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Background

Before the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, sugarcane (from which sugar is


made) was harvested on the shores of the Bay of Bengal; it spread to
the surrounding territories of Malaysia, Indonesia, Indochina, and
southern China. The Arabic people introduced "sugar" (at that point a
sticky paste, semi-crystallized and believed to have medicinal value)
to the Western world by bringing both the reed and knowledge for its
cultivation to Sicily and then Spain in the eighth and ninth centuries.
Later, Venice—importing finished sugar from Alexandria—succeeded
in establishing a monopoly over this new spice by the fifteenth
century; at that point, it started buying raw sugar, and even
sugarcane, and treating it in its own refineries. Venice's monopoly,
however, was short-lived. In 1498, Portuguese navigator Vasco da
Gama returned from India bringing the sweet flavoring to Portugal.
Lisbon started to import and refine raw sugar, and, in
the sixteenthcentury, it became the European sugar capital. It was not
long before the sweetener was available in France, where its primary
function continued to be medicinal, and during the reign of Louis XIV,
sugar could be bought by the ounce at the apothecary. By the 1800s,
sugar (though still expensive) was widely available to both upper and
middle classes.

Raw Materials
Sugar is a broad term applied to a large number of carbohydrates
present in many plants and characterized by a more or less sweet
taste. The primary sugar, glucose, is a product of photosynthesis and
occurs in all green plants. In most plants, the sugars occur as a
mixture that cannot readily be separated into the components. In the
sap of some plants, the sugar mixtures are condensed into syrup.
Juices of sugarcane (Saccharum officinarum) and sugar beet (Beta
vulgaris) are rich in pure sucrose, although beet sugar is generally
much less sweet than cane sugar. These two sugar crops are the
main sources of commercial sucrose.

The sugarcane is a thick, tall, perennial grass that flourishes in tropical


or subtropical regions. Sugar synthesized in the leaves is used as a
source of energy for growth or is sent to the stalks for storage. It is the
sweet sap in the stalks that is the source of sugar as we know it. The
reed accumulates sugar to about 15 percent of its weight. Sugarcane
yields about 2,600,000 tons of sugar per year.

The sugar beet is a beetroot variety with the highest sugar content, for
which it is specifically cultivated. While typically white both inside and
out, some beet varieties have black or yellow skins. About 3,700,000
tons of sugar are manufactured from sugar beet.

Other sugar crops include sweet sorghum, sugar maple, honey, and
corn sugar. The types of sugar used today are white sugar (fully
refined sugar), composed of clear, colorless or crystal fragments; or
brown sugar, which is less fully refined and contains a greater amount
of treacle residue, from which it obtains its color.

The Manufacturing
Process
Planting and harvesting
 1 Sugarcane requires an average temperature of 75 degrees
Fahrenheit (23.9 degrees

In the United States, harvesting of both cane and sugar beet is done
primarily by machine, although in some states it is also done by hand. The
harvested cane stalks and beets are loaded mechanically into trucks or
railroad cars and taken to mills for processing into raw sugar. Once there,
they are cleaned, washed, milled to extract juice, filtered, and purified. The
result is a clear, sugar-filled juice.

Celsius) and uniform rainfall of about 80 inches (203


centimeters) per year. Therefore, it is grown in tropical or
subtropical areas.
Sugarcane takes about seven months to mature in a tropical
area and about 12-22 months in a subtropical area. At this time,
fields of sugarcane are tested for sucrose, and the most mature
fields are harvested first. In Florida, Hawaii, and Texas, standing
cane is fired to burn off the dry leaves. In Louisiana, the six- to
ten-feet (1.8- to 3-meter) tall cane stalks are cut down and laid
on the ground before burning.

 2 In the United States, harvesting (of both cane and sugar beet)
is done primarily by machine, although in some states it is also
done by hand. The harvested cane stalks are loaded
mechanically into trucks or railroad cars and taken to mills for
processing into raw sugar.

Preparation and processing


 3 After the cane arrives at the mill yards, it is mechanically
unloaded, and excessive soil and rocks are removed. The cane
is cleaned by flooding the carrier with warm water (in the case of
sparse rock and trash clutter) or by spreading the cane on
agitating conveyors that pass through strong jets of water and
combing drums (to remove larger amounts of rocks, trash, and
leaves, etc.). At this point, the cane is clean and ready to be
milled.

When the beets are delivered at the refinery, they are first
washed and then cut into strips. Next, they are put into diffusion
cells with
After being purifed, the clear juice undergoes vacuum evaporation to remove
most of the water. In this process, four vacuum-boiling cells are arranged in
series so that each succeeding cell has a higher vacuum. The vapors from
one body can thus boil the juice in the next one, a method called multiple-
effect evaporation. Next, the syrupy solution is vacuum-crystallized to form
sugar crystals. The remaining liquid is removed using centrifugaling and
drying, and the sugar is packaged.

water at about 175 degrees Fahrenheit (79.4 degrees Celsius)


and sprayed with hot water countercurrently to remove the
sucrose.

Juice extraction pressing


 4 Two or three heavily grooved crusher rollers break the cane
and extract a large part of the juice, or swing-hammer type
shredders (1,200 RPM) shred the cane without extracting the
juice. Revolving knives cutting the stalks into chips are
supplementary to the crushers. (In most countries, the shredder
precedes the crusher.) A combination of two, or even all three,
methods may be used. The pressing process involves crushing
the stalks between the heavy and grooved metal rollers to
separate the fiber (bagasse) from the juice that contains the
sugar.
 5 As the cane is crushed, hot water (or a combination of hot
water and recovered impure juice) is sprayed onto the crushed
cane countercurrently as it leaves each mill for diluting. The
extracted juice, called vesou, contains 95 percent or more of the
sucrose present. The mass is then diffused, a process that
involves finely cutting or shredding the stalks. Next, the sugar is
separated from the cut stalks by dissolving it in hot water or hot
juice.

Purification of juice — clarification


and evaporation
 6 The juice from the mills, a dark green color, is acid and turbid.
The clarification (or defecation) process is designed to remove
both soluble and insoluble impurities (such as sand, soil, and
ground rock) that have not been removed by preliminary
screening. The process employs lime and heat as the clarifying
agents. Milk of lime (about one pound per ton of cane)
neutralizes the natural acidity of the juice, forming insoluble lime
salts. Heating the lime juice to boiling coagulates the albumin
and some of the fats, waxes, and gums, and the precipitate
formed entraps suspended solids as well as the minute particles.

The sugar beet solution, on the other hand, is purified by


precipitating calcium carbonate, calcium sulfite, or both in it
repeatedly. Impurities become entangled in the growing crystals
of precipitate and are removed by continuous filtration.

 7 The muds separate from the clear juice through sedimentation.


The non-sugar impurities are removed by continuous filtration.
The final clarified juice contains about 85 percent water and has
the same composition as the raw extracted juice except for the
removed impurities.
 8 To concentrate this clarified juice, about two-thirds of the water
is removed through vacuum evaporation. Generally, four
vacuum-boiling cells or bodies are arranged in series so that
each succeeding body has a higher vacuum (and therefore boils
at a lower temperature). The vapors from one body can thus boil
the juice in the next one—the steam introduced into the first cell
does what is called multiple-effect evaporation. The vapor from
the last cell goes to a condenser. The syrup leaves the last body
continuously with about 65 percent solids and 35 percent water.

The sugar beet sucrose solution, at this point, is also nearly


colorless, and it likewise undergoes multiple-effect vacuum
evaporation. The syrup is seeded, cooled, and put in a centrifuge
machine. The finished beet crystals are washed with water and
dried.
Crystallization
 9 Crystallization is the next step in the manufacture of sugar.
Crystallization takes place in a single-stage vacuum pan. The
syrup is evaporated until saturated with sugar. As soon as the
saturation point has been exceeded, small grains of sugar are
added to the pan, or "strike." These small grains,
called seed, serve as nuclei for the formation of sugar crystals.
(Seed grain is formed by adding 56 ounces [1,600 grams] of
white sugar into the bowl of a slurry machine and mixing with 3.3
parts of a liquid mixture: 70 percent methylated spirit and 30
percent glycerine. The machine runs at 200 RPM for 15 hours.)
Additional syrup is added to the strike and evaporated so that the
original crystals that were formed are allowed to grow in size.

The growth of the crystals continues until the pan is full. When
sucrose concentration reaches the desired level, the dense
mixture of syrup and sugar crystals, called massecuite, is
discharged into large containers known as crystallizers.
Crystallization continues in the crystallizers as the massecuite is
slowly stirred and cooled.

 10 Massecuite from the mixers is allowed to flow into


centrifugals, where the thick syrup, or molasses, is separated
from the raw sugar by centrifugal force.

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Centrifugaling
 11 The high-speed centrifugal action used to separate the
massecuite into raw sugar crystals and molasses is done in
revolving machines called centrifugals. A centrifugal machine
has a cylindrical basket suspended on a spindle, with perforated
sides lined with wire cloth, inside which are metal sheets
containing 400 to 600 perforations per square inch. The basket
revolves at speeds from 1,000 to 1,800 RPM. The raw sugar is
retained in the centrifuge basket because the perforated lining
retains the sugar crystals. The mother liquor, or molasses,
passes through the lining (due to the centrifugal force exerted).
The final molasses (blackstrap molasses) containing sucrose,
reducing sugars, organic nonsugars, ash, and water, is sent to
large storage tanks.

Once the sugar is centrifuged, it is "cut down" and sent to a


granulator for drying. In some countries, sugarcane is processed
in small factories without the use of centrifuges, and a dark-
brown product (noncentrifugal sugar) is produced. Centrifugal
sugar is produced in more than 60 countries while noncentrifugal
sugar in about twenty countries.

Drying and packaging


 12 Damp sugar crystals are dried by being tumbled through
heated air in a granulator. The dry sugar crystals are then sorted
by size through vibrating screens and placed into storage bins.
Sugar is then sent to be packed in the familiar packaging we see
in grocery stores, in bulk packaging, or in liquid form for industrial
use.

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Books
Clarke, M. A., ed. Chemistry & Processing of Sugarbeet &
Sugarcane. Elsevier Science Publishing Co., Inc., 1988.

Hugot, E. Handbook of Cane Sugar Engineering. 3rd ed. Elsevier


Science Publishing Co., Inc., 1986.

Lapedes, Daniel, ed. McGraw Hill Encyclopedia of Food, Agriculture


and Nutrition. McGraw Hill, 1977.

McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the
Kitchen. Collier Books, 1984.

Meade, G. P. Cane Sugar Handbook: A Manual for Cane Sugar


Manufacturers and Their Chemists. John Wiley and Sons, 1977.

Pennington, Neil L. and Charles Baker, eds. Sugar: A Users' Guide to


Sucrose. Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1991.

Rost, Waverly. Food. Simon & Schuster, 1980.

Periodicals
"Sugar: Can We Make It On the Homestead?" Countryside & Small
Stock Journal. May-June, 1987, p. 9.
Hayes, Joanne L. "Sugarloaf Lore," Country Living. March, 1989, p.
132.

"Squeezing All the Sweetness Out of Sugarcane—and


More," Chemical & Engineering News. May 12, 1986, pp. 38-9.

— Eva Sideman

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1/Sugar.html#ixzz4KvF84kl3

The basic process[edit]

Sugar cane must be crushed to extract the juice. The crushing


process must break up the hard nodes of the cane and flatten the
stems. The juice is collected, filtered and sometimes treated and then
boiled to drive off the excess water. The dried cane residue (bagasse)
is often used as fuel for this process. The remaining liquid is allowed
to set into a solid mass known as jaggery, gur, chancaca or panela
(Gur is used in the rest of this document).
Terminology[edit]

The following terminology is used in this technical brief:


Bagasse The fibrous residue of sugar cane which remains after the
crushing operation.
Boiling The evaporation of moisture from the juice at temperatures of
between 90 and 116ºC.
Brix The term 'degrees Brix' (or more usually ºBrix) is the sugar
'technologists' measure of the concentration of dissolved solids in
solution.
ClarificationRemoval of impurities from the juice.

Extraction The removal of juice from the cane by crushing.

Factory This term is used throughout to indicate a sugar processing


plant regardless of its type, processing capacity or physical size.
Invert sugar High temperatures and acid conditions can cause
chemical decomposition of the sucrose resulting in simpler sugars
such as glucose and fructose forming. These sugars are known as
invert sugars and are not desirable in the final product.

MassecuiteThe concentrated cane juice obtained after boiling, also


known as rab or final syrup.
Molasses A syrup by-product from the manufacture of sugar,
containing sucrose, invert sugars, moisture, ash and other insoluble
matter.
Open Pan (OP) Describes sugar produced by boiling juice in open
pans at atmospheric pressure.

OPS Open Pan Sulphitation (OPS) is a method for production of white


granular sugar, developed in India.
Recovery The proportion of sugar produced by weight of cane
processed, usually expressed as a percentage. For example, 10%
recovery means that for every 100kg of cane processed 10kg of sugar
is produced.
Strike The removal of massecuite from the boiling operation at the
required concentration.

Sucrose An organic chemical of the carbohydrate family, found in the


sap of most green plants. Ordinary white crystal sugar is almost
(99.9%) pure sucrose while some of the non-crystalline sugars may
contain less; for example syrup and jaggery which contain as little as
50 and 80% sucrose respectively.
TCD Tonnes of Cane per Day refers to the amount of cane a
processing plant crushes each day and not the amount of sugar
produced. Most sugar processing plants are sized according to this
figure which is based on a 24 hour day. However, many small-scale
factories, and some large ones, only operate for part of a day and in
some cases for only part of the year. Therefore care must be taken
when analysing TCD figures as they only represent a factory's
capacity and do not necessarily reflect the actual throughput.
Vacuum Pan Vacuum (VP) pan describes a particular type of
technology used to boil or evaporate the sugar cane juice. It was
developed by the large-scale industry to improve efficiency but some
small-scale VP factories are in operation, especially in India.
Yields[edit]

The yield of gur from sugar cane depends mostly on the quality of the
cane and the efficiency of the extraction of juice. The table below
gives some extreme values.

High quality cane Poor quality cane


Juice per 100kg of cane 50kg 40kg

% sugar in juice 22 17

Gur per 100kg of cane 10kg 7kg

High quality cane has a good juice content with high sugar levels
(20%+). Poor quality cane or cane that has been harvested early may
have similar juice content but the sugar levels will be reduced.

The efficiency with which juice can be extracted from the cane is
limited by the technology used. The simple three roller crushers used
by most artisanal producers will never extract more than 50kg of juice
from each 100kg of cane.

Yields are also improved by careful control of the boiling process.


Boiling should be completed as rapidly as possible and the conditions
kept as clean as possible.
Mass Balance[edit]

Weight of gur = Weight of cane x (weight of juice/weight of cane) x


(sugar in juice/sugar in gur)

For the technically minded, the weights of the gur, juice and cane can
be related as follows:

10kg gur = 100kg cane x (50kg juice/100kg cane) x (19% sugar in


juice/95% sugar in gur)
Scale of production[edit]
Cane
Scale Type of enterprise
processed/day

Cottage and small village industry using


Small up to 50 tonnes
traditional OP technology.

Small to medium enterprise using


Medium 50 to 500 tonnes modified traditional OPS or small-scale
VP technology.

500 tonnes Large industry using modern VP


Large
upwards technology.

Types of cane sugar[edit]

Processed sugar comes in two forms: non-crystalline and crystalline of


which there are two basic types; centrifuged and non-centrifuged. The
different forms of sugar are produced in many different countries and
often have different names, therefore for clarity the different types are
described as follows:
Non-crystalline sugars[edit]

Syrups A non-crystalline liquid of high viscosity (thickness)


concentrated from whole cane juice. It can vary from golden brown to
dark brown and contains; up to 50% sucrose, high levels (up to 20%)
of invert sugars, up to 20% moisture and the remainder is made up of
other insoluble matter (ash, proteins, bagasse etc).
Crystalline sugars[edit]

These can be divided into two types: non-centrifugal sugars and


centrifugal sugars. Non- centrifugal sugars are basic lump sugars
where the molasses and crystals have not been separated.
Centrifugal sugars are free flowing granular sugars where the
molasses and crystals have been separated to some degree.
Non-centrifugal sugars[edit]

Lump sugars These sugars are a concentrated product of the cane


juice and are produced in many countries for direct consumption. They
vary from yellowish brown to dark brown (almost black sometimes) in
colour and contain up to 80% sucrose with the remainder made up
from moisture, invert sugars and other insoluble matter such as ash,
proteins and bagasse fines in varying proportions.

Lump sugars are produced in many countries around the world and
are known by a range of names: jaggery in Africa, gur in India and
Bangladesh, desi in Pakistan, chancaca in Peru; other names include
panela, piloncillo, and rapedura.
Centrifugal sugars[edit]

Khandsari A basic raw granular sugar, developed in India, that has


been separated from most of the molasses. Khandsari varies in colour
from golden yellow to brown and contains between 94 and 98%
sucrose.
It is produced by the small to medium-scale sector and has a
considerable market in India. At its most basic, khandsari is
manufactured using simple animal-drawn crushers, is subjected to
simple clarification, boiled to the consistency of a thick syrup, and
allowed to stand until sugar crystals are formed. The small crystals are
then separated in manually operated centrifuges and sun dried.

At the other end of the scale the production plant can use diesel or
electrically driven crushers, crystalliser to ensure uniform formation of
crystals, power-driven centrifuges, and forced-air driers to dry the
product. Factories processing between one and two hundred tonnes
of cane per day are common, yielding between 6.5 and 13 tonnes of
sugar per day respectively.

Since the late 1950s traditional khandsari production has been in


decline in favour of a modified process known as open pan
sulphitation (OPS) sugar processing. The OPS production method
produce an off-white to white crystal sugar which can be of the same
quality as that produced by modern large-scale VP sugar factories.
White granular sugars[edit]

Free flowing white granular sugars are often referred to as plantation


white. These sugars are traditionally produced in large-scale VP
factories. It is possible for the medium-scale sector to develop small-
scale or mini VP plants for the production of good quality white sugar.
Brown granular sugars[edit]

There are two categories of granular brown sugar: those produced


directly from the cane juice at the place of origin and those that are
produced during the refining of raw sugar. The first type includes
demerara, muscovado and turbinado sugars. The second type are
coated brown or 'soft' sugars and manufactured demerara.

Those produced directly from the cane juice at the place of origin can
be made using medium- scale open pan production methods. The
refined brown sugars, however, tend to be produced in modern large-
scale VP sugar factories.
Demerara sugar[edit]

Named after the area in Guyana where it was first produced,


demerara is a centrifuged sugar prepared from the first crystallisation
of cane syrup and has large yellow crystals and a slightly sticky
texture. Production of this sugar is suited to the medium-scale sector
as the juice needs to be carefully clarified to ensure purity and
crystalliser are required to ensure uniform grain size.
Muscovado[edit]

Also known as Barbados sugar, muscovado is the product of the third


crystallisation. It is dark brown in colour with small grains and sticky
texture. A by-product of both the OPS and mini-VP scale of
production, muscovado tends to be produced as an alternative to
white sugar if the standard is not very high.

Technology[edit]

The technology used will depend on the type and amount of sugar
being produced. Syrup and lump sugars can be produced using
relatively basic low-cost equipment consisting of a crusher and a
furnace with boiling pan. Granular sugar production also uses
crushers and boiling equipment but requires additional equipment
such as a clarification plant, crystallisers, driers and packaging
equipment.

The crushing and boiling technology used by the OP factories in both


the small and medium- scale sector are similar. In most cases the
technology used by the medium scale sector is a development of that
used by the small-scale sector or sometimes vice-versa.
Cane crushers[edit]

A wide range of crushers are suitable for use by the small to medium-
scale sugar processors with capacities ranging from 200kg to over
900kg of cane per hour. There are two basic types: the roll mill, which
is the most common, and the screw expeller.

It is important to remember that cane must be crushed within 24 hours


of being cut. After this time the sugar begins to 'invert' into different
sugars that will not set solid.
Roll mills[edit]

Roll mills, of various types, are a proven technology which are easy to
use and maintain and are extensively used in the large-scale sector as
well as in the small. Typically roll mills used in the small-scale sector
are either two or three-roll configuration set vertically or horizontally.
The rolls, usually made from cast iron or steel, are located in wooden,
steel or cast iron frames.

Some of the smaller crushers, with capacities of between 200 and


500kg cane per hour, have vertically set rolls and are animal powered
but can be modified to use small engines or electric motors. A crusher
driven by a single ox can be expected to process around 50kg of cane
per hour. A 5HP diesel set could increase this to around 300kg per
hour.

Figure 1: Animal powered crusher Photo: Neil Cooper/Practical Action.

Others are horizontal and are usually powered by small engines or


electric motors. Some small manually powered horizontal crushers are
available but they tend to be used by street vendors, especially in
South and South East Asia, to provide cane juice for drinking.

For the small-scale producer the main advantage of using automated


crushers is that of throughput rather than extraction efficiency. An
extraction rate of up to 65% is achievable from both animal driven and
small automated roll mills. However, the medium to large-scale
producers use much larger roll-mills that are can extract up to 80% of
the available juice depending on the fibre content of the cane and if
the cane is prepared carefully.

If greater extraction is required then it is usual to use two or more


automated three-roll mills in tandem, one behind the other. Cane is
fed through the first mill and the resulting bagasse is then fed into the
second mill and so on with each stage extracting juice. Although some
large-scale factories use five three-roll mill tandems it is more usual
for the larger open-pan factories to use two or three crushers in
tandem.
The pressure exerted by the mill on the cane is determined by the gap
between the top roller and the bottom rollers. If the gap is too wide
then poor extraction will result; if the gap is too small then the cane
may not pass through it or may cause the rollers to jam. The correct
setting of the rollers has to be determined at the site of crushing as it
will be dependent upon the cane variety, size and quality.

Improved extraction can be achieved by hydraulically loading the


pressure roller and by slicing or shredding the cane along its length
before crushing. This type of system can achieve extraction of around
66%.

Another important factor for efficient extraction is the operational


speed of the crushers. Operating speeds are typically between 5 and
50 r.p.m. The lower speeds are easily achievable when using animal
power but the use of engines or motors requires speed reduction.

Figure 2: A Diesel powered cane crusher with three vertical rollers in


Bangladesh. Photo: Neil Cooper

Typically diesel and petrol engines have speeds of 700 to 2000 r.p.m
while electric motors are usually rated at 750 or 1500 r.p.m. Speed
reduction is usually achieved by coupling the engine to the crusher via
flat or vee type belts and pulleys. The use of flat belts is a common
and well proven technology while at the same time it is also one of the
cheapest and easiest methods. Its major draw back is the distance
required between the prime mover and the crusher to ensure
maximum efficiency from the drive mechanism. Where space is limited
then vee belts and pulleys can be used as they allow for relatively
close coupling. However, vee belts and pulleys are more complicated
and expensive to manufacture than flat belts and pulleys.

Direct coupling between prime mover and crusher is possible but a


reduction gear box will be required to obtain the optimum crushing
speed. Compared to belt and pulley systems gear boxes are
expensive and complex requiring more maintenance.
Screw expellers[edit]

Screw expellers are not commonly used in the small-scale sugar


industry although they are more efficient than roll mills. Typically a
single expeller will have the same extraction efficiency as a three or
four three-roll mill tandem. Their use in the small-scale sector has
been limited to experimental machines which have proved to be
unreliable thus requiring more maintenance.

Figure 3: A simple open pan used for processing the juice extracted from the
sugar. Photo: Neil Cooper / Practical Action.
Furnaces[edit]

Furnaces for open pan boiling use dried bagasse as fuel but can vary
in design and size to suit local conditions and preferences. The
following section describes a range of basic designs that are used in
small to medium-scale factories.

Simple temporary single-pan furnaces The most basic design,


common in many countries, consists of a furnace built into the ground
with a small brick or block wall (100 to 150mm high) placed around the
top to ensure a level flat surface to support the pan. If bricks or blocks
are not available then the wall can be built from mud and stone but
care is required to ensure that the top of the wall is level and flat.
The furnace can be either round or rectangular to suit the pans used.
A round or circular furnace is the most efficient design but the ease of
manufacture and cost of the pans often dictates which type of furnace
design is used.

Two holes positioned opposite each other are required, one to feed
bagasse into the furnace and the other to exhaust smoke and other
products of combustion.

An improvement to this design is to build a chimney at the exhaust


end which should improve the performance of the furnace and help
ensure that smoke and particulates produced during combustion are
removed away from the sugar processing area. Care must be taken
when siting the furnace to ensure that small particles of burning fuel,
which can be emitted with the exhaust gasses, cannot cause a fire risk
to surrounding dwellings or buildings.

Rectangular pans are usually flat bottomed with relatively low sides.
This shape does not allow for even heating of a product and care is
required when using them as burning of the product can occur. Pans
for the round furnace should be hemispherical or cone shaped. These
shapes allow for more even heating than rectangular pans but are
usually more expensive to manufacture. Cones are often used in parts
of Asia for syrup production but less often for jaggery production as
the thick viscous massecuite is difficult to remove from the cone.
Simple permanent single-pan furnaces Although similar in design to
temporary furnaces they tend to be larger and are often built, or have
a large proportion of their structure, above ground. The walls of the
furnace are usually made from brick or building blocks and the boiling
pans fit into the structure.
Permanent multi-pan furnaces Multi-pan furnaces are used for the
production of both non-centrifuged and centrifuged sugars. They
utilise waste heat from the boiling process to pre-heat and boil a
successive concentration of juice at progressively higher
temperatures.

The primary pan is located directly above the combustion chamber.


Behind and slightly above the primary pan a secondary pan is located.
A third pan is located above and behind the secondary pan, and so on
depending on the number of pans used. Hot gases from the
combustion process pass under the pans heating the juice, the
combustion gasses are exhausted to atmosphere through a chimney.
Improved heat transfer can be achieved by adding fins to the
underside of the pans increasing the surface area in contact with the
hot gasses.
There are two basic types of furnace, the original 'Standard Bel'
furnace and the 'shell' furnace which was developed in India during
the late 1970s. The 'standard bel' is a natural draught furnace where
bagasse is burnt on a grate in a combustion chamber located below a
series of round boiling pans. There are a number of variations of this
type of furnace but in all cases they are designed to operate on dry
bagasse (moisture content of 10% or less) which means having to dry
the bagasse before use. Even with dry bagasse this type of furnace
often requires excess fuel (either bagasse from another factory or
wood) to complete the boiling operation.

The 'shell' furnace was developed to burn wet bagasse straight from
the extraction process. The furnace is a forced draught design using
hot flue gasses (at around 500ºC) which pass over heat exchanger
tubes heating incoming combustion air to around 120 - 140ºC.
Bagasse is burnt in a heap on a fixed hearth inside a cylindrical brick
built combustion chamber lined with firebricks. The bagasse is fed
though a chute just below the throat allowing it to fall through hot
combustion gases which pre-dry it before burning. With careful
operation this type of furnace will not require additional fuel to
complete the boiling operation.

The transfer of juice from one pan to the next is controlled by valves
through overflow pipes, or the juice can be ladled manually. The
massecuite from the final pan is usually too viscous to flow easily so it
is ladled into buckets and transferred to the next stage of production.

Sugar production methods[edit]


Lump sugar and syrup production[edit]
Although lump sugars and syrups are produced by the medium and
large-scale sector they are ideally suited for production on the small-
scale. Both lump sugars and syrup can be produced using the same
equipment so a single factory can be used to manufacture either
product to suit demand. The size of the plant will depend on the local
situation. Where there is sufficient cane grown for a substantial part of
the year it is common to have a permanent factory centrally located. In
areas where cane is grown in small plots harvested over short
seasons, it is more common to have semi-permanent or temporary
factories set up close to the point of harvest.

There are four stages of production

•Extraction of juice from the cane

•Clarification of the juice

•Boiling of the juice

•Moulding and packaging


Extraction[edit]

Small-scale extraction is done using small two or three-roll mills driven


either by draught animals or small engines. The larger small-scale and
the medium-scale factory will use a single motorised three-roll mill.
Juice treatment Juice should be filtered through a cloth before boiling
in order to remove any solids such as dirt or particles of cane.

Large-scale sugar processors add lime to the juice in order to


coagulate impurities which then settle out. (This is rarely done at the
artisanal level.) The juice is then neutralised with sulphur dioxide.
Small-scale producers add a variety of clarificants to the juice
including wood ash. All of these have the effect of settling out
impurities. Many producers also add 'hydros' (sodium hydrogen
sulphate) at the final stages of boiling. This releases sulphur dioxide
into the juice and lightens the colour of the final product. (Note that a
high sulphur content often remains in the final product.)
Filtration and Clarification The amount of non-sugars such as
bagasse and other particulates in the juice will affect its purity,
resulting in discoloration and reduced sweetness. Therefore filtration
is essential and if done with care can remove up to 60% of non-sugars
from the juice.

A filter press, if available, will give the best results but can be
expensive for small-scale operations. However, reasonable levels of
filtration can be achieved by allowing the juice to stand for a few hours
to allow particulates to precipitate out. The tanks should be fitted with
a fine mesh lid, through which the juice is poured to filter out large
particles of bagasse and other foreign bodies. The mesh will also
prevent infestation from insects and help prevent contamination by
small animals and birds.

After settling the juice should be drawn from the tank ensuring that
particulates settled at the bottom of the tank are not disturbed. The
juice can then be poured into the boiling pan through a coarse cotton
cloth to filter out fine particles that may remain in suspension.

Clarification, if undertaken, is carried out during the boiling process by


adding a small amount of vegetable or chemical matter to the juice.
The clarificants do not react with the juice but coagulate during the
heating process, trapping particles and contaminants and bringing
them to the surface during boiling. This appears on the surface as a
scum which can be removed using long handled fine-mesh ladles or
by passing a fine cotton cloth through the juice.

In India barks from the following plants are used:

•Hibiscus figulneus

•Hibiscus esculentus
•Bombus malbaricum

•Grewia asiatic

•Kydia calycina

These barks are soaked in water and the resulting solution added to
the juice just before boiling commences. Approximately 10 to 15% of
non-sugars can be removed using this method. These barks may not
be available else where and so some investigation is needed to find
out what local alternatives are available or traditionally used.
Boiling For syrup production the juice is boiled until the required
concentration is reached and the strike is made at around 105ºC when
most of the moisture has been boiled off and just before crystallisation
occurs. If the juice is over-boiled then crystals may be present which
may cause discoloration. If under-boiled, too much moisture will
remain in the syrup which may, with time, cause cloudiness and
shorten its shelf life. For lump sugars the juice is boiled for longer and
the strike is made at between 116 and 120ºC.
In all cases the furnaces use sun dried bagasse as fuel. The bigger
factories often have a surplus at the end of operations while smaller
units have to operate their furnaces with much greater care to ensure
that they do not use all the bagasse before boiling is completed.

Moulding and packaging For syrup production the juice is poured or


ladled from the boiling pan into containers where it is allowed to cool.
For lump sugar production, the massecuite is poured into cooling trays
where it is stirred to promote even cooling and crystallisation. Upon
setting, the lump sugar is cut or moulded into shapes to suit the local
market and customer requirements. Alternatively, before the
massecuite solidifies it can be poured into pots or moulds to produce
various shapes.

In Bangladesh where small temporary factories are common the pan


is removed from the furnace allowing cooling and crystallisation to
occur within the pan while a new pan with fresh juice is placed on the
furnace.

Production methods for granular sugars[edit]

Medium-scale production of white and brown granular sugars can be


undertaken using either the open pan (OP) or vacuum pan (VP)
processes. These processes use more complex technology than used
for jaggery and syrup production. Open pan sulphitation (OPS) is
probably the most common open pan method. In each case the
production process can be divided into six stages:

•Extraction of juice from the cane


•Clarification of the juice
•Boiling of the juice

•Crystallisation

• Centrifuging

•Drying and packaging


Open Pan Sulphitation (OPS) sugar processing[edit]

Developed in India during the 1950s for the production of white


granular sugar, OPS is based on an upgrade of khandsari production.
The technology uses a mix of traditional and scaled-down versions of
modern sugar technologies and is ideally suited to processing
between 100 and 500 tonnes of sugar cane per day, with recovery
rates of between 5 and 8%.

Unlike large-scale sugar factories, OPS plants do not usually have


their own estates to supply cane but rely instead on contractual
agreements between local growers and the factory. This level of
technology can be beneficial to rural communities by creating
employment opportunities at the factory and providing income for cane
growers in the area.

Since the introduction of the technology, large numbers of OPS sugar


plants have been built throughout India, with estimates of several
thousand still in use by the late 1980s. Dissemination of the
technology outside the South Asia has been limited; however, the
potential for OPS is considerable in countries that produce non-
crystalline sugars (jaggery, gur, panela, muscovado, etc) as they
already have some of the necessary expertise.
Extraction[edit]
The cane is usually shredded before crushing using two or three 3-roll
mill tandem arrangements either electrically or diesel engine powered.
The crushers can be hydraulic loaded to improve extraction rates
which can be as high as 70% of the available juice.
Clarification[edit]

Chemical clarification, based on modern cold lime sulphitation, is


carried out to remove impurities which inhibit the formation of the
crystals and can discolour the final product. The addition of lime also
has the advantage of reducing the natural acidity of the cane juice,
limiting the formation of invert sugars.

Batches of juice are treated simultaneously with milk of lime (CaO)


and sulphur dioxide (SO2)

(by air forced through a sulphur furnace) after which the juice is
transferred to an open boiling pan and quickly heated to 90ºC or
above. The lime and heat treatment form a heavy precipitant that
flocculates, carrying with it most of the suspended impurities in the
juice. The juice is then filtered and allowed to settle. The clear juice is
decanted and transferred to the boiling furnaces.
Boiling[edit]

The boiling operation uses cascade type furnaces of various


configurations. The massecuite is removed from the final boiling pan
at about 84ºBrix, at a temperature of around 112ºC.
Crystallisation[edit]

The massecuite is placed in U-shaped vessels where it is slowly


rotated and allowed to cool for up to 48 hours. This technique is often
referred to as crystallisation in motion. Rotation promotes even cooling
of the massecuite which helps to achieve uniform crystal growth.

Seeding can also be carried out: that is granulated massecuite from a


crystalliser in which grains have already been developed are placed
into the crystalliser before it is filled with fresh massecuite. This helps
to promote uniform crystal growth. The massecuite, now consisting of
crystals suspended in molasses, is transferred to the centrifuge.
Centrifuging[edit]

The centrifuge, a scaled-down version of those used in large-scale


factories, consists of a perforated inner drum located inside a larger
drum. The perforated drum is rotated rapidly, forcing the molasses to
separate from the crystals. Water is sprayed into the spinning drum to
assist in the removal of the molasses.

The crystals of sugar are then removed from the centrifuge and
transferred for drying. The molasses are collected and can be
reboiled, crystallised and re-centrifuged to produce a second, lower
quality, crystal sugar know as number two or B-sugar.
Drying and packaging[edit]

The crystals can be dried in a number of ways: by placing them in the


sun, or by using simple solar driers, or rotary or hopper driers which
require fuel to provide drying heat. The dried product can then be
packed into suitable containers or bags for distribution.

Mini vacuum pan (VP) sugar processing[edit]

This is a scaled down version of large-scale sugar processing


technology common throughout the world. It is a high-cost, low-labour
process suited to processing upward of 500 tonnes of sugar cane per
day with recovery rates of between 10 and 12%.
Extraction[edit]

The cane is first shredded then crushed using hydraulically loaded 3,


4 or 5-mill tandems. The major difference between this and OPS roll
mills is that water is sprayed onto the bagasse before the final mill and
diluted juice is recirculated to the previous mills. This system, known
as imbibition, helps to wash out more of the sucrose with the juice.
Typically, extraction rates of 75% of the available juice are common.
Clarification[edit]

Clarification is carried out by lime sulphitation similar to that used in


OPS, but here it is a continuous rather than a batch process.
Evaporation[edit]

The major difference between the VP and OPS technology is the


method of evaporating or boiling the juice. Instead of in open pans the
juice is boiled under vacuum, to about 70º Brix, inside closed vessels
or 'effects'. Low pressure steam is used to boil the juice which
circulate through tubes within a closed vessel. The vapour driven off
passes into a second similar vessel, where it is used to heat more
juice. In order to maintain suitable temperature differentials for heat
transfer to occur, a partial vacuum is applied to each vessel,
effectively lowering the boiling temperature of the juice.

It is common for four vessels to be used in series, each subjected to a


progressively higher vacuum. This system is capital-intensive but is
highly energy efficient and more importantly boils the juice at
progressively lower temperatures from 103 to 50ºC, reducing the
effects of inversion, minimising discoloration and enhancing the
formation of sugar crystals.

Final boiling to over 95º Brix takes place under vacuum in a single
vessel, known as the vacuum pan, which is designed to handle the
viscous massecuite. During this stage crystallisation begins in a
controlled manner, enabling the maximum yield of crystals to be
developed before the massecuite is transferred to the crystallisers.

Bagasse is used to fuel highly efficient high-pressure steam boilers.


The high-pressure steam is used to generate electricity to meet the
VP plant's needs and the low pressure exhaust steam is then used to
boil the juice in the vacuum pans.
Crystallisation[edit]

The massecuite is cooled and the crystallisation process completed


using large vessels that stir the massecuite continually for up to 48
hours.
Centrifuging[edit]

Takes place on a batch basis using large centrifuges similar in design


and operation to those used in the OPS process.
Drying and packaging[edit]

Drying is carried out at low temperatures using rotary or fluidised bed


driers.

Setting up a sugar factory[edit]


Types of sugar factory[edit]

Service extraction All is required is a site for the crusher and a space
to build the furnace. Farmers, growers and merchants provide the raw
material for processing and packaging. They take the risk of poor
preparation and problems associated with inadequate storage and
packaging. The processors charge a rate per unit of cane crushed or
juice processed payable either in cash or percentage of the output or
both.

The farmers can then rent the furnace or build their own close to the
crusher site and produce syrup or jaggery, keeping control of the
quality of the product. They could return to the farm and process the
juice there or could pay others to process the juice for them.

This type of system is relatively low-cost and is suited to small scale


production of up to 50 TCD in areas where cane is grown during short
seasons on small plots spread out over a wide area.
Independent sugar factory The factory buys in sugar cane and is
then responsible for all aspects of preparation, processing and
marketing the product. This type of business needs a reliable and
constant supply of cane of acceptable quality. Although the factory
could grow its own cane it is more usual for it to buy in cane from
various sources including:

•direct from individual farmers/growers

•agricultural co-operatives or groups

•private traders or companies

Because the cane quality deteriorates quickly after harvest, it is


important that the suppliers are contracted to supply cane at given
times. This enables the factory to work continually while minimising
the time harvested cane is allowed to stand.
This type of factory is suitable for medium scale production of between
50 and 500 TCD where cane is available all year round or for a
substantial part of the year.
Sugar estates The sugar estate takes control of all aspects of sugar
production from growing cane to processing and marketing. It is usual
for the estate to provide the bulk of their requirements and
occasionally to contract local growers to produce certain amounts of
cane for them. The estates can be fully owned by the factory or leased
from the farmers in the area. In both cases the factory farms the land
in accordance with its needs, providing all equipment, fertiliser,
pesticides and transport.

Operating and managing an operation of this magnitude requires


resources such as tractors, ploughs and harvesting equipment as well
as a skilled workforce, all of which add to the cost of the process.
Operation and management[edit]

Costs Sugar production, even at the small scale, is a complex


business which requires skilled people to manage and supervise all
aspects of the production, from the collection of cane to the delivery of
sugar to the market place. If these skills are not available locally then
they will have to be brought in to set up the business and to train staff,
which will add cost to the project.

The costs involved with any sugar factory need to be taken into
account. Small service extraction factories are the cheapest option but
will require a crusher, boiling pan and furnace and some means of
driving the crusher.
Although OPS is a low-cost option compared to large-scale production
plants, it still requires substantial investment. In addition, there would
be costs involved with operation, maintenance, transport and
marketing.

Energy Sugar production uses a great deal of energy to boil the juice
as well as that required to operate crushers and other equipment. In
most cases sugar factories rely on bagasse as the main fuel for the
boiling process and care is required, especially with open pan
systems, to ensure that sufficient bagasse is available.

For most small to medium-scale single or multi-pan factories


producing lump sugars or syrups there is usually sufficient bagasse. In
larger multi-pan factories producing granular sugars, such as OPS, it
is often difficult to obtain enough bagasse. In these situations
additional fuel is required which may be bagasse obtained from
another factory or wood. Using forced-draught shell furnaces, as
developed for OPS factories, it is possible to obtain a fuel balance for
the boiling operation (first sugar only) using bagasse.

To operate the crushers, crystallisers, centrifuges and other powered


equipment, an additional energy source is required. This may be
electricity or diesel, both of which add to the total cost. If electricity
from the grid is not available then it will be necessary to generate
power at the factory. This means the installation of diesel powered
generators requiring a reliable supply of diesel fuel and engine spares.

Most VP factories are self-sufficient, producing their own electricity


and heating for both the process and the factory as a whole. With
careful management and using modern, highly efficient bagasse-fired
boilers it is possible to produce more electricity than is required by the
factory. It may be possible to sell this excess electricity to the grid or
other users, generating another source of income for the factory.

Transportation Transport may be required to bring cane from the


fields to the factory and also to take the product to market. If motor
vehicles are used then capital, maintenance and operating costs must
be added to the cost of the product. If animal powered transport is
used then hire charges and feed costs are also applicable. There may
also be costs associated with the loss of the draft animal to other
duties.

Maintenance Equipment cannot be operated effectively without


proper maintenance and repair. Engines, electric motors, crushers
and permanently sited furnaces will all need routine maintenance if
they are to operate efficiently.

Crusher rollers will wear with time and require re-machining which
necessitates access to a workshop with a lathe. Usually, rolls can only
be re-machined once after which they will be too small for effective
crushing. Therefore spare rolls or facilities for refacing old rolls will be
required. Other spares such as bearings and gears may also be
required.

Therefore due consideration must be given to the provision of


maintenance. Several options are available to the factory:

•provide its own spares


•buy spares from local suppliers
•import from outside the region or country.
Sugar cane Suitable sugar cane must be available if a factory is to be
efficiently operated. Because of local conditions and circumstances it
may not be possible to grow the best type of cane and so a
compromise will have to be made. It will be necessary to investigate
what variety is grown locally and assess its suitability for the type of
processing undertaken (i.e. jaggery, khandsari, OPS, mini VP etc). If
the cane is not suitable, then further investigation will be required to
identify a suitable variety taking account of local growing conditions
(i.e soil types, climate, watering, fertilisers etc).

Investigatory work can be undertaken with local agricultural research


centres or, if possible, established sugar factories which will already
have undertaken research into varieties suitable for processing. After
selecting a suitable variety it will be necessary to test it to ensure that
it will succeed under local conditions. However, introducing a new
variety of cane into an area may have a number of problems including:

•Farming practises may have to change to enable the new cane type
to be grown successfully and on a sufficient scale.

•Farmer may not wish to invest in a new variety of cane until a market
is assured.

•Chemical fertiliser may be required

Most medium-scale factories will require a set minimum amount of


cane each day. Because of the rapid rate of deterioration of the
harvested cane, it must be used with twenty four hours. In addition,
the growing season may be shorter than the operational period of a
factory and so farmers may have to grow cane over a longer period to
meet demand. Therefore it may be necessary for farmers to change
their farming practices to allow for a longer season and staggered
harvests.

In return the farmer will receive a guaranteed income per unit weight
of cane from the factory and can often claim part of the payment in
advance. However, the factory retains quality control and usually has
the right to reduce payment if the condition of the cane falls below that
required.

Carbohydrate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lactoseis a disaccharide found in milk. It consists of a molecule of D-galactose and


a molecule of D-glucosebonded by beta-1-4 glycosidic linkage. It has a formula of
C12H22O11.
A carbohydrate is a biological molecule consisting of carbon (C),hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O)
atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygenatom ratio of 2:1 (as in water); in other words, with
the empirical formula Cm(H2O)n (where m could be different from n).[1] Some exceptions exist; for
example, deoxyribose, a sugar component ofDNA,[2] has the empirical
formula C5H10O4.[3] Carbohydrates are technically hydrates of carbon;[4] structurally it is more
accurate to view them as polyhydroxy aldehydes and ketones.[5]
The term is most common in biochemistry, where it is a synonym ofsaccharide, a group that
includes sugars, starch, and cellulose. The saccharides are divided into four chemical
groups: monosaccharides,disaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides. In general, the
monosaccharides and disaccharides, which are smaller (lower molecular weight) carbohydrates, are
commonly referred to as sugars.[6] The word saccharide comes from
the Greek word σάκχαρον (sákkharon), meaning "sugar". While the scientific nomenclature of
carbohydrates is complex, the names of the monosaccharides and disaccharides very often end in
the suffix -ose. For example, grape sugar is the monosaccharide glucose, cane sugar is the
disaccharide sucrose, and milk sugar is the disaccharide lactose (see illustration).
Carbohydrates perform numerous roles in living organisms. Polysaccharides serve for the storage
of energy (e.g. starchand glycogen) and as structural components (e.g. cellulose in plants
and chitin in arthropods). The 5-carbon monosaccharide ribose is an important component
of coenzymes (e.g. ATP, FAD and NAD) and the backbone of the genetic molecule known as RNA.
The related deoxyribose is a component of DNA. Saccharides and their derivatives include many
other important biomolecules that play key roles in the immune system, fertilization,
preventing pathogenesis,blood clotting, and development.[7]
In food science and in many informal contexts, the term carbohydrate often means any food that is
particularly rich in the complex carbohydrate starch (such as cereals, bread and pasta) or simple
carbohydrates, such as sugar (found in candy,jams, and desserts).
Often in lists of nutritional information, such as the USDA National Nutrient Database, the term
"carbohydrate" (or "carbohydrate by difference") is used for everything other than water, protein, fat,
ash, and ethanol.[8] This will include chemical compounds such as acetic or lactic acid, which are not
normally considered carbohydrates. It also includes "dietary fiber" which is a carbohydrate but which
does not contribute much in the way of food energy (calories), even though it is often included in the
calculation of total food energy just as though it were a sugar.[9]

Contents
[hide]

 1Structure
 2Division
 3Monosaccharides
o 3.1Classification of monosaccharides
o 3.2Ring-straight chain isomerism
o 3.3Use in living organisms
 4Disaccharides
 5Nutrition
o 5.1Classification
 6Metabolism
o 6.1Catabolism
 7Carbohydrate chemistry
 8See also
 9References
 10External links
Structure[edit]
Formerly the name "carbohydrate" was used in chemistry for any compound with the formula
Cm (H2O)n. Following this definition, some chemists considered formaldehyde (CH2O) to be the
simplest carbohydrate,[10] while others claimed that title for glycolaldehyde.[11] Today, the term is
generally understood in the biochemistry sense, which excludes compounds with only one or two
carbons and includes many biological carbohydrates which deviate from this formula. For example,
while the above representative formulas would seem to capture the commonly known
carbohydrates, ubiquitous and abundant carbohydrates often deviate from this. For example,
carbohydrates often display chemical groups such as: N-acetyl (e.g. chitin), sulphate (e.g.
glycosaminoglycans), carboxylic acid (e.g. sialic acid) and deoxy modifications (e.g. fucose and
sialic acid).
Natural saccharides are generally built of simple carbohydrates called monosaccharides with
general formula (CH2O)nwhere n is three or more. A typical monosaccharide has the structure H–
(CHOH)x(C=O)–(CHOH)y–H, that is, an aldehydeor ketone with many hydroxyl groups added,
usually one on each carbon atom that is not part of the aldehyde or ketonefunctional group.
Examples of monosaccharides are glucose, fructose, and glyceraldehydes. However, some
biological substances commonly called "monosaccharides" do not conform to this formula
(e.g. uronic acids and deoxy-sugars such as fucose) and there are many chemicals that do conform
to this formula but are not considered to be monosaccharides (e.g. formaldehyde CH2O
and inositol (CH2O)6).[12]
The open-chain form of a monosaccharide often coexists with a closed ring form where
the aldehyde/ketone carbonylgroup carbon (C=O) and hydroxyl group (–OH) react forming
a hemiacetal with a new C–O–C bridge.
Monosaccharides can be linked together into what are called polysaccharides (or oligosaccharides)
in a large variety of ways. Many carbohydrates contain one or more modified monosaccharide units
that have had one or more groups replaced or removed. For example, deoxyribose, a component
of DNA, is a modified version of ribose; chitin is composed of repeating units of N-acetyl
glucosamine, a nitrogen-containing form of glucose.

Division[edit]
Carbohydrates are polyhydroxy aldehydes, ketones, alcohols, acids, their simple derivatives and
their polymers having linkages of the acetal type. They may be classified according to their degree of
polymerization and may be divided initially into three principal groups, namely sugars,
oligosaccharides and polysaccharides[13]

The major dietary carbohydrates

Class (DP*) Subgroup Components

Monosacchari
Sugars (1–2) Glucose, galactose, fructose, xylose
des
Disaccharides Sucrose, lactose, maltose, trehalose

Polyols Sorbitol, mannitol

Malto-
oligosaccharid Maltodextrins
es
Oligosaccharides
(3–9)
Other
Raffinose, stachyose, fructo-
oligosaccharid
oligosaccharides
es

Amylose, amylopectin, modified


Starch
starches
Polysaccharides (
>9) Non-starch
Cellulose, hemicellulose, pectins, hydroc
polysaccharide
olloids
s

DP * = Degree of polymerization

Monosaccharides[edit]
Main article: Monosaccharide
D-glucoseis an aldohexose with the formula (C·H2O)6. The red atoms highlight
thealdehyde group and the blue atoms highlight theasymmetric centerfurthest from
the aldehyde; because this -OH is on the right of the Fischer projection, this is a
D sugar.
Monosaccharides are the simplest carbohydrates in that they cannot be hydrolyzed to smaller
carbohydrates. They are aldehydes or ketones with two or more hydroxyl groups. The
generalchemical formula of an unmodified monosaccharide is (C•H2O)n, literally a "carbon hydrate".
Monosaccharides are important fuel molecules as well as building blocks for nucleic acids. The
smallest monosaccharides, for which n=3, are dihydroxyacetone and D- and L-glyceraldehydes.
Classification of monosaccharides[edit]

The α and β anomers of glucose. Note the position of the hydroxyl group (red
or green) on the anomeric carbon relative to the CH2OH group bound to
carbon 5: they either have identical absolute configurations (R,R or S,S) (α),
or opposite absolute configurations (R,S or S,R) (β).[14]
Monosaccharides are classified according to three different characteristics: the placement of
its carbonyl group, the number of carbon atoms it contains, and its chiral handedness. If the carbonyl
group is an aldehyde, the monosaccharide is analdose; if the carbonyl group is a ketone, the
monosaccharide is a ketose. Monosaccharides with three carbon atoms are calledtrioses, those with
four are called tetroses, five are calledpentoses, six are hexoses, and so on.[15] These two systems
of classification are often combined. For example, glucose is analdohexose (a six-carbon
aldehyde), ribose is an aldopentose (a five-carbon aldehyde), and fructose is a ketohexose (a six-
carbon ketone).
Each carbon atom bearing a hydroxyl group (-OH), with the exception of the first and last carbons,
are asymmetric, making them stereo centers with two possible configurations each (R or S).
Because of this asymmetry, a number of isomers may exist for any given monosaccharide formula.
Using Le Bel-van't Hoff rule, the aldohexose D-glucose, for example, has the formula (C·H2O)6, of
which four of its six carbons atoms are stereogenic, making D-glucose one of 24=16
possible stereoisomers. In the case ofglyceraldehydes, an aldotriose, there is one pair of possible
stereoisomers, which areenantiomers and epimers. 1, 3-dihydroxyacetone, the ketose
corresponding to the aldose glyceraldehydes, is a symmetric molecule with no stereo centers. The
assignment of D or L is made according to the orientation of the asymmetric carbon furthest from the
carbonyl group: in a standard Fischer projection if the hydroxyl group is on the right the molecule is a
D sugar, otherwise it is an L sugar. The "D-" and "L-" prefixes should not be confused with "d-" or "l-
", which indicate the direction that the sugar rotates plane polarized light. This usage of "d-" and "l-"
is no longer followed in carbohydrate chemistry.[16]
Ring-straight chain isomerism[edit]

Glucose can exist in both a straight-chain and ring form.


The aldehyde or ketone group of a straight-chain monosaccharide will react reversibly with a
hydroxyl group on a different carbon atom to form a hemiacetal or hemiketal, forming
a heterocyclic ring with an oxygen bridge between two carbon atoms. Rings with five and six atoms
are called furanose and pyranose forms, respectively, and exist in equilibrium with the straight-chain
form.[17]
During the conversion from straight-chain form to the cyclic form, the carbon atom containing the
carbonyl oxygen, called the anomeric carbon, becomes a stereogenic center with two possible
configurations: The oxygen atom may take a position either above or below the plane of the ring.
The resulting possible pair of stereoisomers is called anomers. In the α anomer, the -OH substituent
on the anomeric carbon rests on the opposite side (trans) of the ring from the CH2OH side branch.
The alternative form, in which the CH2OH substituent and the anomeric hydroxyl are on the same
side (cis) of the plane of the ring, is called the β anomer.
Use in living organisms[edit]
Monosaccharides are the major source of fuel for metabolism, being used both as an energy source
(glucose being the most important in nature) and in biosynthesis. When monosaccharides are not
immediately needed by many cells they are often converted to more space-efficient forms,
often polysaccharides. In many animals, including humans, this storage form is glycogen, especially
in liver and muscle cells. In plants, starch is used for the same purpose. The most abundant
carbohydrate, cellulose, is a structural component of the cell wall of plants and many forms of
algae. Ribose is a component of RNA. Deoxyribose is a component of DNA. Lyxose is a component
of lyxoflavin found in the human heart.[18] Ribuloseand xylulose occur in the pentose phosphate
pathway. Galactose, a component of milk sugar lactose, is found ingalactolipids in plant cell
membranes and in glycoproteins in many tissues. Mannose occurs in human metabolism, especially
in the glycosylation of certain proteins. Fructose, or fruit sugar, is found in many plants and in
humans, it is metabolized in the liver, absorbed directly into the intestines during digestion, and
found in semen. Trehalose, a major sugar of insects, is rapidly hydrolyzed into two glucose
molecules to support continuous flight.

Disaccharides[edit]

Sucrose,also known as table sugar, is a common disaccharide. It is composed


of two monosaccharides: D-glucose (left) and D-fructose (right).
Main article: Disaccharide

Two joined monosaccharides are called a disaccharide and these are the simplest polysaccharides.
Examples include sucrose and lactose. They are composed of two monosaccharide units bound
together by a covalent bond known as a glycosidic linkage formed via a dehydration reaction,
resulting in the loss of a hydrogen atom from one monosaccharide and a hydroxyl groupfrom the
other. The formula of unmodified disaccharides is C12H22O11. Although there are numerous kinds of
disaccharides, a handful of disaccharides are particularly notable.
Sucrose, pictured to the right, is the most abundant disaccharide, and the main form in which
carbohydrates are transported in plants. It is composed of one D-glucose molecule and one D-
fructosemolecule. The systematic name for sucrose, O-α-D-glucopyranosyl-(1→2)-D-
fructofuranoside, indicates four things:

 Its monosaccharides: glucose and fructose


 Their ring types: glucose is a pyranose and fructose is a furanose
 How they are linked together: the oxygen on carbon number 1 (C1) of α-D-glucose is linked to
the C2 of D-fructose.
 The -oside suffix indicates that the anomeric carbon of both monosaccharides participates in the
glycosidic bond.
Lactose, a disaccharide composed of one D-galactose molecule and one D-glucose molecule,
occurs naturally in mammalian milk. The systematic name for lactose is O-β-D-galactopyranosyl-
(1→4)-D-glucopyranose. Other notable disaccharides include maltose (two D-glucoses linked α-1,4)
and cellulobiose (two D-glucoses linked β-1,4). Disaccharides can be classified into two types:
reducing and non-reducing disaccharides. If the functional group is present in bonding with another
sugar unit, it is called a reducing disaccharide or biose.

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