Processing - Diffusion

Sugarbeets are transported by truck to the factory from the receiving stations and belly dumped into the Wet Hopper to begin the process. The beets are fumed over rock catchers and pumped to the Beet Washer to remove mud and sand. The Beets are then gravity fed through Slicers which cut the beets into long, thin strips called Cossettes (resembling a raw french fry). Sidney Sugars has the capacity to slice just over 7,000 tons of beets each day. The cossettes are then weighed and conveyed on to the Cossette Mixer. Hot Juice is mixed with the cossettes and the mixture is pumped into the bottom of the Tower Diffuser. The cossettes are propelled up by rotating flights while hot diffuser supply water is added at the top, leaching out the sugar as it flows down, countercurrent to the cossettes. The sugar depleted cossettes (Pulp), which leave the top of the diffuser, is pressed and sent on to be sold as cattle feed in the form of Pressed Pulp, Dried Pulp, or Beet Pulp Pellets. The sugar enriched juice (Diffusion Juice) leaving the bottom of the diffuser contains between 10 and 15% sugar, about 98% of the sugar in the sliced beet.

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