What machinery is used to make sugar? From digging the ground to harvesting.......
Sugar is obtained from a corn-like cane that grows in tropical places, It is planted from small cut portions of the cane into the soil already prepared and fertilized, when the canes get as high as 6 feet, and the leaves start to get yellow, is harvested, in many places its burnt to get ready of the leaves with sharp cutting edges and some dangerous snakes that usually nest in the plantations. The cane itself as is full with sweet liquid doesn't burn and is collected and carried to the mill. The first part of the extraction is to pass the canes through a press of rollers that press the syrup out, keeping the dry cane to be used for fuel to use in the boilers. The syrup is boiled and the water is removed leaving a very dense paste that is then dried with hot air to get raw sugar in large crumbs, this crums are milled to get what is known as brown sugar in cystaline form. The brown sugar doesn't have any chemicals and is almost 100% from dried syrup. From the brown sugar, is processed white sugar by means of adding some chemicals to whiten and remove the sugar cane flavor that comes with the original syrup. The final product is what we buy at the store. The boilers designed for sugar mills are unique for they are able to work with the dry cane as with oil, reducing considerably the cost of operation. There are some by-products very important that make sugar mills a great industry, the process of drying produce also a burned taste sediment called molasses high in calories that is also comercialized as stock food.
