Something about sugar : $b Its history, growth, manufacture and distributionRolph, George M. (George Morrison)
History
Something about sugar : $b Its history, growth, manufacture and distribution
Rolph, George M. (George Morrison)
Sugar
Competent chemical engineers, as distinguished from chemists, are rare,
and yet their calling offers more promising prospects to young men than
most other professions do today. It is clear to the intelligent observer
that in these times of intensely keen competition, the manufacturer will,
sooner or later, inevitably be driven to seek a considerable percentage
of his profits in the utilization of by-products that now go to waste or
bring but little return. The men to solve the manufacturing problems of
the future will be chemical engineers. Broadly speaking, comparatively
little has been done in this field in the United States, and its
possibilities are incalculable.
In the laboratory, day and night, a corps of chemists is constantly
engaged in the study of questions that arise in connection with the
operation of the various departments. Polarizations for account of buyers
and sellers of all raw sugars purchased, are made and checked there;
hundreds of samples of liquors and syrups are tested daily for control
work, as the purity of both must be known at all times and a record kept
of their temperatures and densities. Samples of all the sugars entering
the refining process, as well as of the finished product, are carefully
analyzed, and upon these analyses are based elaborate calculations
regarding yield and efficiency. The wash waters from the char filters are
examined and tested frequently, the bone-char is tested every twenty-four
hours as a check upon the process of revivification in the kilns, and
once a month the bone-char is completely analyzed to determine the
deterioration that has taken place in it.
Tests are made of materials used in the refining process, such as lime,
soda, acids and lubricating oils; of the feed water for the steam
boilers; of the fresh water used throughout the plant; and of the fuel,
whether coal or oil. Even the gases from the fires under the boilers are
tested as they pass through the smokestack, in order to determine whether
or not the firemen perform their duties properly.
Taking all this in conjunction with frequent tests and experimental work
on driers, condensers, evaporators and other apparatus, it will be seen
that there is plenty to keep a large staff of chemists fully occupied.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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