Sugarcane mill

A sugar cane mill is a factory that processes sugar cane to produce raw sugar or plantation white sugar. Some sugar mills are situated next to a back-end refinery, that turns raw sugar into (refined) white sugar.

The term is also used to refer to the equipment that crushes the sticks of sugar cane to extract the juice.

There are a number of steps in producing raw sugar from cane:

These processing steps will produce a brown or raw sugar. Raw sugar is generally sent to a sugar refinery to produce white sugar. This sugar refining can be done either at a completely separate factory or at a back-end refinery which is attached to the raw sugar factory.

A cane sugar mill can also produce sugar that is suitable for direct domestic or industrial consumption. This is called plantation white sugar or mill white sugar, see below.

The overall quality of raw sugar that goes into the factory is dependent on agricultural practices and the cultivar used. Harvesting can be done by machines or by hand. If done by hand, it is normally preceded by burning the field. However, stalks from a burnt field more quickly loose sugar content while waiting to be processed.

Cane is transported by truck, narrow-gauge railway, container or cart. On arrival the cane is sold based on weight or sugar content. There are several ways to unload the harvest. Overall, limiting the time between cutting and milling is essential for achieving a high sugar yield and quality.

Before the actual extraction of cane juice starts, the cane has to be prepared. This can be done by rotating knives or shredders.