Indigenous brown sugar processing technology in Nigeria: Past and on-going research

Abstract

The effort to develop brown sugar processing technology in Nigeria was initiated by the Federal Government in 1986 through the Federal Ministry of Industries. The first prototype plant of 2 tons per day cane - crushing capacity was designed, fabricated and tested by the National Cereals Research Institute, Badeggi in 1988. Since then several research activities have been carried out in order to improve the efficiency of the plant and also up-grade its capacity. The basic unit processes arc : weighing, crushing, clarification (liming, heating and settling), evaporation, crystallization, centrifugation and drying. Designs of equipment for each of the unit processes were provided by the Institutes engineers. Fabrication materials were procured locally and all the equipment were fabricated through indigenous effort. Test results of the prototype plant using three varieties of Sugarcane BD96-001, BD96-003 and BD96-009 indicated average sugar recovery rate of 6.3-6.5%. The quality of the sugar, compared with existing one at the Nigeria Sugar Company Limited (Nisuco), Bacita was also acceptable.