Sugar cane - is a perennial, high enough herb of the family of grasses.Cultivated in subtropical and tropical regions for sucrose and other by-products of sugar production.
Description Culture
Sugar cane resembles bamboo.Its stems grow in small bundles, are cylindrical in shape and reach a height of up to seven meters in thickness from one to eight centimeters.It stems from the sap of the sugar yield.The nodes of each stem are buds (eyes), which later developed into a small side shoots.They are used for sugarcane breeding method of propagation.Seeds are formed in the upper part of the inflorescences (in panicles).They are mainly used to develop new types of cane, and only in rare cases - in the form of seed.
Sugarcane requires fertile soil, plenty of sun and water.That is why it is cultivated only in areas with a humid and hot climate.To maximize the amount of sucrose from the stems (17 percent by weight), the crop collected immediately after the cessation of growth of the plant height.
Sugar cane
Sugarcane is the most ancient of cultivated crops and the only one from which the sugar in Africa, Oceania, Latin America and Asia.In Europe, sugar from sugar cane is obtained only in Portugal and Spain.
Sugar production in Russia dates back to the first half of the tenth of VII century, when St. Petersburg was built the first factory for the production of sugar.It is obtained from imported raw cane sugar.
By tradition today in almost all countries where growing sugar cane is processed and produce it raw sugar, not a finished product in the form of sugar.Basically, the purity of raw sugar reaches 98 percent.Its exports to Russia and other countries in the form of raw material from which already get sugar.
due to significant differences in the chemical composition and structure of plant tissues technological process of processing of sugar cane is significantly different from the production of sugar beet.
For sugar cane stalks are cut him before flowering.In them at this point is 12 per cent fiber to 21 percent sugar, and up to 73 percent of water, as well as proteins and salts.
Then cut the stems and squeeze using iron forks squeeze the juice from them.It contains about 0.03 percent protein, 0.1 percent starch, 0.22 percent nitrogen containing substances, 0.29 percent of salts (mainly organic acids), 18.36 percent sucrose, 81 percent water and a small percentage of aromatic components,which give the juice a special smell.To separate the proteins added to the raw juice svezhegashenoy lime and heated to 70 degrees.This mixture is filtered, followed by evaporation is crystallized sugar.
Sucrose: application
sucrose (ordinary sugar) is a monoclinic colorless crystals, readily soluble in water.In large quantities, it is found in beet and cane from which it is obtained by technical processing.
Sucrose is used directly as food or as part of various confectionery products.At high concentrations it is used as a preservative.In addition, sucrose is used in the chemical industry for producing butanol, glycerol, dextran, ethanol and citric acid.
Also sucrose is quite valuable raw material in the pharmaceutical industry for producing medicinal preparations.
In conclusion, I would like to note that it is sugar cane is the main raw material in the production of sucrose.It accounts for two-thirds of the world produced sugar.
