Methods for colour reduction in white sugar production in China

Most sugar factories in China produce a white sugar for local commerce and at times for international trade. The control of colour is therefore of considerable concern. To produce white sugar, factories use a sulfitation process. Although the clarification efficiency of the sulfitation process is acknowledged to be less than that of the carbonatation process, it was selected for Chinese factories because of simplicity in technology and management. The colour of white sugar from a factory in China is typically 150 International Units (IU). Values of up to 200 are not unknown. To provide a superior white sugar this values must be reduced. This paper discusses methods for colour reduction, particularly for Chinese factories, but the comments are probably relevant to sugar factories world wide.