• Sugar beet: sustainable and Belgian 
• Campaign results 
• From beet to sugar 
  • Harvesting the beets 
  • Diffusion 
  • Liming, carbonation and filtration 
  • Evaporation 
  • Crystallization 
  • Packaging and stocking 
• Quality control 

From beet to sugar

The extraction sugar from the sugar beet is done by a recent (18th century) method. In our country the sugar beet harvest starts the end of September and ends at the beginning of January.

Harvesting the beets
The beets are topped and harvested mechanically. The leaves and beet tops are used as forage, the roots are loaded on to tractors and are transported to the sugar factory. Read more.

The diffusion procedure
When the beet slices are submerged into the warm water, the sugar diffuses into the cells of the beet flesh in the water. Read more.

Liming, carbonation and filtration
The extraction fluid contains not only sugar, but also a lot of impurities. That’s why we use lime and carbon dioxide to purify. Read more.

Evaporation
To increase the sugar extraction, the juice is damped. The evaporation installation contains a number of high columns which are grouped into a number of evaporation bodies. Read more.

Crystallization
The evaporation of the syrup continues in the cooking equipment under vaccuum. This causes saturation and thus, the creation of sugar crystals.  Read more.

Packaging and stocking
As where sugar production is a seasonal culture, sugar consumption lasts the whole year. Read more.