SUG
SGG
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previoufly wetted, and itrongly, but graduallyprefled. By this the fyrup is forced throughthe fack, and there remains within it a yellowgranular laccharine mafs, refembling mufco-vado fugar, very fweet and well tailed. Fromthis, fugar of any degree of finenefs may beafterwards made by the procefles commonlyemployed in the refining of cane fugar.
Such is the procefs of Mr.. Achard, whichwas repeated by a commiffion from the French Inllitute, s with fimilar refults as to the generalproducts, but the quantity yielded was muchlefs than what might be inferred from the pricewhich Mr. Achard gives as the firlt coll to themanufacturer.
According to thefe fubfequent experiments,purfued precifely in Mr. Achard’^ method,1152 parts of the frefh beet root .yielded 18parts of raw mufcovado, which was brown andill tailed, and would require fuccelfive purifi-cations, with the lofs of from -j- to nearly -f- itsweight, to firing it tp the Hate of fline faleablefugar.
.It fhould be mentioned that the uncryftallizedfyrup and all the.refufe, afford excellent mate-rials for fermentation, and hence for the pro-duction of ardent fpirit, or a kind of rum.
Experiments on the extraction ,of fugar fromthe white beet have alfo been made in the largeway by Profeflor Lampadips of Frayherg, therefults of which are reprefented as very favour-able to the undertaker. As the procefs em-ployed fomewhat differs from that ofMr. Achard,we lhall give it in a few words. h * He tookzoo lbs. of frelli beet roots, peeled, rafped, andexprefl’ed them, and obtained 44 lbs. of juice.This he put into a boiler, and added to it 44 oz.of broken charcoal, previoully made red-hotin the fire, and fifted when cold to feparateand rejeCt the fine powder. This he boiled fora quarter of an hour and ilrained the juicethrough flannel, and again returned the dearjuice into the vefiel and boiled .it down to theeonliftence of fyrup. This .was fet by in a coolplace for a fortnight, during which it granulated,and the whole was Itrongly prdfed through acloth to feparate the fyrup from .the congealedfugar. The latter was then redifl'olved in hotwater, feummed while boiling., clarified by lime-water and blood, and again i'et by for 48 hoursto granulate. The .pryftals were now largerand of a better colour than before, and wereagain boiled with lime-water and a pint offlammed milk, and cooled as before, by whicn2. blueilh laccharine mafs was obtained, which,r An. Chcm. tom. 35. 11 Journ, de
when congealed In a mould, gave a loaf oftolerable fugar weighing 4 lbs. the tafte ofwhich was precifely the fame as that of com-mon fugar of equal finenefs.
In another experiment conducted in a fimilarmanner only 3^ lbs. of fugar was obtained.
On repeating thefe experiments in the large .way, with feveral improvements in the appara-tus and procefs, he obtained (as he afierts) from100 quintals of beet root, 200 lbs. of brownfugar, which, purified to a confiderable degree,were reduced to 180 lbs. This proportion ismuch inferior to that of the former experiments.
The ufe of the charcoal is to deftroy a quantityof colouring matter, and alfo a bitter unpleafanttafte which the beet contains. The power of.recently heated charcoal in clarifying faccharineliquors, and depriving them of all foreign colour,fmell, and tafte, has been already mentioned inthis work under the article Charcoal , p. 238, towhich it may be added .that attempts have beenmade to introduce it into the fugar refineries inthis country, but whether from the expence andbulkinefs of the charcoal, or from the difficultyof perfuading workmen to alter their accuftomedhabits, the plan has never been carried intopractice. In experiments in the fmall way theclarifying power of charcoal is very ftrikingand eafily (hewn, for if a funnel lined with fil-tering paper, is filled with frefli-burnt charcoalbruifed to a pretty fine powder, and a folutionof the coarfeft .brown fugar be poured on it, asit drops through the funnel it appears fine,limpid, and nearly colourlefs. The fame effeClis produced ■more rapidly by boiling the fyrupwith the.charcoal for a few minutes and drain-ing.
Profefior Lampadius alfo fuggefts the advan-tage of reducing the bulk of the faccharine juiceby freezing, which if not urged too far, willfeparate much of the watery part in the formof ice, fo that lefs fuel will be required in theevaporation.
This chemift however candidly confefles thatin one experiment made on 100 quintals ofthe root, the' fugar obtained fold tor fomewhatlefs than the entire colt of the materials and theprocefs, but this was in a cold unfavourableyear, and did not include the profits to be madefrom all the refidues in yielding ardent fpirit,See.
Phpficai and Chemical Properties of Sugar.
Pure fugar appears either in a regularly cryf-tallized form, or in Aiming white cryltallinegrains. Both in candy and in loaf it is veryhyf, tom. jo, 1 An. Chem. tom. 3S.
*