White Papers CTRM for Sugar – Managing Sugar’s Complexity

CTRM for Sugar - Managing Sugar’s Complexity A ComTechAdvisory Whitepaper SUGAR CANE Sugar cane is essentially a giant grass that grows up to 3 meters in height in tropical and semitropical regions. It needs rainfall and sunlight to grow and the majority of the sugar cane production is not irrigated, relying solely on rainfall. Harvesting the sugar cane is performed either manually or mechanically, and in both cases the cane is cut close to the ground and the leaves removed. The plant re-grows each year from the original root, but requires replacement after an average 7-year period. The harvested sugar cane is transported as quickly as possible to the sugar mill to maximize the extraction of the sugar. The sugar mill is typically located close by the sugar cane growing area in order to avoid delays, reduce transport costs and related environmental impacts. At the mill, the cane will be crushed and the juices will be collected. The cane juice will then be cleaned using slaked lime, and then reduced to syrup via boiling off of excess water. Finally, the syrup is crystallized through additional boiling allowing sugar crystals to grow. Once the sugar is in a crystalline state, any excess liquids are spun out in centrifuges and the crystals are dried with hot air. Once dried, the crystalline sugar is placed in storage, awaiting shipping. The remaining cane fiber material is often used to generate energy (co-generation) required for the processing plant. Usually, these local mills produce raw sugar that requires refining to a pure form; however, in some cases the sugar mills have been modified to enable production of direct consumption sugars. Raw sugar is shipped in bulk ocean-going vessels from the sugar mill directly to port-based refineries, which will remove any remaining impurities and color from the raw sugar. Once refined, the sugar can then be tailored to meet the customers’ requirements. A full portfolio of sugars is produced in crystal, liquid and syrup form. SUGAR BEET White beet sugar is made from the beets in a single process rather than the two steps required for cane sugar. The beets are harvested in the autumn and early winter and transported to the factory by large trucks. Beet is a rotational crop requiring almost 4 times the land area of an equivalent sugar cane crop. The beets have to be thoroughly washed and separated from mud, stones, leaves and other debris and waste before being processed. The clean beet is then sliced into thin chips to increase the surface area of the beet for enhanced sugar extraction. These chips are placed in a diffuser with hot water for around an hour. Afterwards, the exhausted beet slices are run through screw presses to extract as much of the juice as possible. The pressed beet is then turned into pellets, which are used as a constituent of animal feed. The raw juice will usually contain about 14% sugar and it must be cleaned before it can be used for sugar production. Once cleaned through a process known as carbonatation, the liquid is processed in a multi-stage evaporator to reduce it to a sugar syrup. Finally, that syrup is placed into a very large pan, typically holding 60 tons or more of sugar syrup, where the remaining water is boiled off until sugar crystals grow. The wet crystalline sugar is then spun in centrifuges to separate the liquid. The crystals are then fully dried with hot air prior to being packed and/or stored ready for shipping. The final sugar is white and ready for use, whether in the kitchen or by an industrial user, such as a soft drink manufacturer. A byproduct of the beet refining process is beet molasses, which is usually turned into a cattle feed, or sent to a fermentation plant such as a distillery for alcohol production. © Commodity Technology Advisory LLC, 2016, All Rights Reserved. 3

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