Demineralisation for beet sugar solutions using an electrodialysis pilot plant to reduce melassigenic ions

Alkali metal cations were suspected of being highly melassigenic by holding sugar in molasses and preventing it from being recovered as crystalline sugar. An electrodialysis operation using a pilot plant equipped with an improved stack with a high alkali, temperature and organic resistance was conducted on Moroccan beet sugar syrup, juice and mother liquor B. The good performances of electrodialysis for each solution were shown. The quality of the three solutions was improved. On the basis of the running industrial conditions and on the electrodialysis results, a discussion was conducted concerning the better step to introduce electrodialysis.