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Refinery
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====Milling==== {{Main|Sugar mill}} [[Image:Cut sugarcane.jpg|thumb|right|Harvested sugar cane ready for processing]] Sugarcane is traditionally refined into sugar in two stages. In the first stage, raw sugar is produced by the milling of harvested sugarcane. In a sugar mill, sugarcane is washed, chopped, and shredded by revolving knives. The shredded cane is mixed with water and crushed. The juices (containing 10-15 percent [[sucrose]]) are collected and mixed with [[lime (mineral)|lime]] to adjust [[pH]] to 7, prevent decay into [[glucose]] and [[fructose]], and precipitate impurities. The lime and other suspended solids are settled out, and the clarified juice is concentrated in a [[multiple-effect evaporator]] to make a syrup with about 60 weight percent sucrose. The syrup is further concentrated under [[vacuum]] until it becomes [[supersaturation|supersaturated]] and is then seeded with [[crystalline]] sugar. Upon cooling, sugar crystallizes out of the syrup. [[Centrifuge|Centrifuging]] then separates the sugar from the remaining liquid (molasses). Raw sugar has a yellow to brown color. Sugar is sometimes consumed locally at this stage but usually undergoes further purification.<ref>{{cite journal|author1=Shore, M.|author2=Broughton, N.W.|author3=Dutton, J.V. |author4=Sissons, A.|title=Factors affecting white sugar colour|journal=Sugar Technology Reviews|year=1984|volume=12 |pages=1β99 |url=http://www05.abb.com/global/scot/scot212.nsf/veritydisplay/0e668870c18d6ed0852576ab00772bef/$file/a-n-sugar_ph_sulfitation_a.pdf}}</ref> [[Sulfur dioxide]] is bubbled through the cane juice subsequent to crystallization in a process known as "sulfitation". This process inhibits color forming reactions and stabilizes the sugar juices to produce "mill white" or "plantation white" sugar. The fibrous solids, called ''[[bagasse]]'', remaining after the crushing of the shredded sugarcane are burned for fuel which helps a sugar mill to become self-sufficient in energy. Any excess bagasse can be used for animal feed, to produce paper, or burned to generate electricity for the local power grid.
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