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Today we will talk about sugar cane.
It is known that sugar is mainly obtained from sugar beet and sugar cane.
80% of all sugar in the world is produced from sugar cane.
Brown cane sugar is considered to be more natural than beet sugar.
Crystalline sweet grains are obtained from cane through multi-level processing.
The culture of sugar cane arose in ancient times, sugar from it is considered one of
the most ancient sweets of the East.
Sugar, extracted from sugar cane, is known in different languages: in Sanskrit it is
“sarkura”, in Arabic it is “rusk”, and in Persian it is “shakar”.
Cultivated sugar cane is a perennial herbaceous plant cultivated in numerous varieties in
the tropics.
In height, it can be from 4 to 6 meters.
Its leaves are large and wide in length from 60 cm to 1.5 m, resembling corn leaves.
The stem ends with an inflorescence - a pyramidal panicle 30-60 cm long.
Sweet juice is formed in the stems of the plant.
Sugarcane is grown all over the world in tropical regions with suitable climate and soil.
For comfortable growth of the reed, it needs from 750 to 1200 millimeters of rainfall.
Sugarcane grows best in heavy to medium soils.
Leading producers are Brazil, India, China and Thailand.
The production of sugar cane on a farm begins with the selection of a variety.
Its choice depends on local soil and climatic conditions.
The right choice of varieties guarantees productivity and disease resistance.
So in Brazil, which is the largest producer of sugar cane in the world, more than 600
varieties have been bred to date.
The use of conventional fertilizers is limited because solid residues from sugarcane processing
are used in the fields instead of traditional fertilizers.
A fraction rich in phosphorus is extracted from the reed residues and used as organic
fertilizer.
First, samples of cane residue are analyzed in a laboratory to determine the amount that
can be used as fertilizer.
When the exact content is determined, the residues are loaded onto trucks and hauled
to the sugarcane fields.
To plant sugarcane, due attention must be paid to planting material and soil.
The thicker the trunk of the reed, the more suitable the plant for planting.
Chopped cane stalks serve as seedlings.
The upper and side leaves are removed, and the reed itself is divided into pieces with
a knife or pruner.
In two weeks, the first "sugar" shoots will appear.
Shoots grow from the formed nodes of the cane stem and require regular watering.
After about 3-5 weeks, these shoots will be ready for planting.
They are usually planted at the end of February.
The tractor makes a furrow up to 20 cm deep.
It is watered abundantly and fertilized with compost, then the cuttings are laid horizontally
and covered with soil.
Usually a cane field needs to be replanted every 6 years.
Reed is unpretentious and does not require special care.
Timely watering of the plant is a guarantee of a good harvest.
It is enough to water once every 10 days.
Waterlogging is undesirable, as it can lead to root rot.
Often sugar cane is grown in high rainfall areas and in irrigated areas along the coastal
plains. 3-4 weeks after planting, the first loosening
and weeding is carried out.
The final hilling must be completed before the start of the monsoon rains.
About 90 percent of sugarcane plantations in Brazil are located in the southern and
central regions of the country.
The annual crop is harvested here during the dry season from April to December.
At this time, the cane is fully ripe, the composition of sucrose in it is optimal.
When the sugarcane is ready for harvest, the tops are removed and the base shoots are left
to germinate for the next harvest.
Sugarcane is a renewable resource that does not need to be replanted to produce a new
crop.
In mechanized sugarcane harvesting, the cane harvester separates the straw, which remains
on the ground and is used as mulch.
The combine works very efficiently.
Its sharp rotating blades easily cut 3-meter stems and at the same time the green tops
of plants.
Excess foliage is removed by huge exhaust fans.
Fallen leaves also remain on the field and protect the soil from erosion.
This creates the conditions for the next harvest.
The combine grinds the cane and sends it to the bed of a vehicle moving next to the combine.
One car can transport up to 800 tons of sugar cane per day.
In addition, part of the straw is removed from the field and used for the production
of electricity and biofuels.
At the end of the working day, all the harvested cane is reloaded onto heavy vehicles for transport
to the mill for processing.
In addition to machine harvesting, agricultural workers can also harvest sugar cane.
Before starting work, they do stretching exercises.
It is a common practice to warm up before starting work.
Before starting work, workers burn old straw, while observing environmental standards.
Burning repels venomous snakes and other potentially dangerous animals and also makes it easier
for workers to access the cane.
Without dense foliage, reed cutting is much easier.
Such burning of sugar cane is common in many countries.
Sugar-producing corporations light massive fires in their fields to remove the outer
leaves around the cane stalks before harvest.
Leaf litter is highly flammable, and cane farmers say leaving fields unburned exposes
harvesters and processors to the risk of accidental fires.
There is also evidence that leaf litter left in the fields may stunt next season's growth
as black, burnt soil warms faster than last year's vegetation.
Burning is usually done between plantings.
Local residents and activists often protest this practice.
But this does not stop the farmers.
Before harvesting the reed, it is often tied up.
This is done so that the stems do not sway during the winds.
Stems from adjacent rows are gathered together and tied with cane leaves.
Twisting is done at two or three levels.
Sometimes the stems can additionally be supported by bamboo.
A machete is used for cutting.
Reed harvesting takes an average of 150 days.
A sign of the ripening of sugar cane is the gradual wilting of the lower leaves and less
and less appearance of green leaves at the top.
On the cut stem of a mature plant, a light sparkling coating is visible.
In immature it is more watery.
More precisely, the maturity of the cane is determined using a refractometer.
Sugarcane is a very perishable product and it is therefore essential to get it to the
mill as soon as possible after harvest.
This is necessary to avoid sugar loss.
Therefore, most of the crop is delivered from the field for processing within 24 hours.
A line of cars with cane is lining up at the gates of the sugar factory.
The plant processes 7.5 thousand tons of cane per day.
At the mill, trucks are weighed and samples of the sugar cane are sent to a laboratory
where the plant's sucrose content is analyzed.
Their results determine how the sugar extraction process will proceed.
In order to obtain high-quality sugar during processing, harvesting times must be accurately
calculated.
Each day of delay in harvesting, reduce the percentage of sugar in the cane.
Therefore, in Brazil, the key months for cane harvesting are August and September.
During these months, the level of sucrose can be 150 kilograms per tonne of sugar cane.
After completion of weighing and analysis, processing of the harvested crop begins.
The cane is unloaded onto conveyor belts, which direct it to the crushing units.
The chopped cane is first washed to remove impurities.
The cane is then finely chopped for further processing.
At the end, huge rollers crush the cane stalks with force.
Cane sugar without additional processing is unsuitable for consumption and further storage.
Therefore, additional processing or refining is considered the optimal cycle to complete
the production of cane sugar.
Juice is extracted by crushing, pressing and further pressing the cane raw materials.
Thanks to a special technology of processing cane with water, with the help of a press,
almost one hundred percent extraction of juice from raw materials is achieved.
The mixture then enters the separators, where the fibers are removed and the juice is sent
to the evaporators.
In fact, these are huge, kiln-heated boilers that burn dried sugarcane fiber.
This removes enzymes and microorganisms.
The juice goes through the cleaning procedure through the pulp trap and accumulates in the
measuring cups.
The pulp, in turn, returns to the press, and carries out a secondary pressing together
with the primary mass of the supplied raw materials.
The juice, after cleaning, undergoes a procedure of cold or hot defecation with lime.
In this way, organic acids are neutralized and a neutral, soluble lime salt is formed.
In the process of cold defecation, the juice is mixed with milk of lime, mixed and placed
in settling tanks.
In order for the sugar to settle, the settling tanks are heated, and a thick concentrated
mass is obtained at the bottom, with juice on top.
The thick mass is subjected to a filter press, and
the juice is drained.
With another method, the condensed syrup enters the vacuum apparatus and for cooking into
the massecuite.
The syrup is thickened by evaporating the water.
When the syrup has cooled, it needs to be crystallized.
The resulting welded mass is placed in the mother's massecuite for crystallization and
cooling.
To get crystals from syrup, sugar crystals are added to it.
One small trickle of sugar is enough to start the crystallization process.
During crystallization, sugar crystals are mixed with molasses, which gives the product
a brown color.
To separate the molasses, the solution is moved to a centrifuge where a centripetal
force at 1200 rpm squeezes out any remaining liquid.
It works like a giant washing machine.
The molasses flows down through small holes and is placed in cisterns.
Thus, dry sugar crystals are formed.
Next, the crystals are cleaned, decolorized, recrystallized and dried in a large granulator.
They are then sorted through various sieves to remove any impurities and make the sugar
crystals the right size
and color.
The end result is pure cane sugar, requiring no bleaching or added chemicals.
Different types of sugar are created at different stages of this manufacturing process.
After that, the sugar is whitened in a centrifuge.
The fine sand obtained during the production of sugar is re-loaded into the crystallizer
and undergoes the procedure for re-melting the product and is placed in vacuum apparatuses
for all massecuite massecuites, for boiling subsequent syrups.
The produced sugar is packed in bags and stored in a warehouse until it is sent to the consumer.
For example, 200,000 bags of sugar, 70 kilograms each, are stored in such a warehouse.
That's all.
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