Editing Sugar beet (section)

== From sugar beet to white sugar ==

[[File:Hollogne sur-geer -Sucrerie.jpg|thumb|A sugar beet farm in Belgium: Beyond the field is the sugar factory.]]
Most sugar beet are used to create [[white sugar]]. This is done in a beet sugar factory, often abbreviated to sugar factory. Nowadays these usually also act as a sugar refinery, but historically the beet sugar factory produced raw sugar and the sugar refinery refined raw sugar to create white sugar. 

=== Sugar factory ===
{{Main|Beet sugar factory}}
In the 1960s, beet sugar processing was described as consisting of these steps.<ref name="Montana1970" />

* Harvesting and storage in a way that preserves the beet while they wait to be processed
* Washing and scrubbing to remove soil and debris
* Slicing the beet in small pieces called cossettes or chips
* Removing the sugar from the beet in an osmosis process, resulting in raw juice and beet pulp.<ref name="Montana1970" /> 

Nowadays, most sugar factories then refine the raw juice themselves, without moving it to a sugar refinery. The beet pulp is processed on site to become cattle fodder.

=== Sugar refinery ===
{{Main|Sugar refinery}}
[[File:Chelsea_Sugar_Refinery_ship.JPG|thumb|The [[Chelsea Sugar Refinery]] in [[New Zealand]] ]]
The next steps to produce white sugar are not specific for producing sugar from sugar beet. They also apply to producing white sugar from sugar cane. As such, they belong to the sugar refining process, not to the beet sugar production process per se.

* Purification, the raw juice undergoes a chemical process to remove impurities and create thin juice.<ref name="Koyikkal2013" />
* Evaporation, the thin juice is concentrated by evaporation to make a "thick juice", roughly 60% sucrose by weight.
* Crystallization, by boiling under reduced pressure the sugar liquor is turned into crystals and remaining liquor.<ref name="sugarnutritionresource/refining-cane" /> 
* Centrifugation, in a centrifuge the white sugar crystals are separated from the remaining sugar liquor.<ref name="silverwedge" />
* The remaining liquor is then boiled and centrifuged, producing a lower grade of crystallised sugar (which is redissolved to feed the white sugar pans) and molasses.<ref name="silverwedge" />
* Further sugar can be recovered from the molasses by methods such as the Steffen Process.