THE CUBA R E V I E ^^^ 



SUGAR FROM DRIED CANE* 



SOME INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS AT A BEET SUGAR FACTORY AT MADI- 

 SON, WIS., U. S. A. 



Experiments are now being carried on in 

 the sugar factory at ^Madison, Wis., which, 

 if successful, may lead to the Menominee 

 River Sugar Company running its factory 

 all year round, instead of four months in 

 the year, as at present. 



The object of the experiments, which 

 thus far have been satisfactory, is to as- 

 certain whether or not it is practical to ex- 

 tract sugar from dried cane, prepared in 

 Cuba and shipped to the United States. 



Forty-one hundred and twenty-seven 

 bales of dried sugar cane were recently 

 shipped to Alobile from Cuba and for- 

 warded to Madison. The diffusion method, 

 as practiced with beets, will be the method 

 employed to extract the sugar juice, and 

 this consists in boiling the stalk, previously 

 cut into short lengths, in water. The 

 drawing out of the juice is the result of 

 the endosmosis and exosmosis actions, 

 which take place between two liquids of 

 varying densities and natures, which are 

 separated by a porous diaphragm, the latter 

 in this instance being suppHed by the veg- 

 etable membrane in the stalk enclosing the 

 cane juice, water being the other liquid. 

 The diffusion process is found to be ad- 

 vantageous where fuel is plentiful and 

 cheap, for the residue of the canes be- 

 comes so saturated with water that be- 

 fore it could be used as fuel it would have 

 to be dried in artificially heated chambers. 

 'ihere is no doubt, however, as to the su- 

 perior powers of extraction of the diffu- 

 ^sion process. 



Professor Wiley, chemist to the United 

 States Agricultural Department, gives in 

 a report some interesting and valuable stat- 



istics relative to the working of the pro- 

 cess in two cane-sugar factories in Spain. 

 At the first works near Almeria the cane 

 stalks are treated by the diffusion process, 

 and at the second near ]\Ialaga the megass 

 or bagasse is so treated The analysis 

 showed that a practically complete extrac- 

 tion of the juice was made, both from the 

 canes and from the megass or bagasse, the 

 residue being only three per cent, while 

 it will be remembered that the loss of juice 

 experienced with single crushing by cane- 

 mills of the most advanced construction is 

 about 20 per cent, and with double or 

 treble crushing from 15 to 7 per cent. 



The juice extracted from the sugar cane 

 by the diffusion process is subsequently 

 treated in a practically similar manner to 

 the juice of the sugar beet-root; that is 

 to say, the scum is first removed by clari- 

 fication or defectation and filtering, after 

 which it is concentrated in evaporating 

 pans, or apparatus, subjected to a mechan- 

 ical filtering and finally crystallized in a 

 vacuum pan. 



In the diffusion process the proportion 

 of glucose is not increased. It must, how- 

 ever, be borne in mind that sugar cane 

 and beet-root juice are widely different 

 in composition, the former containing, 

 naturally, glucose which is absent from the 

 latter, and renders it necessary to take 

 due precaution not to employ too much 

 lime in tempering the juice. 



It was stated on October 27th that the 

 company in ]\Iadison, making the _experi- 

 ments, will establish a paper mill in con- 

 junction with the sugar factory if it is de- 

 cided to manufacture cane sugar. 



* The description of the diffusion process is condensed from "Sugar Machinery,'' by A. J. Wallis- 

 Taylor, Assoc. M. Inst. C. E., and published by William Rider & Son, London. 



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