A Visit to a Sugar Refinery.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVII, Issue XXIII, 7 December 1901, Page 1086

A Visit to a Sugar Refinery.

The Italians have a proverb that 'There is no .sweetness without • weal." If you want to see the r riith of the saying- exemplified in a most literal sense, you should visit i ‘sugar refinery, where, whatever the mpressions you may receive, you •ertainly will not fail to l>e struck »\ the enormous amount of intricate abour bestowed on the raw sugar lefore it reaches the condition in

which it comes to our tables. On the preceding- page we give a series of photographs of the Colonial Sugar Refinery’s works at Chelsea. Auckland. which supply practically the whole of the colony with sugar. These views do not pretend to illustrate in any complete way the chain of processes the raw sugar passes through, but merely to give some idea of the magnitude of the operations carried on. The first of these operations is the discharge of the

sugar, as it arrives from Fiji, Java, or wherever the place may be, into the elevators which convey it to the top of the building. From this point it descends to the “blow-up” floor by means of shoots. The "blow-ups' are large vessels in which the sugar is dissolved in hot water to a syrup 25deg.—27deg. !>.. equal to 27deg.— 30deg. B. when eold. The syrup next flows through filter bags, of which a large number are required, owing to the slimy nature of the suspended matter, and is then caused to gravitate down large iron cylinders, pack-

ed with granulated animal charcoal. The first syrup running from the char cisterns is quite colourless, and this portion is collected apart and boiled for the production of loaves or crystals. The last portions of syrup yield the pieces or yellow moist sugar. The ooiling is ’ effected in vacuum pans, and a small quantitv of sulphurous acid is added to the pan. and greatly improves the colour of the pieces. The thick mass from the pan is finally discharged through an opening in the bottom into centrifugal machines, which, with the aid of a little wash water, separate tae crystals from the syrup, and the former are ready for bagging.