Homestead mailing list

[Rob <becida AT comcast.net>]

Date:   Wed, 24 Feb 1999 16:24:18 -0500
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From: Tvoivozhd <tvoivozd AT roanoke.infi.net>
To: "homestead AT listserv.oit.unc.edu" <homestead AT listserv.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: Beet Sugar Processing
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>>>tvoivozhd---a little belated Grandad, but this might be of some help.



http://www.wovenwire.com/sugar.htm  (sugar screens:)

http://www.sugarinfo.co.uk/page27.htm  (the various kinds of machinery
used in processing sugar)

http://www.monitorsugar.com/htmtext/TourStop.htm  (the sugar production
process)

http://www.irish-sugar.ie/pages/product/prodi.htm  (sugar beet
processing in Ireland)
http://www.irish-sugar.ie/pages/product/prodtxt.htm (Ireland pictorial)

http://www.ars-grin.gov/npgs/cgc_reports/beta/ch1.html (history and
general data)

http://www.sucrose.com/bboil.html  (brief on beet sugar process, plus
cane sugar)

http://www.runtel.fr/stella/english/chaine.htm  (sugarcane production
line)

http://www.emcentre.com/unepweb/tec_case/food_15/process/p14.htm  (more
on handling beets---optimizing the process)

http://www.nfm-online.com/nfm_backs/Nov_95/sweetners.html  (a slightly
different view of the process---cane version but beet applicable)

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/Beta_vulgaris#Cultivation
(beets, mangels---growing, harvesting, yields, pests)

http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/agdex/600/22000016.html  (more info on pests)

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1996/V3-619.html (rotate
with nematode inhibiting radish and mustard to naturally control
nematodes)

http://weber.u.washington.edu/~radin/sugrbeet.htm  (obiter dictum on
gene smog in sugar)

http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r735700111.html  (if you can't control
the weeds, don't grow sugar beets or mangels---I tried it in
newly-turned sod, got nothing but blisters)

http://www.newholland.com/na/News/PowerManager/issue23/PwrMgr_2.htm
(temperature limits at harvest---with heavy, heavy iron)

http://agnews.tamu.edu/stories/SOIL/Aug2898a.htm  (diseases killed Texas
beet business)

http://www.extension.umn.edu/Documents/D/C/Other/6240p.html  (beet
fertilizer)

http://www.montana.edu/wwwpb/ag/bac-j2.html  (natural control for
cercospora leafspot)

Varieties Evaluated for High Sugar & Cercospora Leaf Spot Tolerance
<http://www.sbreb.org/95/plantpath/95p216.htm>

http://www.orst.edu/dept/coarc/st.htm (more on beet variety comparison)

http://users.cwnet.com/hollylab/bolting.html (preventing bolting)

http://www.sbreb.org/73/soilmgmt/73p73.htm  (plant population, spacing)

http://www.mpiz-koeln.mpg.de/~rsaedler/schau/varaltissima/Sugar_beet.html
(origin and appearance)

http://www.orst.edu/dept/coarc/sugar.htm  (in Oregon, production is 24
tons per acre and production cost $1000 per acre)

>>>>tvoivozhd---so much for the academics.  As for scaling up your
tabletop centrifuge (with integral screen), you might find a used lab
model in the inventory of one of the food machinery broker websites or
catalogs.  It might not be much larger than the one you've got though.

Then there's the bigger jump to commercial centrifuges---unless the
dealer donated it to you out of the kindness of his heart, it is
unlikely the cost could be justified on only one acre of beets.  If the
juice was prescreened (here you could try some makeshift gear such as
multiple layers of fabric, or using an apple-press), if you have access
to one, you might try an old farm cream separator as a centrifuge (I am
dubious about sufficient speed).

Another possibility, if you feel adventurous and have a lot of time on
your hands, is to modify a spin-type washing machine (install internal
screen).  The most likely to succeed is one of those little
apartment-sized two-holers which may still be made for economizing on
electrical consumption (washer one side, spin-dry on other).  The
diameter of each is somewhere between 12 and 16 inches.

The problem is imbalance.  You might not be able to spin it fast enough
to work properly without serious hazard.  Anything spinning very fast is
dangerous unless the spindle and bearings are designed for the load..

I am certain a large washer/spin dryer doesn't have the bearings for the
job, and balancing it for high speed would be a difficult job.

One thing you can  do to improve a necessarily crude setup, is to use a
steam coil in your last stages of evaporation, and if you used a vessel
which could be closed tightly (stainless steel from a factory salvage
dealer sell at tolerable prices), you could pull a vacuum on it, using a
small Gast pump.  I think Edmunds Scientific sells them.

The milk of lime they use is basically slacked lime---probably from a
calcium carbonate quarry, not a dolomitic quarry.  They would call it
food grade, but it would be indistinguishable from a sack gotten from
your local masonry supply house.  The carbon dioxide supply would be a
bottle from an industrial gases supply house, with gage and valve, plus
high pressure hose and whatever other fittings you may need.

If there is a good machine shop near you, sometimes the owner will
undertake a project out of intellectual curiosity, particularly if it is
far afield from his usual daily fare.