Molasses, meaning honey like, is a thick dark syrup that is a by-product of sugar refining through repeated crystallization of sugar syrup obtained by crushing sugar cane. Molasses is sold both for human consumption, to be used in baking and in the brewing of ale, as also for industrial use. In India Molasses is used mainly in manufacture of industrial/ potable alcohol, yeast and cattle feed. Alcohol in turn is used to produce ethanol, rectified spirit and various value added chemicals. Ethanol is consumed by chemical industry and is also used in blending with petroleum to produce Ethanol Blended Petroleum (EBP). The yield of molasses per ton of sugar cane crushed varies in the range of 4.5% and 5%. Molasses and industrial alcohol-based industries were decontrolled in 1993 and are now being controlled by respective state government policies. Nearly 90% of molasses produced is consumed by industrial alcohol manufacturers and remaining 10% for various other uses like potable liquor.
In India Ethanol, a type of industrial alcohol, is produced directly from Molasses. The Government offers subsidized loans to sugar mills for setting up an ethanol producing unit, covering 40% of the project cost thus encouraging higher Ethanol production. Since sugarcane production in India is cyclical, ethanol production also varies, thus not assuring the optimum supply levels needed to meet the demand at a given time. Lower sugar molasses availability and consequent higher molasses prices affect cost of production of ethanol, thereby disrupting ethanol supply for the blending programme at pre-negotiated fixed level. Increased consumption of Ethanol for these uses is expected to harden the prices of Ethanol and growth of this by-product of sugar in a healthy and profitable manner.
Sugar is produced of the Group spread across Uttar Pradesh which together has the capacity to crush 75,000 tonnes of sugarcane per day.
All these sugar factories are equipped with the state of the art technology to produce pure white crystal cane sugar of the highest purity.
Sugarcane is a perennial grass in the Poaceae family and is cultivated in tropical and sub-tropical regions for the sucrose that is found in its stems. It requires a frost-free climate with sufficient rainfall during the growing season to make full use of the plant's great growth potential. The crop is harvested mechanically or by hand, chopped into lengths and conveyed rapidly to the processing plant. Here it is either milled and the juice extracted with water or the sugar is extracted by diffusion. The juice is then purified with lime and heated to kill enzymes.
The resulting thin syrup is then concentrated in a series of evaporators and then further water is removed by way of evaporation process in vacuum containers The resulting supersaturated solution is seeded with sugar crystals and the sugar crystallizes out and is separated from the fluid and dried. The crystals of raw sugar have a sticky brown coating and can either be used as they are or can be bleached by sulphur dioxide or treated in a carbonation process to produce a whiter product.
