Sug′ar.
A substance having a sweet taste, soluble in water, and capable of undergoing fermentation.
Three kinds are distinguished in chemistry: —
| Formula. |
| Saccharine, or cane-sugar | C12 H11 O11 |
| Glucose, or grape-sugar | C12 H14 O14 |
| Lactose, or milk-sugar | C12 H12 O12 |
The first of these is derived principally from the sugar-cane (
Arundo saccharifera), but is also obtained from beet-root, the sap of the sugar-maple, and various other plants.
It is much sweeter and more readily crystallizable than either of the other kinds, and is that generally known to commerce.
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The sugar-cane is a native of
Asia.
It is believed to have originated in
China, and to have been used by the Celestials many centuries before it found its way to
India and
Arabia, from whence it was introduced into what is now the Christian world.
In Sanscrit, sugar is
sarkara. Our
candy is also from the Sanscrit
kanda. In Persian it is
schakar; Hindostanee,
schukur; Arabic,
sukkar.
The references to it among ancient writers are few and indistinct.
The first distinct notice of it is by
Nearchus, who conducted the fleet of
Alexander down the Indus.
He speaks of the sugar-cane as growing in
India, but does not refer to expression of the juice.
Sugar is mentioned by
Dioscorides and Pliny, not from any commercial or domestic value that it possessed, but as a curious item of natural history and a presumed use as a medicine.
Galen also refers to it as a kind of honey secreted in reeds and brought from
Arabia Felix and
India.
It was known by the Greeks and Romans as an Oriental production, but was sometimes confounded by them with the
Tabaschir, made from bamboo stems (Sanscrit;
trak-kschira, bark-mill.)
Moses of Chorene, who lived in the middle of the fifth century, was the first who described circumstantially the preparation of sugar from the juice of the
Saccharum officinarum in the province of Khorasan.
It is also mentioned by
Paul Eginetta, a physician.
A. D. 625.
The
Arabs seem to have introduced it wherever they went, finally into
Sicily and
Spain.
Through them it became known to the Crusaders, who liked the sweet honeyed reeds, and one of their chroniclers describes the mode of expressing and purifying the juice as practiced by the inhabitants of Acre and
Tripoli.
The cane was cultivated in
Cyprus, 1148, and a grant from William II.
of
Sicily, in 1166, includes a sugar-mill with “all its rights, members, and appurtenances.”
It does not, however, appear to have been generally known in
Europe prior to the middle of the thirteenth century.
It is said that a Venetian merchant in 1250 visited Bengal and informed himself of the mode of culture and preparation.
The art of refining sugar and making sugar loaves was also communicated by a Venetian about 1559.
It is not known whether he independently originated the idea, or whether he received it from
China, where it had been practiced for ages.
Boiling and baking sugar was first practiced in
Europe about 1420.
Bartholomew was the first Englishman who described the method of crystallizing and purifying sugar.
The plant was taken by the Portuguese to
Madeira in 1420, and soon afterward, in 1596, to the Canaries, from whence it was taken to
Brazil and to
St. Domingo.
Its culture thence gradually spread throughout the
West Indies.
Barbadoes was supplied from
Brazil in 1641, and the culture was introduced into
Louisiana by French refugees from
St. Domingo toward the close of the last century.
For notice of beet-root sugar, see
infra, also page.
255.
Maple sugar was first made by the Indians, and
La Salle refers to it as a kind of manna.
Sirup. The
sirup of commerce is the residual product obtained in refining raw sugar.
This is dissolved in water, filtered and decolorized, boiled, and formed into loaves.
The sirup which drains out of the loaves, called
greens, is again purified, decolorized, and boiled down to crystallization.
The crystals are separated in the centrifugal machine, and sold as a very light-colored
coffee-sugar. The
greens from this sugar yield, by purification, decolorization, and boiling, a light
yellow sugar.
The last
greens, after three successive crystallizations of sugar, are purified and sold as
golden sirup. This sirup still contains a considerable quantity of crystallizable sugar, which cannot be profitably extracted, together with uncrystallizable sugar, coloring matter, and the substances which give to sirup its peculiar agreeable flavor, but whose exact nature is not known.
Beet-Root Sugar.
Oliver de Serres, 1605, suggested the use of beets for making sugar.
Margraff first produced sugar from beets in 1747; Achard, in 1799.
Bonaparte encouraged it, as his connections with the
West Indies were very precarious, and were likely to become more so. 60,000 tons of beet-root sugar are now produced annually in
France.
Large quantities are also made in Northern and
Central Europe, forming a large proportion of the amount consumed.
The industry has been introduced into
Illinois and
California.
It prospers in the latter.
Napoleon devoted 80,000 acres and 1,000,000 francs to encourage this industry, — one which has since grown to be of much importance in
Europe.
It is computed that beet-roots now supply nearly a fourth of all the sugar furnished to the markets of the world.
The amount of sugar contained in the beet varies from 8 to 13 per cent. As high as 40 tons of beets per acre have been raised in some parts of
France.
This would give, at 10 per cent, 4 tons of sugar to the acre; an average of one fourth as much is, however, considered satisfactory.
Beets for the manufacture of sugar are deprived of their tops, thoroughly washed by machinery, and then rasped into pulp or cut into thin shavings, according to the mode of manufacture practiced.
In the grating-machine the beets are fed into a hopper above and fall into two troughs beneath, where they are pushed forward, by means of two plungers operated by levers and links from a crank-shaft so as to have a quick return-motion, to a drum set with saws, which revolves at the rate of 600 to 800 revolutions per minute.
The pulp is discharged into a chute.
In the slicing process a centrifugal root-cutter is employed.
This consists of a stationary conical casing, within which are six grooved toothed knives.
The beets fed from a hopper above are driven against the knives by two flyers on a rotary disk, and cut into slices of uniform thickness.
After the beets have been grated, the juice is expressed by a hydrostatic press, or by the centrifugal machine (
Fig. 6042). The basket
a a consists of a perforated cylinder of steel with copper top and bottom, and containing a double cone of copper
b b; the whole is secured upon a spindle
c, having an elastic bearing, which permits it to oscillate at the commencement of its rotation until it assumes a perpendicular position by the even distribution of the pulp in the basket.
 |
|
Centrifugal machine. |
The rotation of the basket by belting on the spindle assumes a great velocity, and the juice is expressed from the pulp, caught by the curb
d, and flows to a conductor, by which it is conveyed to the defecating-pan.
The diffusion process of Robert, an extensive
Austrian beetroot sugar manufacturer, is a mode of extracting the saccharine liquid from the pulp, and is described and illustrated, page 702,
Fig. 1652.
The defecating-pan
a contains a steam-heated coil of copper pipe.
The juice is admitted through the pipe
b, while carbonic acid, entering through
c, is distributed throughout the juice by a perforated pipe.
The defecated juice and scums are drawn off into the
monte-jus d through the cock
e. The monte-jus has a man-hole at top, and is supplied with steam by a pipe entering above: as it becomes filled with juice, the air is driven out through the bibcock
g, which also indicates when the monte-jus is full; when this takes place, the bibcock is closed and boiler-steam admitted, forcing the juice out through the pipe
h into the receiving-tanks.
 |
|
Defecating-pan and monte-jus. |
The filter-press is used for recovering the juice which runs off in the scums from the defecating-pan.
Formerly the scums were put in bags and pressed in hydraulic presses.
This required considerable manual labor and power, which is nearly all saved by the filter-press.
This consists of a vat having cloth strainers, through which the juice is forced by steam-pressure.
After this the sirup is passed through a
bone-black filter, when it is ready for the evaporating-pans.
The sirup may be drawn off into another vacuum-pan for completion, or evaporated to the point of crystallization in the second evaporator, and then drawn off to crystallize, after which it is refined in the usual manner.
The refuse pulp from the manufacture of beet-sugar forms an excellent food for stock.
Recent improvements are offered in
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the treatment of the by-products of beet-root sugar-making.
Hitherto they have been treated for the mineral salts they contain, and then abandoned.
The residuary liquor is now concentrated, and by a process of dry distillation acetic acid, methyl, alcohol, and ammonia are obtained.
The by-product is then treated for the mineral salts as before.
Glucose. Glucose, or
grape-sugar, is a saccharine substance obtained from starch by boiling in water with one per cent of sulphuric acid.
The liquid is drawn off, the acid neutralized by lime, precipitate allowed to subside, liquid decanted and evaporated.
Starch is also converted into a fermentable sugar resembling glucose, by the action of a diastase.
Ligncous fiber will also yield glucose by treatment with a stronger solution of acid than the above, the mixture being afterward diluted, boiled, neutralized by alkali, and decanted.
Glucose is also obtained from cane-sugar by boiling in diluted acid.
The term
glucose has been made to comprise several distinct modifications of sugar, some of which are mentioned above, as well as the sugar of malt, cane sugar modified by acid; but, speaking in general terms, glucose is a non-crystallizable saccharine, which, like
dextrine, turns the plane of polarization to the right hand, as the term
dextrine indicates.
Cane-sugar (
sucrose), on the other hand, is crystallizable, and turns the plane of polarization to the left.
See
Miller's “Elements of Chemistry,” Part III.
pages 71,
et seq.
Glucose is developed in the process of malting, and its infusion is the solution called
wort, from which
beer is made; or it makes the
wash of the distiller.
Among the processes for the expedition or more perfect performance of the change of condition may be cited: —
Riley, March 5, 1850, converts
corn meal into glucose under pressure in a boiling solution of sulphuric acid: water, 1,000 gallons; acid, 25 pounds.
Reitsch, February 3, 1852.
The saccharine matter of wort evaporated to a viscid mass.
Hoffman, May 25, 1858.
Meal treated with dilute sulphuric acid and steam under pressure of 350° Fah. Decant and evaporate.
Hawkes, February 3, 1863.
Wort of malt boiled with decoction of hops; cane-sugar added; boiled to a thick sirup; add gelatine, and can.
Weiderfeld, April 28, 1863.
Meal steeped in water impregnated with gases resulting from dry distillation of sulphuric acid; wood charcoal; crystallized soda.
Goessling, May 10, 1864.
Corn soaked, bruised between rollers; soaked in repeated waters, to prevent fermentation.
Knead, pass through sieve, wash; treat with caustic potash, then with acid and steam; neutralize with alkali; steam, fine, filter, and concentrate.
Thompson, June 7, 1864.
Macerate grain in dilute acid.
Fleischman, July 12, 1864.
Macerate grain in sulphurousacid gas water.
January 5, 1865.
Add bicarbonate of soda to above, developing hyposulphurous acid.
Goessling, December 20, 1864.
Attempts to crystallize a mixture of corn or starch sirup and cane-sugar.
Percy, February 28, 1865.
Whey of milk and albumen boiled, and the resulting lactine treated with sulphuric acid or malt to produce glucose.
Hawks, June 27, 1865.
Ground malt is macerated with
corn meal and elutriated to remove saccharine, which is evaporated
in vacuo.
Goessling, September 5, 1865.
Soak corn in alkaline ley. Crush, strain, and add the starch to a boiling acid solution, defecate with charcoal, neutralize with alkali.
Evaporate and crystallize (?).
Goessling, September 5, 1865. Two modifications of the last.
Watson, December 5, 1865.
Kiln-dry meal, and macerate in water.
Seely, January 10, 1865.
Saw-dust purified by alkali, macerated in boiling acid solution, and added to 5 times its quantity of starch, and 10 times the quantity of water.
Concentrate.
Deissner, June 19, 1866.
Corn boiled in water; malt, sugar, and flour added.
Hirsh, October 16, 1866.
Corn soaked in dilute sulphuricacid; heated to 170° Fah.; ground, sieved, washed; starch boiled in solution of sulphuric acid, sulphuric alumina, and charcoal.
Neutralize, concentrate, evaporate, defecate with boneblack, filter, concentrate
in vacuo.
Hoff, December 18, 1866.
Soak barley in fennel water, and malt it; add various fragrant herbs.
Ferment.
Pigeon, April 23, 1867.
Starch and cellulose treated in acidulous water, boiled under pressure.
Saccharine liquid neutralized with lime, filter, defecate with bone-black, concentrate to 20°
B. Allow the lime to precipitate.
Filter; neutralize with soda.
Boil, crystallize (?) Mold.
Loew, June 25, 1868.
Woody fiber digested in hydrochloric acid, and heat; acid distilled over.
Glucose and paper-stock the results.
Wesselholft, October 6, 1868.
Extract of malt for dietetic purposes.
Sim and
Hutchinson, March 16, 1869.
Meal treated with bisulphide of carbon to extract oil, rendering starch more easily saccharified.
Delamarre, December 6, 1870.
Sweet potatoes steamed, mashed, and mixed with malt, macerated, steamed, pulp precipitated, saccharine liquid decanted, concentrated.
Grosheintz, May 23, 1871.
Hydrochloride or sulphuric acid saturated with an alkali to produce a salt which may remain in the saccharine matter.
