing.

Video how to do it:

Rafinated sugar

A Chinese-made plant capable of producing 150-200 kg of products per shift costs about ₽2,000,000, equipment from one of the Turkish companies costs about ₽7,000,000. Along with this, a packaging line will be required (₽600,000).

Such sugar is of two types: pressed and cast. The first is made from granulated sugar by centrifuging, pressing, drying and dividing into cubes of a set size. Cast sugar is obtained by loading granulated sugar into molds and holding until completely solidified. Then the raw material is poured several times with pure sugar and washed to remove molasses. The prepared layers are dried and split into cubes.

Cane sugar

In general, the process is similar to obtaining sugar from sugar beets, with the exception that instead of extraction, the pre-soaked stems of the plant are pressed on special rollers. Thus, 90% of the sucrose contained in the cane is extracted. After that, the juice is fed into the sieve and processed on the juice meters.

Molasses and pulp

By-products from the sugar manufacturing process are used as livestock feed. As a rule, they are bartered for beets from agricultural producers. Bagasse (or molasses) is also in demand by a certain category of consumers.

A source of additional income can also be the receipt of sugar-candis, which is a fairly large transparent crystals. This will require the purchase of special equipment.

room

The requirements for the premises where the production equipment will be located are similar to those put forward for any food production. Its area is torn depending on the dimensions of the equipment. It is necessary to have communications (water supply, sewerage, electricity), a sanitary facility, a dry and well-ventilated warehouse complex, since sugar quickly absorbs odors.

Seasonality of the production process

The main load on the production complex falls on 3-4 months, when the raw materials ripen. After this period, it is necessary to carry out a technical inspection of the equipment and, if necessary, repair it.

The processes that take place in sugar production are considered safe as they are not sources of dust, toxic gases, etc. The high noise level during operation of the plants must be taken into account.

Capacity expansion

Most start-up manufacturers initially focus on the production of granulated sugar. And only after reaching the payback, they decide to expand production. As a rule, we are talking about the manufacture of the following products.

Profitability of the sugar business

With an effective organization of production, investments pay off in 6 months. In this case, the purchase price of the equipment is of great importance. Thus, European units with a capacity of up to 20 tons of sugar per day will cost at least €90,000.

You should also pay attention to the implementation of the finished product. An entrepreneur needs to create a recognizable brand, develop an attractive packaging design for the consumer, and establish a stable sales market.

It is a very profitable business. Raw materials for sugar production can be from sugar cane, palm sap, starchy rice, millet or beets. How is beet sugar made?

The production of granulated sugar is a technological process consisting of several steps:

collection and transportation of beets to production;
purification of raw materials from dirt and metal objects;
making shavings from beets;
obtaining and purification of diffusion juice;
evaporation of juice to a state of syrup;
processing of syrup into a crystalline mass - massecuite I;
obtaining crystalline sugar and molasses from massecuite I;
evaporation of molasses into massecuite II, its separation into molasses and yellow sugar;
purification of yellow sugar;
granulated sugar packaging.

Equipment for sugar production

The production of sugar from sugar beet includes various operations, reminiscent of the technological process in a processing plant.

Equipment for the sugar industry at the preparatory stage includes:

beet lifters;
hydraulic conveyor;
traps for haulm, sand and stones;
water separators;
washing machines for root crops.

Equipment for the production of sugar of the main technological operations are numerous:

magnetic separators for catching accidentally caught metal objects;
conveyor with scales;
bunkers with trough systems;
beet cutters centrifugal, disk or drum;
screw diffusion apparatus;
press;
pulp dryers;
defekator with stirrer;
heated mechanical filter;
saturator;
sulfitator;
vacuum filter;
centrifuge;
evaporator with concentrator.

For the finishing operations of sugar production, the following devices are needed:

vibration conveyor;
sieve with vibrator;
dryer with cooler.

Preparatory stage of production

The harvested beet is sent to the heap fields - intermediate storage areas for beets, from where it is sent by hydro transport to the processing plant. The equipment is sloping all the way to the plant, with traps installed on it for large debris, including haulm, sand and stones. And also magnetic separators are installed so that metal objects do not get into the technological process.

At the plant, the final washing of raw materials takes place, followed by treatment with a solution of bleach - 150 gr. per 1 ton of beets. Water is used cold (up to 18 ° C) to prevent the loss of sucrose from the fruit. Root crops by a belt conveyor, on which they are blown with air to remove moisture, are weighed and sent to collection bins.

sugar factory

From the bunkers, the beets are directed by a system of chutes to beet cutters to obtain chips 5–6 mm long and about 1 mm thick. Thinner than 0.5 mm and shorter than 5 mm is a marriage, which should not exceed 3% in chips.

Beet chips after weighing are sent to a screw diffusion plant for desugaring with hot water. The result is pulp and diffusion juice containing about 15% sugar, 2% "non-sugars" and up to 3 g/l of pulp. The juice is filtered from the pulp and, with the help of lime, is cleaned of sediment (salts of acids, proteins and pectin). This process takes place in two stages - pre-defecation (lasts up to 5 minutes) and defecation (10 minutes).

In order to clear the defecated juice from lime, it is sent to the first saturation. In the saturator, it is treated with carbon dioxide. Lime passes into calcium carbonate and precipitates together with non-sugars. Saturated juice is freed from sediment using mechanical filters. Since the color of the diffusion juice is still dark, it is sent for sulfitation - treatment with sulfur dioxide.

The clarified diffusion juice is evaporated to a syrup state with a moisture content of 35%. Beet syrup is again subjected to sulfitation to a pH of 8.2 and a dry content of more than 90%, filtered and sent to vacuum filters.

The massecuite of the first crystallization is obtained from beet syrup. Massecuite I after the mixer is subjected to centrifugation with separation into crystalline sugar and the so-called green molasses. The sugar is washed and steamed to obtain granulated sugar with a purity of 99.75%.

The molasses is returned to filtration at high temperature to obtain a second crystallization of yellow sugar and molasses from the massecuite. Brown sugar can be used in the food industry or steamed to produce white sugar.

During steaming, white molasses or a second runoff is formed, which is returned to the technological chain at the time of boiling the massecuite of the first crystallization. Sugar is poured over with heated air to dry to a moisture content of 0.14%, packaged and sent to the warehouse. Molasses is used as fodder molasses.

Zero waste production

The technology for the production of sugar from sugar beet allows the use of products of operations with a low content of saccharides. Molasses is a good feed additive and many products can be made from it:

alcohol;
lemon acid;
yeast.

Beet pulp is also widely used as animal feed. The content of solids in it is up to 6%.

To improve the possibility of transportation and increase the nutritional value, the pulp is dried to 80% moisture. If they plan to store it for a long time, then they dry it with flue gases to a water content of 10%.

Production of refined sugar

For the manufacture of refined sugar, granulated sugar is used with a dry matter content of 99.85%, non-sugar impurities of not more than 0.25% and a color of 1.8. Syrup with a sugar content of 73% is made from granulated sugar in an autoclave. The syrup is filtered and purified from dyes with the repetition of stages.

For adsorption, activated carbon AGS-4 or powdered coal is used. Then the sweet solution is sent for thickening in vacuum plants, crystallized in centrifuges.

The resulting crystals are treated with clearers and ultramarine and sent to carousel presses. As a result, briquettes are obtained, which are dried and cut into pieces.