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Sugar Beet Processing to Sugars

Chapter · August 2022

DOI: 10.1007/978-981-19-2730-0_42

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Sugar Beet Processing to Sugars
42
Barbara Magdalena Muir

Abstract

The beet sugar factory is really a sugar extraction facility where liquid or
crystalline sugar, water, animal feeds, fertiliser, molasses, and other
by-products are produced. Sugar beet accounts for about one-third of the sugar
production in the world and most of this is done in Europe followed by the
Russian Federation and the United States of America. Sugar beet entering the
factory is cleaned and sliced into thin strips to afford maximum extraction of
sucrose while, at the same time, minimising the extraction of non-sucrose. The
pulp remaining after extraction is dried and used as animal feed. There may be an
option to burn this pulp as fuel or produce biogas via methanisation, but the well-
established current feed markets feed would first need to be negotiated. The sugar
juice is subjected to a double carbonation process which removes a large portion
of the non-sucrose. Factories often operate a lime kiln on-site to provide the active
lime and carbon dioxide needed for the carbonation process. Residual soluble
calcium can be removed by ion exchange. After evaporation, the white sugar
product is obtained through a final purification by crystallisation. The sugar
crystals are dried, cooled, and conditioned to produce a free-flowing, mature
sugar product ready for packaging or distribution. The run-off syrups from
crystallisation are exhausted through further crystallisation steps. These sugars
and syrups are recycled and all by-products are valorised.

Keywords
Sugar beet · Diffusion · Clarification · Carbonation · Decalcification ·
Evaporation · Crystallisation

B. M. Muir (*)
Tereos Corporate Technology Centre, Aalst, Belgium
e-mail: barbara.muir@tereos.com

# The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte 837
Ltd. 2022
V. Misra et al. (eds.), Sugar Beet Cultivation, Management and Processing,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-2730-0_42
838 B. M. Muir

Abbreviations

ICUMSA International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis

42.1 Introduction

The process to produce crystallised sugar from sugar beet was developed by German
chemist, Franz Carl Achard, who also built the first beet sugar factory in Europe in
early 1801. Achard is thus considered the ‘father of the beet sugar industry’ (Müller
2021). Initially, raw sugar was produced which was, similar to cane raw sugar,
refined to produce white sugar. However, the development of raw house carbonation
purification in the 1960s allowed the production of direct white beet sugar (Honig
1965; Van der Poel et al. 1998), which is today the standard for the industry. In fact,
the current process for the production of beet sugar has not changed fundamentally
since then. Focus on optimisation, energy reduction, and valorisation of by-products
has only confirmed that carbonation technology is one of the most efficient and still
by far the most cost-effective way of refining beet juice on a large scale. Unfortu-
nately, the carbon footprint due to the use of coal/anthracite is not negotiable without
integral changes to the kiln and this might ultimately cause a swing towards physical
rather than chemical purification. For good reviews on alternative processes such as
membrane filtration and resin technology, see Kochergin (2009) and Johnsonn
et al. (2019).
The beet sugar factory can be divided into a few distinct Unit Operations with
specific sub-departments (Fig. 42.1). The beet raw material is considered part of the
factory as soon as it enters the weighbridge gate, where it is weighed, sampled, and
analysed. The beet is then stored on a designated flat pad. This is the first department
called The Yard. The next operation is that of Cleaning, destoning, and de-weeding
with concomitant separation of small broken beet particles (tails). Next, the beet is
sliced in the Slicing Station and prepared for the extraction process. After Extrac-
tion, the solid plant material (pulp) is pressed to a suitable dry substance and
valorised further (e.g. by drying and palletisation to produce animal feeds). The
beet raw juice is clarified (Purification) into a clear juice ready for Evaporation.
Some factories have large tanks for the storage of evaporated thick juice.
The crystallisation department is the final purification stage of the beet syrup and
is conventionally arranged into a three-stage cascading batch or continuous
crystallisers and centrifuges to produce white sugar and final molasses. White
sugar is finally conditioned by drying, cooling, and conditioning to produce a stable,
flowable white crystal product.
This chapter will consider the current mainstream unit operations of a beet sugar
production facility.
42 Sugar Beet Processing to Sugars 839

Sampling Cleaning Slicing Extraction Pulp Drying

Beet Pulp
Stone catchers De-watering Hopper &
Pressing and/or
Drying
Slicers
Storage
Pelleting

CO2
ca. 93% purity raw juice
Lime Kiln
Crystallisation
Evaporators Steam White High-Raw Low-Raw
Decalcification

Slaker
Vacuum
Pans

Milk of Lime

er
Tank 1st Carb 2nd Carb

lv
so

r
Molasses

lte
is

Fi
D
Cents

Purification Filter Concentration

95% purity Thick Juice
Storage Tanks
Production Sugar silos
Alternator Sugar
Clarifier Filter

Turbine Dryer
Lime Fertilizer
Presses
Cooler
Boiler House
Sugar Conditioning & Storage

Fig. 42.1 Overview of the beet sugar manufacturing process

42.2 Beet Harvesting Campaign

Sugar beet is planted from seeds at the time of the spring rains. The beet is then
harvested after about 8 months when the sucrose levels peak and just as autumn
starts, giving the crop plenty of summer sun and rain during the growing period to
thrive and accumulate sugar. Today, sugar beet is only harvested mechanically and is
directly transported to the factory for processing to avoid deterioration. In colder
countries, storage is often considered where there is a risk of prolonged frost as
freezing ground cannot be penetrated, potentially locking the beet in the soil until
after winter. In such cases, beet must be harvested before the winter sets in and stored
in piles, either in the field or at the factory. For example, beet is commonly stored in
western Europe from mid-December onwards (Fig. 42.2). As a consequence, the
beet harvesting campaigns tend to be highly intensive and short; only about 3–-
4 months. Much work has been done to understand and control sucrose losses during
storage (Akeson and Stout 1978; Huijbregts 2009; Van Swaaij and Huijbregts 2010,
Hoffmann et al. 2017).
840 B. M. Muir

Fig. 42.2 Beet stored in a pile next to the field and covered

42.3 Beet Reception

Beet trucks are weighed at a weighbridge as they enter the factory and the trucks are
again weighed after offloading of the beet. The sampled beet is cleaned with high
pressure water, often in combination with tumbling equipment to remove the soil
and as much of the skin as possible. The beet is then inspected visually to look for
root damage such as bruises or obvious infections (Fig. 42.3). The beet can be rated
in terms of their physical condition or the infected areas can be separated and
weighed to produce a comparative measurable value. Mostly, factories will have
contracted agreements with the farmers about the quality of the beet that is delivered.
The cleaned beet sample is grated to a fine pulp in preparation for chemical
analyses using a solvent and/or reagent and then filtered with the help of filter aids.
Water is almost exclusively used as solvent with clarifying reagents, including basic
lead subacetate, aluminum sulphate, or other proprietary clarifying agents such as
Octapol. Most factories are now shying away from the use of hazardous substances
such as lead compounds.
The filtrate is analysed for sucrose content using polarimetry (ICUMSA Method
GS6-1 1994 or ICUMSA Method GS6-3 1994), potassium using flame photometry
(ICUMSA Method GS6-7 2007), and α-amino nitrogen using UV spectroscopy
(ICUMSA Method GS6-5 2007). Sometimes glucose is also measured as routine
(ICUMSA Method GS8/4/6-4 2007). The sucrose content is used for payment
purposes, although various payment formulas exist within private contracts between
42 Sugar Beet Processing to Sugars 841

Fig. 42.3 Beet inspection

conveyor in the factory
tarehouse

farmers and factories/companies, which can include levels of nitrogen as well as

potassium to encourage farmers to improve field health. Most often, the potassium
and nitrogen values are used to give feedback to the farmers about soil fertilisation as
well as in combination with glucose to give the factory a measure of the technical
quality of the beet, i.e. how well the beet will behave in the factory. See Van der Poel
et al. (1998) and Vermeulen (2015) for more information on formulas used to
describe this technical quality.

42.4 Yard Operations

Once in the yard, the truck will offload the beet into a designated area where feeding
into the factory will be managed on a first-in-first-out basis (Fig. 42.4). Typically,
beet can spend between 12 and 24 h on this pad, depending on the opening hours of
the weighbridge. Some factories also have controlled beet silos that allow for longer
storage and to simplify logistics. In colder parts, beet can be stored and even sliced
while frozen to lend exceptional preservation potential to the beet.
In the yard, extra care is needed to control excessive damage to the beet. Front
loaders and the sides of conveyor belts are typically equipped with rubber buffering
to ensure smooth movement of the beets. Beet is pushed onto conveyor belts or water
troughs located under the level of the flat pad to facilitate continuous feeding of the
factory. Since the sucrose losses in the yard is extremely difficult to assess or even
estimate, yard operations must be very well managed (Akeson and Stout 1978).
842 B. M. Muir

Fig. 42.4 The beet yard and storage flatpad

42.5 Cleaning

Sugar beets grow under the ground and, therefore, soil adheres to the beet after
harvesting. Despite developments in harvesting techniques to minimise the levels of
soil arriving at the factory, typical dirt levels of 4–8% are still common, depending
on the nature of the soil in each area. Soil causes damage to equipment, contains a lot
of microorganisms that feeds on sucrose, and can be a cause of high ash levels in
products and co-products. The first step after arrival and offloading at the sugar
factory is, therefore, cleaning. In sandy soil areas, such as some parts of the USA and
the north of Spain, this can be done dry—however, most beet cleaning is done with
water along with mechanical separation from stones, weeds, and beet fragments
(Fig. 42.5).
42 Sugar Beet Processing to Sugars 843

Fig. 42.5 Cleaned beet on a conveyor belt

Since beet has a density slightly lower than 1 kg/L, water can be used to wash and
at the same time transport the floating beets. This water can be reused for a period of
weeks, but care is needed to ensure a reasonable level of soil is maintained and to
ensure the pH drop of the water does not cause undue erosion of the equipment used
in the cleaning station. Sucrose will inevitably leach into the water, where it will
decompose chemically or biologically to organic acids which will cause a reduction
in the pH. If this is not managed, the chemical damage to equipment can become
quite expensive.
The soil, potentially highly fertile, is recovered from the water in settling bonds,
while the stones and organic material can be valorised within the local community.

42.6 Slicing

Beet is sliced into long, V-shaped strips known as cossettes (Fig. 42.6). The cossette
shape is one of the great innovations of the 1930s and is carefully produced by using
two sets of knives iteratively arranged to give a long strip of beet with a notch on the
inside to preserve the integrity of the beet structure (Van der Poel et al. 1989). The
shape and size of the cossettes are measured and expressed in a number of different
ways to enable consistent optimisation of the slicer settings while, at the same time,
allowing changes based on the quality of the beet. For example, sucrose from thicker
cossettes tend to diffuse slower so that thinner cossettes are preferred as long as
structural integrity can be maintained. On the other hand, deteriorated beet benefits
from thicker strips.
In the factory, cossette quality can be determined in three ways (Asadi 2007). The
Silin number expresses the length (in meters) of 100 g of cossettes laid out in a row.
The longer the row, the thinner the cossettes. Any pieces shorter than 10 mm (0.4
844 B. M. Muir

Fig. 42.6 Sugar beet

cossettes

inches) or thinner than 5 mm (0.2 inches) are collected separately as rejects. Good
cossettes have a Silin number of 10–18 m (30–54 ft). The mass of rejects should not
be more than 5 g (not over 5%).
Secondly, the Swedish number expresses the permeability of the cossettes and is
measured as the ratio of mass of cossettes longer than 50 mm to those shorter than
10 mm in 100 g of cossettes. The higher the ratio, the better with a required minimum
ratio of 10. Lastly, the Mush content is expressed as the ratio of the mass of
cossettes less than 10 mm long to the total cossette mass (100 g). A mush content
of less than 5% is required for good operation.
These characteristics can be used individually or in combination and should be
carefully monitored to provide a compromised balance between maximising extrac-
tion of sucrose into water (maximising opening of the sucrose containing beet cells)
and the subsequent pressing of the exhausted cossettes into manageable pulp
fragments (Asadi 2007; Van der Poel et al. 1998; Prati and Maniscalco 2013).

42.7 Extraction

Since the beet is stored outside, the cossettes are relatively cold even after slicing
(or can still be frozen in some regions). The cossettes are therefore often pre-heated
in a counter current mixer with diffusion juice in a liquid temperature gradient from
73
C to around 45
C, to prevent thermal shock of the fibres. The sucrose is then
extracted from the beet cossettes in a counter-current diffusion process. A number of
different diffuser types and designs exist with specific operational considerations
depending on the design (Fig. 42.7).
The temperature of the supply water is kept high to denature the sucrose
containing beet cell walls which so become permeable and to inactivate any natural
42 Sugar Beet Processing to Sugars 845

Fig. 42.7 The RT4 beet diffuser

enzymes and mesophilic and thermophilic bacterial. In addition, biocide is used

either continuously or as periodic shock dosages or interchangeably with steam, to
control other bacteria. Diffusion can be run completely sterile, but more often, a
controlled fermentation is allowed to benefit from the lactic acid effect on
dewatering of the beet pulp after diffusion. A temperature of 73
C is normally
targeted. At higher temperatures, the beet cell wall structure starts to break down into
small, degraded particles of protein, causing lower juice purity, foaming, slow
settling and/or filtration problems. Once again, a balance is maintained to extract
between 96.0 and 98.5% of the sucrose as diffusion juice. While beet contains all of
the water needed for extraction, some hot diffusion supply water (usually from the
pulp pressing station) is supplemented to obtain a ratio of beet to juice of 1.0:1.1,
called the draft ratio.
Depending on the equipment and capacity, the diffusion process takes around
40 min, after which the beet and juice are separated via screens. Juice is used to heat
the incoming cossettes (counter current mixer) or simply forwarded to the juice
heaters for purification.

42.8 Pressed Pulp

After diffusion, the cossettes are considered exhausted and are mechanically pressed
to remove as much water as possible to a dry substance of about 30%. Dewatering
aids can be added to obtain a higher dry substance; the most prominent pressing aid
is calcium sulphate (Gypsum). Low levels of lactic acid (around 150 ppm) are
known to also have good dewatering characteristics, but the implied loss of sucrose
to form lactic acid needs to be weighed up against the benefit in dry substances.
846 B. M. Muir

Sugar beet pulp is used to produce a range of sought-after animal feed products.
The pulp is rich in fibre, easily digestible, and high in energy for ruminants,
particularly milk cows (Kelly 1983). At the pressed pulp stage, the product is not
microbially stable for more than a day or two and should therefore be used or
dispensed to customers immediately. Where this is not possible, the pulp can be
stored in encapsulated silos where lactic acid from bacterial action will actually serve
to conserve the pulp for an extended period of time. The pressed pulp can also be
further dried to a maximum of 88% dry substance to afford an additional saving in
transport. However, since drying operations are often dependent on fossil fuels, a lot
of innovation is seen in this area. For example, drying can be done by low-pressure
steam (Deur and Yacine 2015) or in warmer climates with solar energy (Anon 2022).
Alternatively, the pulp can serve as co-feed into an anaerobic digestor for the
production of biogas (Maurus et al. 2018) and it has been demonstrated that pulp can
be used as biofuel to produce steam and energy for the factory after drying to 50%
dry substance (Jensen 2016). However, these innovations will need to take into
consideration the primary use of beet pulp as animal feed, an essential step in our
current food chain.

42.9 Purification

The resulting diffusion juice is purified by alkaline and thermal treatment, rendering
a large portion of the impurities insoluble, followed by either decantation or filtering.
The most common purification process used in the beet sugar industry is carbon-
ation—a method that involves treatment of the juice with an excess of milk of lime
(calcium hydroxide) to denature, precipitate, and/or convert various impurities,
followed by crystallisation of the excess calcium with carbon dioxide as calcium
carbonate. The resulting carbonate crystals have a large surface area and will absorb
impurities to form a thick sludge that can be separated by filtration or by settling with
the aid of a flocculant.
The objectives of purification are to remove enough of the non-sucrose
components to be able to make white sugar of good quality at a sufficient rate and
yield and to stabilise the juice for the evaporation stage. The target, therefore, is to
reduce the levels of impurities that have a detrimental effect on the resulting sugar
quality (for example, colourants, ash, odorants, and flavourants), on the
crystallisation rate (e.g. oligosaccharides), and exhaustibility of molasses (α-amino
nitrogens). Note that impurities do not need to be removed completely, but only
sufficiently, and this must be managed carefully to get the right compromise of
obtaining the highest possible sucrose recovery at the lowest possible cost
(McGinnis and Moroney 1951).
The reader is referred to Van der Poel et al. (1998) for the history of the
development of purification processes and also for a number of variations that are
still used today. Here, only the double carbonation process will be discussed, using
active lime and carbon dioxide (dissolved as carbonic acid) in steps of preliming,
main liming, and a two-step carbonation, a process that was finally developed around
42 Sugar Beet Processing to Sugars 847

the 1940s in Germany (Briones 2005). Many variations exist, for example, the use of
cold liming in the USA (to make use of the characteristic anomaly of calcium salts to
be more soluble at colder temperatures), intermediate liming between first and
second carbonation, or addition of either acid or base as required in different parts
of the process. Regardless of the exact process used, it is imperative to monitor the
nature and quality of the beet to determine the specific target setpoints (such as pH or
alkalinity) on a weekly or monthly basis.

42.9.1 Production of Milk of Lime and Carbon Dioxide

Most beet sugar factories today operate their own lime kiln to produce both active
calcium hydroxide and carbon dioxide from limestone and either coal or anthracite
as fuel (Fig. 42.8). For a discussion on other types of lime kilns, refer to Asadi
(2007). Understanding of the kiln process can be simplified by considering the main
chemical equations for both production and use of the various components.
Limestones (calcium carbonate, CaCO3) of typically 200 mm diameter are
introduced at the top of an operating lime kiln together with pure anthracite or

Fig. 42.8 A multiple shaft

mixed-feed kiln and slaker
848 B. M. Muir

coal (C) in a fixed ratio (see Eq. 42.1). The process is called calcination, in which
calcium carbonate is thermally converted to calcium oxide (quick or active lime,
CaO) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The coal acts purely as fuel and produces some
additional carbon dioxide through a reaction with oxygen from the air. Stoichiome-
try in Eq. 42.1 is purely illustrative (assuming 7.5% coal on limestone). Some carbon
monoxide, methane as well as oxygen, nitrogen, and additional carbon dioxide (from
the air) will be present in the runoff kiln gas. Typically, this gas will be between
32 and 40% CO2 and can be scrubbed or dried before use, if needed.

CaCO3 þ 0:32C þ 0:32O2 $ CaO þ 1:32CO2 ð42:1Þ

The resulting quick lime powder is collected at the bottom of the kiln. As the
name implies, this product is very active as well as hygroscopic and is mixed with
water from the factory in an adjacent slaker to produce milk of lime (calcium
hydroxide, Ca(OH)2), in a highly exothermic reaction (Eq. 42.2). While most
calcium salts are sparingly soluble in water, the slaking process produces calcium
hydroxide which is partially soluble and presents as a colloidal suspension (milk).
Water with low levels of sucrose is often used to also produce some calcium
saccharide, which improves the solubility and behaviour of the lime (Rogé 2007).

CaO þ H2 O $ CaðOHÞ2 ð42:2Þ

42.9.2 Liming of Diffusion Juice

While pH is often used as an easy measure to determine setpoints and controls in the
factory, the success of the liming process still often depends on the skills and
observations of the operators. Supported, of course, by key analyses performed in
the laboratory; analyses which still cannot yet be fully automated for integration into
advanced control systems. One of the difficulties is the changing nature of the
incoming beet: the technical quality as determined in the reception area. A quick
response to any changes is needed to maintain a balanced operation.
One of the most useful measurements is that of alkalinity. Alkalinity is defined as
the total amount of hydroxide, carbonate, and bicarbonate in a solution measured by
titration with an acid. It described the buffering capacity of the juice and is expressed
as the equivalent mass of CaO. It can be used to both set up the factory and evaluate
the performance, but is most useful in aiding the chemist to balance the factory in
terms of cations and anions (Van der Poel et al. 1990; Roten and Schulze 2019).
The chemical reactions that are associated with lime purification are described by
Van der Poel et al. (1998) as follows:

1. Precipitation and flocculant of colloidal substances (proteins, pectins, hemicellu-

lose, saccharides, colourants)
42 Sugar Beet Processing to Sugars 849

Table 42.1 pH and alkalinity profile from a hot pre-liming factory

Alkalinity (g CaO/ Temperature Averaged laser particle size D
pH L juice) (
C) [4,3] (μm)
Pre-limed juice 11.4 1.500 72 15
Limed juicea n/a 6.000 83 25
1st carbonation 11.2 0.650 83 35
juice
2nd 9.2 0.065 90 25
carbonation
juice
Pre-evaporator 9.2 0.010 80 0
juice
a
pH reading is no longer sensible for these high alkalinities (a maximum 12.5 is obtained)

Fig. 42.9 Precipitation reactions in the pre-limer

2. Precipitation of anions forming insoluble or sparingly soluble salts with calcium

(phosphate, sulphate, organic acids)
3. Alkaline conversion of fructose, glucose, and amides to organic acids
4. Formation of cations such as ammonia (NH4+)
5. Precipitation of cations such as magnesium
6. Adsorption of other juice components on the precipitate and carbonate crystals.

Table 42.1 shows typical pH, alkalinity, and particle size data from a factory in
western Europe.

42.9.3 Pre-liming

Milk of lime is introduced to heated diffusion juice in a counter-current pre-liming

system with five or six compartments to afford residence time. Each compartment
has a target pH and alkalinity to enable the various precipitation reactions to occur at
their optimum pH (Fig. 42.9). The temperature of pre-liming between factories can
vary widely according to preference.
850 B. M. Muir

Fig. 42.10 Alkalinity vs pH in pre-liming

While pH is much quicker to measure in the laboratory than alkalinity, it is

important to bear in mind that these two parameters do not have a linear, but rather a
second order relationship (Fig. 42.10).
As illustrated in Eq. 42.3, after neutralisation of organic acids and stabilisation of
proteins and colloids, the calcium in solution will react with these compounds (X)
to form insoluble or sparingly soluble salts or complexes.

X þ CaðOHÞ2 $ CaX2 þ 2OH ð42:3Þ

The precipitate from the first carbonation process is often recycled to one of the
stages in the pre-limer to act as a seed and aid with adsorption of impurities on the
calcium carbonate sludge. The pH at the point of addition needs to be high enough to
prevent redissolving of the carbonate. Note that these reactions are all reversible.

42.9.4 Main Liming

Finally, an excess of lime is added to the pre-limed juice, about two to three times the
stoichiometric ratio required for the necessary chemical reactions to occur, followed
by a period of maturation (5–20 min). The target lime content of the limed juice is in
the range of 1.7–2.5% CaO on beet and varies significantly between regions as a
function of the weather conditions during growing and the technical beet quality.

42.9.5 Carbonation 1st and 2nd

Finally, once all liming reactions have been allowed to proceed to completion, the
excess calcium in the solution is crystallised out with carbon dioxide gas from the
42 Sugar Beet Processing to Sugars 851

Fig. 42.11 Precipitated calcium carbonate (a) as is and (b) in the presence of limed beet juice
magnified 6500 times

lime kiln (Eq. 42.5). Bear in mind that the carbon dioxide will only react with
calcium if it is in solution as carbonic acid (H2CO3) which forms on the dissolution
of carbon dioxide in water (Eq. 42.4). This could potentially be the rate-limiting step
and carbonation vessels are carefully designed to enable the desired dissolution of
carbon dioxide in the feed gas mixture.

CO2 þ H2 O $ H2 CO3 ð42:4Þ

CaðOHÞ2 þ H2 CO3 $ CaCO3 þ 2H2 O ð42:5Þ

The crystallised calcium carbonate has a high and highly absorbent surface area
which aids in settling and agglomeration of the solids and precipitants from the
purification process. Figure 42.11 shows Stereo Electron Microscopy images of
calcium carbonate precipitated from the reaction of milk of lime with carbon dioxide
(a) on its own as the typical calcite crystal structure and (b) in the presence of limed
juice (first carbonation precipitate). A typical averaged particle size of the first
carbonation juice is 35 μm (using laser measurement) (Table 42.1). It is essential
to obtain the correct particle size and consistency of carbonate precipitate as this will
determine the settling and filtration behaviour of this material (Šárka et al. 2008).
Depending on the cation/anion balance of the juice, it is sometimes necessary to
add sodium or potassium alkali to ensure sufficient soluble cations to allow for
maximum calcium precipitation (Van der Poel et al. 1990; Roten and Schulze 2019).
The solids, which are removed either in a settling clarifier or by bag filtration, can
be press-dried to form a filter cake of up to 70% dry substance, or separated by rotary
852 B. M. Muir

vacuum drum dryers to 50% dry substance. In a settling clarifier, anionic flocculant
is often added as a matter of course.
The carbonate filter cake is extensively used as a soil pH-conditioning fertiliser
and for improvement of the soil structure. It contains a high level of available
calcium, nutrients such as magnesium, phosphates, and nitrogen and is suited to a
variety of agricultural spreading techniques (Draycot 2006).

42.9.6 Decalcification

Prior to evaporation, the clarified juice can be decalcified further using,

e.g. polystyrene-type cation exchange resins. Under normally good operating
conditions, the residual soluble calcium in clarified juice should be around 50 mg
CaO/L juice, depending on factors such as beet quality (variety, farming practices,
growing conditions, weather impacts), time of the season (early, mid, late) and
operations, especially carbonation. In cases where the residual calcium is still too
high to obtain the desired sugar quality or to protect the evaporators from scaling,
decalcification can be done using strong or weak cation exchange resins. The
calcium in the solution is exchanged for sodium (Roten and Schulze 2019) on the
resins. Resin operations need to be well controlled and spent resin is regenerated
using, for example, sodium hydroxide at least once or twice a day. Spent regenerate
is recycled back into the factory. In the Gryllus process, low purity run-off syrups
from crystallisation are used as regenerant instead of sodium hydroxide (Borroughs
2007; Van der Poel et al. 1998).

42.10 Sulphitation

Sulphitation via treatment with sulphur dioxide or soluble sulphate compounds

(e.g. ammonium bisulphite) often follows the decalcification process. Sulphur treat-
ment will both reduce colour by up to 30% and inhibit the Maillard reaction which is
responsible for colour formation in evaporation and crystallisation. Sulphur dioxide
is either produced by the factory in a sulphur stove or purchased as a liquid (Asadi
2007).
Since sulphur dioxide is an allergen, the residual levels in sugar are the only sugar
quality parameter that is regulated. Allowable levels vary from region to region. The
Codex Alimentarius of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations
(Anon 1999) specifies a maximum allowable level of 15 ppm on sugar.

42.11 Evaporation

The juice prior to evaporation is free from turbid material and stable in terms of pH
(around 9.2), so the application of heat should not have a significant effect on the pH
during the process. During evaporation, water is removed in a multiple-effect
42 Sugar Beet Processing to Sugars 853

Fig. 42.12 Rillieux’s illustration from US Patent US4879A

evaporation system using five or six stages to produce an evaporation syrup called
thick juice, condensate, and different grades of steam for supply to the rest of the
factory. Interestingly, multiple-effect evaporation under vacuum was developed
specifically for the sugar process in New Orleans by French chemical engineer,
Norbert Rillieux (Rilleux 1846) (Fig. 42.12).
Steam is produced in large boilers in the factory using gas (natural or biogas) or
still sometimes coal or oil (Jensen and Morin 2015). The high-pressure steam from
gas is often first fed into alternator turbines to produce electricity which will also
regrade the steam to a suitable quality that can be used in the factory. This factory
steam is used to heat the first set of evaporators. The steam that is produced from the
evaporated water in each evaporator is in turn used to heat the next evaporator all the
way through the five or six evaporator sets. Through each subsequent set of
evaporators, the temperature and therefore pressure of the steam is reduced due to
heat loss and vapour bleed and the pressure inside each evaporator is therefore
decreased, allowing the juice to boil at the lower temperatures provided in each
subsequent evaporator. This prevents excessive colour formation due to thermal
reactions of the juice and allows the evaporator station to produce steam of different
grades that can be used throughout the factory in other heating operations as needed.
The whole factory is therefore optimised to produce and use just the right amount of
steam of each type at any given time. For more information on evaporation and
steam economy, see Asadi (2007) or Van der Poel et al. (1998 h).
854 B. M. Muir

42.12 Crystallisation

Sucrose crystallisation is the final purification step in the sugar factory. It is also used
to optimise the economic recovery of sucrose from the syrup typically over two or
three cascading crystallisation steps with full recycling of the raw and final sugars. A
simple 3-boiling scheme with recycling options is shown in Fig. 42.13.
The sugar beet industry uses both batch and continuous crystallisers and can
operate either batch pans or mother-daughter pans in which a seed massecuite is
produced and then used as a footing for further crystallisation pans.
The Brix and purity profiles associated with the scheme in Fig. 42.13 is unique to
the beet sugar factory due to the high purity of evaporator syrup (ca. 95%). In
addition to a much more thorough purification process (carbonation vs defecation),
the type of colourants typically associated with the beet sugar factory will not readily
crystallise with the sucrose (Godshall and Baunsgaard 2000). Compared to the cane
sugar factories, where crystallisation colour elimination ratios of around 10 is
normal, the typical beet sugar factory achieves a colour elimination ratio of
100 quite easily. Table 42.2 shows typical targeted values in beet juice
crystallisation.
For a great compendium of the sucrose crystallisation process, see Ziegler (2022).
Once further crystallisation is no longer economically feasible, the run-off syrup is
considered sufficiently exhausted, though the dry substance will still contain a lot of
sucrose. This syrup is called molasses and can be used as animal feed supplement or
as feedstock for chromatographic or fermentation processes. Sugar beet molasses

Fig. 42.13 3-boiling crystallisation scheme in a beet sugar factory

42 Sugar Beet Processing to Sugars 855

Table 42.2 Typical targets in the beet sugar crystallisation process

Parameter Standard liquor 1 High green Low green Molasses
Purity (%) 96 86 77 66
Sucrose content (%) 72 65 58 50
Colour (IU) 2500 5000 11,000 n/m
nm not measured

Table 42.3 Moisture levels in beet sugar from centrifuge to silo

Free moisture Bound moisture Inherent moisture Total moisture
Sugar (%) (%) (%) (%)
(a) Wet 1.20 0.01 0.02 1.23
(b) Dried 0.07 0.01 0.02 0.73
(c) 0.02 0.01 0.02 0.05
Conditioned

differs substantially in composition from its sugar cane counterpart and typically has
a higher sugar content (65% in beet versus 35% in cane) in part due to a much lower
level of invert sugars (i.e. glucose and fructose) (Olbrich 1963; Kelly 1983;
Schiweck 1994; DeCloux 2000).
With around 10–15% of the beet sucrose ending up in molasses, it is not
surprising that the recovery of sucrose from molasses has always been of interest.
Desugarisation by chromatographic fractionation was established by the 1960s with
sucrose as the main product although multicomponent separations of invert sugars,
betaine, inositol, organic acids, amino acid mixtures, and individual amino acids
have also been achieved commercially (Paananen and Kuisma 2000; Hongisto 1977;
Šárka et al. 2013). Most beet sugar companies in the USA operate chromatographic
molasses desugarisation in some shape or form (Johnsonn et al. 2019).

42.13 Sugar Drying, Cooling, and Conditioning

The sugar crystals are separated from the massecuite in centrifuges and washed with
either syrup or hot water. Since most of the colour and ash in the sugar resides on the
surface of the crystals, a little increase in washing will markedly improve the quality
(Godshall and Baunsgaard 2000). On the other hand, some sugar is dissolved and
every ton of water used will need to be evaporated again, establishing an important
payoff between energy utilisation and sugar quality.
The wet sugar leaves the centrifuges with between 0.5 and 1.5% moisture content
(Table 42.3). The level of moisture is a function of viscosity, particle size, and spin
time in the centrifuge. There are three types of moisture in a sugar crystal: inherent
moisture, bound moisture, and free moisture. Free moisture exists as a sucrose syrup
on the surface of the crystal as sucrose would readily dissolve (Fig. 42.14a). If the
crystals are not dried and conditioned, the free moisture on the surface of the crystals
will migrate according to temperature and/or humidity gradients in the surrounding
856 B. M. Muir

Free moisture Free moisture Free moisture

Bound Bound Bound

moisture Inherent moisture Inherent moisture Inherent
moisture moisture moisture

a Sugar Leaving the Centrifuges b Sugar Leaving the Dryer c Sugar after conditioning

Fig. 42.14 Sugar crystal with moisture during drying and conditioning

area, causing the dissolved sucrose to form a permeable amorphous layer on the
surface of the crystals. The moisture migration would therefore cause adjacent
crystals to fuse together through this unstable amorphous layer on the surface and
will eventually form one big, conglomerated sugar lump if the process is not
interfered with. Sugar, therefore, needs to be dried.
However, drying on its own is often not enough. As can be seen from Fig. 42.14,
the removal of the free moisture will result in an amorphous sugar layer which would
trap some of the free moisture. This layer is still permeable and some time, between
12 and 48 h, is needed for this conditioning to proceed in a controlled relative
humidity environment, after which the sugar will be matured. As a general rule, large
temperature and relative humidity differences between the sugar and dryer, cooler
and conditioning silo should be avoided. Once the sugar is mature, humidity
exchange with the environment will be limited to the small amount of moisture
that remains on the surface, and moisture and temperature variations in direct contact
with the sugar should no longer cause any problems with lumping (De Bruijn 1999;
Rogé and Mathlouthi 2003; Starzak and Mathlouthi 2010).
The rotary drum dryer with an integrated cooler, often referred to as a granulator,
will dry and cool the sugar by lifting and dropping it through a fast-moving
airstream. Another popular design is the rotary louvre dryer, where the air is passed
through a moving bed of sugar. Other designs exist of which the fluidised bed drier is
of interest as it is the only dryer that will also remove fines. All other dryers are
followed by a screen for fines removal. The air for the dryer does not need to be
heated except in mid-winter, as the sugar itself will supply the heat necessary for
drying. The relative humidity of the air in the dryer and cooler parts are controlled
separately for optimum control (Starzak and Mathlouthi 2010; Van der Poel et al.
1998).
After cooling (and screening), the sugar will enter the silo where conditioning
takes place. Particle size distribution and especially fines content are key parameters
in determining how well the sugar will mature; in other words, how long the sugar
will take to reach stability in terms of humidity exchange with the environment.
Inside the silo, conditioned air with carefully controlled humidity is forced through
the bed of sugar to afford conditioning. In addition to the temperature of the sugar,
ambient conditions, including the temperature of the silo walls, play a major role,
especially during cold spells when the conditions could easily be near the dew point
within the silo (Schindler 2021).
42 Sugar Beet Processing to Sugars 857

42.14 Thick Juice Campaign

Thick juice after evaporation can either be used immediately for crystallisation or
stored for processing outside of the beet harvesting season. Compared to harvested
beet that, if not frozen, are preferably stored under cold conditions for a few weeks or
months, thick juice can be stored for much longer periods of time. This allows
factories to extend the sugar production beyond the 5-month harvesting season.

42.14.1 Thick Juice Storage

After evaporation, the thick juice should be sterile and free from any microbial
organisms (Justé et al. 2008). The juice is stored very close to the sucrose saturation
point to limit water activity which is necessary for most microbes to become active.
pH of stored syrup is above 9.2 where chemical degradation of both invert and
sucrose occurs slowly and syrups are cooled to below 15
C prior to storage to
promote conservation. Some infections can still occur mainly starting as deteriora-
tion on the surface where the syrup is in contact with the air and therefore exposed to
opportunistic microbes such as common yeast and molds. At first, the osmotic
pressure of the high Brix syrups will prevent any such activity. However, the
atmosphere inside a closed tank is dynamic and condensation will occur on the
sides and ceiling that can dilute the surface and thus increase the water activity.
At this stage, the high pH will inhibit microbial growth so that the sucrose
destruction will be very slow, yet some molds and yeasts from the air could be
attracted to the sucrose and establish themselves on the surface. Gradually, the
formation of organic acid products will reduce the pH so that conditions are slowly
becoming more favourable for microbial activity and thus sucrose losses. Below pH
8.3, acid-catalysed sucrose inversion begins and becomes more and more significant
with pH drop. Further destruction of inverts to lactic and other organic acids will
contribute to the drop in pH. At the same time, the lower pH will support the activity
of more and more microorganisms. Finally, the degradation can no longer remain
just on the surface but could rapidly spread to the body of the tank (Eggleston and
Amorim 2006, Eggleston and Vercellotti 2000, Muir et al. 2018). An example of this
phenomenon is shown in Fig. 42.15.

42.14.2 Syrup Processing

Processing of the stored syrup for the production of sugar and molasses will occur
during the summer months. Since the syrup is already purified, the variation in
quality is much reduced compared to the beet harvesting campaign and the process-
ibility of each tank can usually be estimated to a large degree based on the main
quality criteria of the juice. Apart from capital utilisation, one of the main advantages
of operating a syrup campaign is that the post-evaporation section of the factory does
not need to match the size and throughput of the beet operations, making cooperation
858 B. M. Muir

Fig. 42.15 Example of biological and chemical degradation mechanisms of thick juice during
storage

during the beet campaign between these two interacting parts highly flexible. This is
particularly interesting where a significant increase in the throughput of a factory is
considered.
A challenge of the syrup campaign is the complexity of energy management
when operating only the back part of the factory, since the full evaporation station,
which is both the main user and the provider of different types of steam to the rest of
the factory, are not in operation.

42.15 Sucrose Losses

Sucrose is readily hydrolysed at pH below 8.3 in the sugar factory into its constituent
molecules, glucose, and fructose (Eggleston and Vercellotti 2000). The sugar fac-
tory, or rather sucrose extraction plant, has therefore been designed with one of the
primary goals to keep sucrose hydrolysis (be it thermal, chemical, or microbial) as
low as possible. The understanding, management, and reduction of sugar losses are
one of the main focus points of the process chemist in a factory and substantial
monetary savings could be unlocked through continuous improvement in this area
(El Shahaby et al. 2014). The main levers are to carefully control the temperature,
pH, and residence time in each phase of the process (De Bruijn 2012).
42 Sugar Beet Processing to Sugars 859

42.16 Future Prospects

There are a number of new technologies with exciting prospects in the beet sugar
industry. The application of pulsed-electric fields during either extraction of sucrose
or dewatering of pulp is showing great promise in both sucrose extraction and energy
reduction (Vidal 2014; Almohammed et al. 2017). Membrane and ion exchange
applications are patiently waiting for the technologies to mature so that it would
become economically viable on such a large scale (Johnsonn et al. 2019). Further-
more, decarbonation of the industry has started with a whole range of new
technologies up for grabs (Rademaker and Marsidi 2019).
One of the limitations of growing beet in colder climates has been the short
harvesting season to get the beet lifted before the ground freezes. Areas where beet
can be grown and harvested year-round therefore have a distinct advantage
(Duraisam et al. 2017).
Over the last few decades, the focus on renewable resources has intensified and a
switch from fossil-based essential chemicals and bio-based equivalents are now not
far off. The SucroChemistry initiatives that started in the 1970s in the United States
of America (Hickson 1977) has not been concluded and the stage is now being set for
many of these innovations to see the light despite the more expensive raw materials
(Muir and Anderson 2021). Within the fermentation-based industry, sugar cane and
especially sugar beet has been identified as two of the most interesting crops for the
biobased economy due to both high crop and high hydrocarbon yields (Ragauskas
et al. 2006; Anon 2014; E4tech, RE-CORD, WUR 2015).
Recently, the European Commission sponsored an international program called
Towards a Sustainable Sugar Industry in Europe (TOSSIE) lead by the Warsaw
University of Technology in Poland. The program identified a number of high-level
research topics of relevance in the fields of sugar manufacturing, applications of
biotechnology and biorefinery processing, sugar beet breeding and growing, and
horizontal issues such as funding, training, and best practice sharing (Brühns et al.
2010).

42.17 Conclusion

The beet sugar process has evolved over the past 221 years into massive multistage
operations that paint the background of the beet growing areas in the world with
steam, silos, kilns, and ponds. The process is, on the one hand, simple enough to be
able to produce an edible white sugar crystal quite easily without much more than
typical Industry 2.0 level operations and, on the other, intricately balanced and
sensitive to a whole range of (often uncontrolled) internal and external factors, the
understanding of which should enable the production of a really good quality
product in high yield with valorised by-products and optimised energy and chemical
consumption.
With the latest industrial environmental targets and the drive towards renewable
resources, the stage of the beet sugar industry will be changing, since beet has been
860 B. M. Muir

identified as one of the most promising crops for the biobased chemical industry
(Anon 2014, E4tech, RE-CORD, WUR 2015). However, the main process as
described in this chapter will remain intact in the foreseeable future.

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