A workshop set up by the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Jinfeng Sugar Co Ltd became the first in the country to practice membrane-based sugar refining, allowing sugar manufacturing industry to work without chemical excipients.

This technology works by using a centrifugal pump to filter syrup through a multi-layer and nanoscaled membrane before evaporating and crystallizing it into high-quality white granulated sugar.

The whole process is a purely physical process free of chemical additives such as sulphur, phosphoric acid and lime. It not only ensures the food safety, but also can eliminate pollution caused by the commonly used sugar manufacturing techniques.

Chen Shaoping, chairman of Guangdong Nongken Group, inspects the sugar manufacturing process. [Photo/zjnk.com]

Previously, the production of white granulated sugar relied heavily on sugarcane or sugar beet. With the new technology, the syrup can now draw the material from a widely variety of ingridients such as sugarcane juice, crude sugar solution, and even wasted molasses.

This achievement has revolutionized the sugar manufacturing techniques that have dominated the market for 140 years and is of great importance to the industry's modernization, said Zhao Xuping, an official from the Economic & Information Commission of Guangdong Province.

Chen Shaoping reviews reports on the sugar manufacturing project. [Photo/zjnk.com]