The story of sugar beet

As a leading consumer food product throughout the world (between 20 and 40 kg per person a year worldwide), sugar production is of capital importance to the economy. It also has repercussions for its many subcontractors. Constantly seeking new technological processes that could improve production and transport, whilst respecting the new environmental standards in the European Union, the sugar industry also stimulates its equipment suppliers to provide new high-quality machinery. Walloon equipment manufacturers, with vast experience in the field, are ready to respond and up to date with the many changes in the sector in the last two decades.

Beet growing in Wallonia

Cultivated and processed in virtually all of the European Union Member States, sugar beet occupies a relatively important place in Belgian agriculture (around one seventh of the total agricultural land, i.e. 100,000 hectares). Unlike sugar cane, beet prefers temperate climates to the tropics, and rich deep earth. In Belgium, beet feels particularly at home in Hesbaye. It has soil-cleaning properties that improve the yields of the wheat planted after it. There is a saying that “the soil remembers the beet”.

The Belgian sugar industry is therefore in excellent health with output well in excess of domestic consumption. In 2000, sugar exports represented 45% of production.

In Wallonia, sugar is made at Brugelette, Fontenoy and Wanze. In recent years, the international and Walloon sugar industry has changed rapidly with the advent of new technologies. The size of sugar companies is constantly growing and changes in equipment, especially IT technologies, have significantly altered practices in the sector.

From an economic and social standpoint, beet growing and the sugar industry are major players in rural development. Tasks are becoming automated, as in other sectors, resulting in changes in the number and qualifications of the personnel employed.

From the sugar beet field to the cup

Before it becomes the crystals that sweeten our food and drinks, sugar undergoes a production and processing cycle that starts with the sugar beet. Cultivated, harvested, stripped of leaves and then washed, the unsightly root is carefully tended before it enters the refinery gate. Damage caused to the beet during transport and contact with water must be kept to a minimum. Some Walloon companies today offer « soft » and fast storage and transport techniques to preserve the properties of the precious nectar. Certain Walloon companies now provide gentler and faster modes of transport to retain the properties of the precious nectar. In Belgium alone some 6 million tonnes of sugar beet are transported each year, as well as 800,500 tonnes of pulp, quite job !

The beet is then chopped to allow the sugar to be better absorbed by diffusion. Actually, the sugar stored in the heart of the plant is definitively formed. Before it gets to the consumer, it has to be extracted and the sucrose isolated in a series of steps from the other components. To extract the sugar from the vegetable cells, it has to be separated from impurities before the water in which the sugar is dissolved is extracted in the form of a solution. When these operations are complete, the sugar has been extracted, purified, concentrated and crystallised several times without any alteration or chemical transformation. Here again, some Walloon companies have specialised in the extraction, screening and crushing of the raw material.

The “diffusion juice” is then purged using lime and carbon anhydride before being concentrated by evaporation. The dense syrup obtained in this way is separated from the crystals. The mixture of crystals and syrup is put into centrifuges that separate out the crystals, which are washed and dried, from the syrup, which is reused.

Once again, certain Walloon companies are known for their innovative technology in the field of bulk product processing: vibrating conveyors, screeners, fluid bed dryer-coolers, vibrating spiral elevators that can screen, separate, dry, cool and mix. They provide equipment that operates at a natural frequency with low energy inputs, minimum maintenance costs and high reliability. The world-wide leader in particle separation and size reduction solutions is Walloon and carries out its activities in this sector of the food industry. It is constantly improving on its original concepts, by coming up with advanced products such as sieves. For example, it has created a QuickChange separator that considerably reduces the time it takes to change a sieve. From its technological centre in Nivelles, it can also test its clients’ applications on a small, medium or large scale.

Finally, Wallonia now possesses performing apparatus to control the « granulomorphometry » of sugar grains through image analysis. This technology, specially developed for the sugar industry, guarantees a perfect correlation with the sieving measurements.

The sugar industry equipment manufacturers include welded stainless steel machinery makers, using new alloys and pure metals: single or double skin storage tanks (insulated or uninsulated), pressure and vacuum vessels, mixing vats, reactors, crystallisers, etc. In addition there are subcontractors that provide industrial tubing, task automation, industrial maintenance and weighing apparatus.

A positive environmental balance sheet

Thanks to the scientific and technical knowledge, combined with a high level of technical expertise of the farmers that grow it, beet growing has made substantial progress over the past two decades. The growing methods used have considerably reduced nitrogen inputs and the levels of pesticides and irrigation. The generalised use of so-called rational agriculture techniques gives consumers and citizens real guarantees concerning the impact of cropping practices on the quality of products and the preservation of environment.

Today the environment is one of the priorities for the sugar industry in Wallonia. Thanks to the contribution of patented technologies, energy production – and its many unpleasant side effects of air pollution – has been reduced. Despite complex production constraints, many products and services are nowadays available : gas cleaning, dust transportation systems … Not forgetting consultancy help in  energy saving (electricity, gas, steam or compressed air), ranging from global audits to the installation of turnkey systems or the monitoring of monthly bills.

An intensive water purification programme has eliminated unpleasant smells. Various applications have been devised to allow improved water treatment and cleaning: design and construction of sewage treatment plants, pipeline treatment, development of innovative enzyme products, etc.

Recent installations satisfy the new standards and reduce the level of noise. A know-how that is now perfectly in step with our current environmental concerns.