BEET JUICE 45 



first of the series. This is, roughly, the method of 

 working the diffusion battery ; but the rate at which it 

 works, how often each vessel is filled and emptied, 

 and how quickly the diffusion juice is passed from one 

 to another, are matters which require most accurate 

 regulation and supervision. 



The diffusion juice is, of course, much purer than 

 the cane juice which, as we have seen, is sadly spoiled 

 by the violent crushing to which the cane is subjected 

 in powerful modern cane mills. The diffusion juice 

 contains the sugar and some portion of the salts of the 

 beetroot. It may also contain small traces of the 

 gummy and albuminous impurities, but the bulk of 

 them remain in the cells of the exhausted slices. Of 

 course, in the process of cutting the slices a certain 

 number of cells are broken, and from these broken cells 

 the impurities must find their way into the diffusion 

 juice. 



The superiority of this process over the crushing 

 of the cane, as described in the last chapter, is so striking, 

 that it may well be asked why cane mills have not been 

 superseded by diffusion. Many cane sugar manufac- 

 turers have asked themselves the same question, and 

 some have answered it by putting up a diffusion plant. 

 But it cannot be said that the experiment has been 

 altogether satisfactory. The cutting of the cane into 

 slices is not a very easy operation, but that objection 

 might perhaps be waived if other things went well. 

 Diffusion involves dilution of the juice to the extent 

 of at least twenty per cent. Maceration between the 

 mills of a triple cane mill ought never to create a dilution 

 of more than ten to fifteen per cent. This extra dilution 

 in the diffusion process is a serious thing with a cane- 

 sugar factory which relies on its megass for the whole 

 of its steam-raising fuel. Moreover, the megass left 



