White sugar production
China is one of the earliest countries in the world to make sugar from sugarcane, with a history of more than 2,000 years. Almost all sugar is composed of sucrose, and the sucrose content of sugar is generally above 95%. All plants with high sucrose content can be used as raw materials for sugar production.
At present, the main raw materials of sugar in the world are sugarcane and beet. Although the raw materials for sugar production are different, there is no difference in quality between sucrose and beet sugar, and the national standard for white sugar is also applicable to them.
Sugar juice is extracted from sugarcane and beet in the factory, and after boiling and concentration, sugar crystals are separated from the center, called crude sugar (or raw sugar), which is light brown. After refining, crude sugar has become white sugar for daily consumption. Besides sugarcane and beet, white sugar can also be processed from sugar with high sucrose content such as raw sugar and coarse sugar.
At present, there are three kinds of sugar making methods or clarification methods adopted by countries all over the world, namely lime method, sulfurous acid method and carbonic acid method. Lime method can only produce coarse sugar with dark color, while sulfite method can produce white sugar for direct consumption (the produced white sugar is called sulfide sugar). Although the whiteness and sugar yield of white sugar produced by sulfurous acid method are worse than that by carbonic acid method, sulfurous acid method is still widely used in large, medium and small sugarcane sugar factories in China because of its advantages such as short technological process, less equipment and less clarifier. In foreign countries, in recent ten years, with the increase of refined sugar consumption, many sugar factories using sulfurous acid method have successively changed to lime method to re-dissolve and refine the produced crude sugar. However, in developing countries, sulfurous acid method still occupies an important position. The method of clarifying sugarcane juice with lime and carbon dioxide is called carbonation (the sugar produced is called carbonated sugar). Carbonated fabia sulfuric acid method can remove more non-sugar substances, and the total recovery rate is higher. The finished sugar has high purity and low color value, and can be stored for a long time without discoloration. However, the carbonation method also has some disadvantages, such as complex technological process and more mechanical equipment; It also consumes a lot of lime and carbon dioxide, so the production cost is higher. Especially in the areas where sugar factories are far away from limestone producing areas, the popularization of carbonation method is limited to some extent.
White rock candy is made of dissolved white sugar through purification and natural crystallization. White rock sugar has the characteristics of sweetness, moistening lung and crystal clear, and is suitable for stews, nourishing drinks and so on.
Reference: wenwen.sogou/z/q107487868