A sugar mill is used to define a factory which in general processes sugar cane to manufacture white sugar. The processes which are followed to produce white sugar from sugar cane are as follows -

• The first step is Cane receiving as well as unloading. In this process sugar cane is received at the factory and unloaded from the various transport vehicles. Various equipment like Hydraulic Grab Cane Unloader is used in this process.

• Then juice extraction follows. It is done mainly by two processes which are known as milling and also diffusion.

• Then juice clarification is done by removing most of the suspended impurities from the juice. Sugar cane juice is very acidic and has a pH of around 4.0 to 4.5. Calcium hydroxide, which is also called Milk of lime or even limewater, is added in order to increase the pH of the cane juice to around 7. The lime also enables the decay of the product into glucose as well as fructose.

• Juice evaporation is performed next in order to concentrate the juice into very thick syrup.

• The next step is the syrup clarification in which the clarified juice is concentrated using one of the multiple-effect evaporators which make the syrup to around 60 percent sucrose by the weight.

• Crystallization and Centrifugation is one of the essential steps of the process of sugar refining. In this process, the sugar syrup is concentrated using a vacuum till it becomes supersaturated. Then as seed particles, fine sugar crystals are introduced so that the sugar crystals start forming and grow in size considerably.

• Preparation of the sugarcane is the next step where the canes are cut and shredded in order to obtain juice from them, which is usually done by a Cane Leveller.





• Sugar drying is the next step in this process where the sugar crystals are removed from the solution and dried to form suitable for consumption.

• Finally, packaging and delivery of the sugar crystals are done according to their size and shape.

The steps which are mentioned above are followed for producing brown or even raw sugar. Mill white sugar which is even called plantation white sugar is capable of being produced in this process by following a process which can remove the color from the sugar produced. This can be done in the middle of the processes of juice clarification as well as the juice evaporation stages as mentioned. The raw sugar which is produced in this process is generally further purified to create white sugar. This sugar refining can be processed at a separate plant or even at the back end of the raw sugar refinery.

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