Sugar: The Importance Of Sugar

Sugar has been one of the most important components of the human diet, universally used for hundreds of years. Its importance is also related to energy contribution in combination with the capacity to sweeten. Sugar is produced in 121 countries all over the world and approximately 70% of it is obtained from sugar cane, a very tall grass with big stems which is largely grown in tropical countries. The remaining 30% is produced from sugar beet, a crop resembling a large parsnip grown mostly in temperate zone [1].

In addition to cane sugar, other products from sugar cane are cane fiber (known as bagasse) and molasses which is the final thick syrup from which no more sugar may be economically removed by crystallization. While cane top and leaves which are separated during harvest are used for cattle feed, in some of the cane growing countries.

Bagasse comes from a standard mill or diffuser at 50-55% moisture and in most countries it is used as fuel for the factory. In the People’s Republic of China and some parts of India, wood is in short supply and bagasse fiber is used for paper or board manufacture, here sugar cane factories burn low grade coal. Excess Bagasse is burned for cogeneration or to run a factory or distillery. Bagasse is also used in paper manufacture, depending on other fibers and processing, it can be used for all grades from coarse brown to newspaper and fine paper. Bagasse has also been used for single cell protein production as cellulose source, and as animal