Cooley's Cyclopaedia of Practical Receipts Volume Ii Part 240

[Footnote 205: 'Journ. de Pharm. et de Chimie,' 1874, 49 ('Pharm. Year Book,' 1874).]

[Footnote 206: 'Comptes Rendus Hebdomadaire des Sciences' ('Chem. News'), January 5th, 1877.]

_Concluding Remarks._ Refined sugar (SACCHARUM--Ph. L., S. PURUM--Ph. E., S. PURIFICATUM--Ph. D.), raw sugar (S. COMMUNE--Ph. E.), and mola.s.ses or treacle (SACCHARI FaeX--Ph. L. & E.), were officinal.

The relative sweetening power of cane sugar is estimated at 100; that of pure grape sugar, at 60; that of fecula or starch sugar, at 30 to 40.

According to Messrs Oxland's method (patented 1849) of defecating and bleaching the juice of beet-root, cane, &c., acetate of aluminium, formed by dissolving 4 lbs. of that earth in acetic acid, is boiled with each ton of sugar, and as soon as the acetic acid is nearly all driven off, a solution of tannin, formed from 1 lb. of bruised valonia and 2 galls. of hot water, is added to the boiling syrup; the excess of aluminium is afterwards separated by lime, and the usual method of further procedure adopted. By their second patent (1851), superphosphate of aluminium or of calcium is subst.i.tuted for acetate of aluminium, in the proportion of about 6 lbs. of aluminium, dissolved in phosphoric acid, for each ton of sugar.

The presence of certain saline bodies in a solution of cane sugar, exercises a very prejudicial effect upon it, since these, by combining with the sugar, give rise to compounds which contribute to the more or less reduction of the sugar to the uncrystallisable condition, and to a consequent increase of the mola.s.ses.

Of one of the chief const.i.tuents of the sugar-cane that possesses this objectionable property is potash in combination with acids, both organic and inorganic. Last year a patent for the removal of these potash salts was taken out by the Messrs Newlands. The patentees proceed upon the facts that the solubility of alum in water is very trifling, and that it contains only 1/10th part of its weight of potash. They add to a concentrated syrup a strong solution of sulphate of alumina (having by a previous examination of the syrup determined the quant.i.ty required).

Sulphate of potash is thereby formed, and this, uniting with the sulphate of alumina, the resulting alum after a time deposits in a crystalline form at the bottom of the vessel containing the sugar solution. This being run off into another receptacle, the free acid, of which it now contains a large quant.i.ty, is neutralised with lime or chalk, boiled, filtered, and pa.s.sed through charcoal.

The addition of the lime has also thrown down the alumina liberated by the reaction, which has carried with it and removed certain injurious nitrogenous principles previously present in the saccharine liquid.

Some few years back Messrs Dubrunfaut and Peligot being cognisant of the fact of the insolubility, in boiling water, of the compounds of sugar with lime, based upon it a method of separating crystallisable sugar from treacle. Peligot has obtained from common treacle one fourth of its weight of crystallised sugar, by dissolving the precipitated sugar lime in water, and separating the lime by pa.s.sing into the mixture a stream of carbonic acid.

Sugar may be obtained from nearly all sweet vegetable substances, by a process essentially similar to that described above.

_Table showing the Specific Weight of Sugar Solutions with the corresponding percentage of Cane Sugar at 175 C._--GERLACH.

------------------------+-------------------------+---------------------- Percentage, Specific Percentage, Specific Percentage, Specific Cane Sugar. Weight Cane Sugar. Weight Cane Sugar. Weight of Sol. of Sol. of Sol.

75 1383,342 49 1227,241 24 1101,377 74 1376,822 48 1221,771 23 1096,792 73 1370,345 47 1216,339 22 1092,240 72 1363,910 46 1210,945 21 1087,721 71 1357,518 45 1205,589 20 1083,234 70 1351,168 44 1200,269 19 1078,779 69 1344,860 43 1194,986 18 1074,356 68 1338,594 42 1189,740 17 1069,965 67 1332,370 41 1184,531 16 1065,606 66 1326,188 40 1179,358 15 1061,278 65 1320,046 39 1174,221 14 1056,982 64 1313,946 38 1169,121 13 1052,716 63 1307,887 37 1164,056 12 1048,482 62 1301,868 36 1159,026 11 1044,278 61 1295,890 35 1154,032 10 1040,104 60 1289,952 34 1149,073 9 1035,961 59 1284,054 33 1144,150 8 1031,848 58 1278,197 32 1139,261 7 1027,764 57 1272,379 31 1134,406 6 1023,710 56 1266,600 30 1129,586 5 1019,686 55 1260,861 29 1124,800 4 1015,691 54 1255,161 28 1120,048 3 1011,725 53 1249,500 27 1115,330 2 1007,788 52 1243,877 26 1110,646 1 1003,880 51 1238,293 25 1105,995 0 1000,000 50 1232,748 ------------------------+-------------------------+----------------------

=Sugar, Al'um.= _Syn._ SACCHARUM ALUMINATUM, ALUMEN SACCHARINUM, L. From alum and white sugar, in fine powder, equal parts, formed into minute sugar-loaf shaped lumps with mucilage of gum Arabic made with rose water.

Used to make astringent lotions and eye-waters.

=Sugar. Bar'ley.= _Syn._ SACCHARUM HORDEATUM, PENIDIUM, SACCHARUM PENIDIUM, L. _Prep._ Take of saffron, 12 gr.; hot water, q. s.; sugar, 1 lb.; boil to a full 'candy height,' or that state called 'crack,' or 'crackled sugar,' when 2 or 3 drops of clear lemon juice or white vinegar must be added, and the pan removed from the fire and set for a single minute in cold water, to prevent its burning; the sugar must be then at once poured out on an oiled marble slab, and either cut into pieces or rolled into cylinders and twisted in the usual manner. One drop of oil of citron, orange, or lemon, will flavour a considerable quant.i.ty. White barley sugar is made with a strained decoction of barley instead of water, or starch is added to whiten it.

=Sugar, Beet-root.= _Syn._ SACCHARUM BETae, L. Sugar obtained from the white beet.

In the following table the names of the countries in which this plant is cultivated are given, together with the amount of sugar annually produced in each:

France 280,000 tons.[207]

Germany 260,000 "

Austria and Hungary 180,000 "

Russia and Poland 130,000 "

Belgium 50,000 "

Holland and other countries 17,000 "

[Footnote 207: British Manufacturing Industries, Glanford.]

The white beet is used in preference to the red varieties, not only because of the colour of its juice, but also in consequence of its being richer in sugar. The roots vary in their yield of sugar according to quality and the season of the year. They are generally in best condition in October. The root is made up of a series of small cells, which are filled with the saccharine fluid. According to Wagner the const.i.tuents of the sugar-beet are as follows:

Water 827 Sugar 113 Cellulose 08 Alb.u.men, casein, and other bodies 15 Fatty matter 01 Organic substances, citric acid, pectin, and pectic acid. Asparagin, } aspartic acid, and betain, a substance having, according to } Schiebler, the formula C_{15}H_{33}N_{3}O_{6} } Organic salts, oxalate and pectate of calcium, oxalate and pectate } of pota.s.sium and sodium } 37 Inorganic salts, nitrate and sulphate of potash, phosphate of lime } and magnesia } Twelve and a half hundred weight of beet yield on an average 1 cwt.

of raw sugar, or 8 per cent.

The first operation in the manufacture of beet-root sugar after washing and cleansing the roots (an operation which sometimes reduces their weight 10 or 20 per cent.) is the extraction from them of the juice. This may be effected either by:

1. Pressure.

2. Centrifugal power.

3. Dialysis.

1. _Pressure._ The roots being put into a proper crushing machine are soon reduced to an uniform pulp, which in some manufactories is subjected to pressure wrapped in linen cloths under stone or iron rollers, and in others is placed in bags and placed under the Bramah or hydraulic press, the resulting juice being collected in proper receptacles.

2. _Centrifugal power._ This method is that generally employed for separating the juice from the pulp, which thus yields between 50 or 60 per cent. of juice. A weak saccharine solution, also used in sugar manufacture, is afterwards obtained by mixing the residue of the pulp with water, and subjecting it to the same process.

3. _Dialysis._ The application of the principle of diffusion for the extraction of the sugar from the beet-root originated with M. Robert. The fresh roots, cut into thin slices, are immersed in a little more than their own weight of water heated to about 120 F. The crystalloid sugar thus diffuses out through the cell membrane which encloses it into the surrounding water, leaving the pectous and colloid matters, such as alb.u.men, gum, &c., behind. The operation which is so managed as to bring the same water into contact with successive quant.i.ties of root, yields a saccharine solution of nearly the same strength as the natural juice. The solution so obtained is, after concentration and the usual methods, converted into sugar. The same process is said to have been tried with cane sugar, and with equally satisfactory results.

The succeeding stages of the manufacture of beet sugar, such as refining, liming, decolorising, &c., are the same as those already described under cane sugar.

Beet sugar is in every respect identical with cane. It was discovered in 1747 by Marggraf, of Berlin, but it did not come into use until about the beginning of the present century, its manufacture at this period in France being necessitated by an edict of the first Napoleon's, which prohibited the importation of cane sugar into that country.

The engraving represents a vacuum pan much used in the French sugar refineries.

Fig. 1 gives a perspective, and fig. 2 a sectional view of this evaporating pan.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 1.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 2.]

The boiling-pan (B) consists of two air-tight hemispheres, surmounted by a funnel, connected by the tube (_l_) with the condenser (A). The apparatus is supplied by steam by (_r s_), the steam circulating in the boiling-pan by means of the pipes (_g_), fig. 2. By opening the lever valves (_f_) the juice can be run by means of the pipe (_o_) into the pan (_p_). When the pan, after continued boiling, requires to be refitted, the pipes (_l_ and _w_) are connected to an air-pump. The manometer (_h_) shows the state of the air pressure, which can be regulated by opening the pipes connected to the vacuum chamber. By means of the gauge cylinder (G) the quant.i.ty of syrup in the boiling-pan can be ascertained, the gauge cylinder being connected to the boiling-pan by the pipes (_a_ and _i_), and the height read off from the gauge tube (_n_). The syrup can be removed, for the purpose of ascertaining its consistency, from the gauge cylinder by means of either of the three pipes (_b_, _c_, _d_). By _u_ steam can be admitted to the boiling-pan and condenser. _e_ is generally of stout gla.s.s, and enables the state of the juice to be seen. _g_ is the grease c.o.c.k, _f_ the manhole. The condenser consists of the jacket (B), arranged to prevent the mixing of the juice with the water used for condensation. _x_ is the gauge. The pipe (_m_) conveying water to the condenser terminates in a rose. _z_ is a thermometer showing the interior temperature of the boiling-pan.

The air-pump being set in operation the tube (_c_) is opened, and the gauge cylinder filled by the juice rising from _q_. By closing _m_ and opening _y_ the juice is admitted to the boiling-pan. When this is half full the steam pipe (_s_) is opened, the steam quickly heating the contents of the pan to the boiling point. The condenser is then placed in working; by opening the pipe (_l_) the steam of the juice pa.s.ses into the condenser, where it is speedily condensed, pa.s.sing with the water through .

=Sugar, Diabet'ic.= Grape sugar found in the urine of persons labouring under diabetes. In _diabetes insipidus_, a substance having the general properties of a sugar, but dest.i.tute of a sweet taste, appears to be produced (Thenard.)

=Sugar, Gel'atin.= See GLYCOCINE.

=Sugar, Grape=, C_{6}H_{12}O_{6}.H_{2}O. _Syn._ GLUCOSE, FRUIT SUGAR; SACCHARUM UVae, S. FRUCTUS, L. This substance is found in the juice of grapes and other fruit, in the urine of diabetic patients, and in the liquid formed by acting on starch and woody fibre with dilute sulphuric acid.

_Prep._ 1. From the juice of ripe grapes or an infusion of the ripe fruit (raisins), by saturating the acid with chalk, decanting the clear liquid, evaporating to a syrup, clarifying with white of egg or bullock's blood, and then carefully evaporating to dryness; it may be purified for chemical purposes by solution and crystallisation in either water or boiling alcohol. Like other sugar, it may be decoloured by animal charcoal.

2. From honey, by washing with cold alcohol, which dissolves the fluid syrup and leaves the solid crystallisable portion.

_Prop._ It is less sweet and less soluble than cane sugar, requiring 1-1/2 part of cold water for its solution; instead of bold crystals, it forms granular warty ma.s.ses, without distinct crystalline faces; it does not easily combine with either oxide of calcium or oxide of lead; with heat, caustic alkaline solutions turn it brown or black, but it dissolves in oil of vitriol without blackening, the reverse being the case with cane sugar; with chloride of sodium it forms a soluble salt, which yields large, regular, and beautiful crystals. Sp. gr. 1400.

The various fruits contain grape sugar in the following proportions:

Per Cent.

Peach 157 Apricot 180 Plum 212 Raspberry 400 Blackberry 444 Strawberry 573 Bilberry 578 Currant 610 Plum 626 Gooseberry 716 Cranberry 745 (according to Fresenius).

Pear 802 to 108 (E. Wolff).

Apple 837 (Fresenius).

" 728 to 804 (E. Wolff).

Sour cherry 877 Mulberry 919 Sweet cherry 1079 Grape 1493

_Obs._ Cane sugar is converted into grape sugar during the process of fermentation, and by the action of acids. See SUGAR, and SUGAR, STARCH (_below_).