Molasses processing by MEGA electrodialysis

What is molasses

Molasses, also known as black treacle in British English, is a by-product of sugar production after the crystallization of cane or beet juice. Molasses is a thick, dark brown syrup with a strong sweet flavour.

How is molasses made

In sugar processing, sugar cane or sugar beet is first crushed. It results in the extraction of the sucrose juice, which is boiled in the next step to form sugar crystals. The sugar crystals are skimmed from the liquid. Molasses is obtained during the crystallization as a by-product of the sugar cane/beet processing. This separation process takes place repeatedly, and each time a different type of molasses is obtained.

Photo kindly provided by CzechTourism.

Why purify molasses

Molasses is a sugar mill by-product that is mostly used as animal feed. Nevertheless, molasses still contains large amounts of sucrose which can be purified. That gives molasses a new purpose of use as an additional source of sugar.

Molasses demineralisation is, therefore, a new source of profit for sugar mills, which can start to benefit from a previously wasted resource.

Electrodialysis - highly efficient and green technology for beet/cane sugar molasses purification

Electrodialysis is a very efficient technology for sugar purification with low energy and chemicals consumption.

MEGA electrodialysis technology has proven to be a reliable separation process in the food industry, based on its many advantages, such as compact design, the possibility to handle heat-sensitive materials, and high-energy efficiency.

Benefits of MEGA ED in molasses processing

Thanks to the continuous development of electrodialysis units based on our ion exchange membranes, electrodialysis from MEGA can improve the cost efficiency of sugar mills by:

• control of organic pollution,
• control of mineral composition - demineralization up to 95 %,
• acid regulation - titratable and active,
• return to production of up to 70 % of sugar leaving with molasses,
• reducing wastewater and pollution,
• increasing sugar yields,
• reducing molasses volume,
• complex and tailor-made technology,
• saving investment costs.

Processing of sugar molasses using electrodialysis technology

MEGA offers technology for efficient removal of salts and acids from saccharide solutions (monosaccharide, disaccharide, and oligosaccharide). The feed solution is treated by electrodialysis process to ensure maximum removal of undesirable carbohydrate impurities.

Electrodialysis (ED) as an electromembrane separation process is used to separate electrolytes from solutions. Substances without a permanent positive or negative electrical charge (e.g., sugars) do not pass through membranes during the ED process, and therefore desalination of the above-mentioned solutions can be achieved while minimizing losses typical for organic compounds.

Ions from the diluate solution are transferred into the concentrate solution through the ion exchange membranes under influence of the outer electric field.

The products are two separate streams – desalinated and concentrated. Diluate is the desalinated molasses.