Harvesting and Producing Sucrose
Sucrose or, “table sugar,” is primarily harvested from two tropical crops, those being the commonly known sugar cane, and its lesser known counterpart the sugar beet. Over 121 countries across the world produce a significant amount of sucrose, with an accumulative mass of 168 million tonnes produced per year worldwide. The largest producers of sucrose are: India, Australia, Brazil, and United States of America ("How Sugar Is Made" screen 1).
Sugar Cane is a tropical grass grown in warm regions throughout the world and accounts for more sucrose production a year than sugar beets. Sugar cane resembles a tall green grass, producing sucrose through the chemical process known as photosynthesis ("Cane Sugar" screen 2). The chemical formula for photosynthesis which produces sucrose as one of two products is represented as Water + Carbon Dioxide = Sucrose + Oxygen (11 H2O + 12 CO2 = C12H22O11 + 12 O2) ("How Sugar Is Made" screen 1). Sugar Cane produces a 10% sucrose mass to 90% sugar cane mass, and can produce up to 10 tons of sucrose per hectare. Sugar cane has a 12 month growth period until it can be harvested, by which a harvester cuts off and collects the tops of the stems, which get the sucrose liquids squeezed out and refined into pure sucrose ("Cane Sugar" screen 2). Sugar Beets, are a plump and dense root crop with much resemblance to a turnip. The sugar beet is much like sugar cane in terms of the regions in which it grows, as it primarily is produced in warm tropical areas ("Beet Sugar" screen 1). The chemical formula for photosynthesis which produces sucrose as one of two products is represented as Water + Carbon Dioxide = Sucrose + Oxygen (11 H2O + 12 CO2 = C12H22O11 + 12 O2) ("How Sugar Is Made" screen 1) The sugar beet has an 100 day growth period until it can be harvested. It can yield about 17% sucrose mass to 83% sugar beet mass, which although greater than that of sugar cane, the beet has much less mass when fully grown and only yields 7 tonnes per hectare, 3 less tonnes than sugar cane. The sugar beet is harvested with a machine, then is put through a machine that slices and extracts the sucrose juices to which it then goes through an identical process as sucrose to refine the liquid into pure sucrose ("Beet Sugar" screen 1). The process of actually contracting sugar from the raw crops takes several steps, but results in a transformation from sucrose rich juices to raw sucrose in a crystalline state. Firstly the juices are acquired, processes differing by sugar cane or sugar beets. The sucrose juices are then diffused to decrease the concentration of sugar in the juices, followed by several purification stage including filtration. The filtered, concentrated sucrose juice is then boiled and let cool to purify it completely and to allow it to go into a crystal state of pure sucrose. The now pure and solid sucrose can b filtered even further, and is exported to any industry now, be it chemicals, medicinal, food, or to your local grocery store where you may purchase your, “table sugar,” otherwise known as sucrose ("Production" screen 1). |
Chemical Equations In The Production of Sucrose
As sucrose is a naturally occurring compound there are no chemical equations required to produce it other than photosynthesis, photosynthesis being the process that happens within the sugar beet or sugar cane that produces sucrose as a product. Sucrose is produced in all plants as the plant's, "food," yet sugar can and sugar beets are the only plants harvested for sucrose as they yield the most sucrose. The chemical formula for photosynthesisis which produces sucrose as one of two products is - Water + Carbon Dioxide = Sucrose + Oxygen (11 H2O + 12 CO2 = C12H22O11 + 12 O2) ("How Sugar Is Made" screen 1). This is a synthesis reaction as the two reactants - Water and Carbon Dioxide - combine to form the new compound of sucrose, but this synthesis reaction also produces pure oxygen as well. This reaction is what occurs in sugar can and sugar beets in the fields to produce the sugary juices that can be processed to produce pure sucrose ("How Sugar Is Made" screen 1-2).
Harvesting & Producing Sucrose
Producers of Sucrose
ThTh Around the world, sucrose -table sugar - is such a commonly and quantitatively used chemical that simply listing the producers of sucrose would produce a list longer than comprehendible. The following is a list compose of some of the larger producers of sucrose in the pharmaceutical and experimental industries. Some of the larger producers in the pharmaceutical and experimental industries are: AFA Chemistry, Arking Farma, Biosynth, Conier CHem, Enamine, Extrasnthese, Finetech Industry, and Timetech ("Chemical Vendors" screen 1). In the much larger food industry, the larger producers of sucrose for food in Canada are Lantic Sugar, Redpath Sugar, and ROGERS Sugar ("Canadian Sugar Manufacturers" screen 1). Of all sucrose producers in the world, Al Khaleej Sugar located in Dubai produces and sells the largest quantity of sucrose each year. They produce about 7 000 tonnes of sucrose every day and over 2.5 million tonnes of sucrose each year (Al Khaleej Sugar" screen 1).