Brazil Develops New Sugar Whitening Process to Replace Cancer-Causing Sulfur

A new technology to substitute sulfur in the granulated sugar clarifying process is currently being tested. Sulfur is a toxic, corrosive and pollutant chemical, and it causes cancer.

Four sugar and alcohol production plants that belong to the same Brazilian enterprise will implement the new system, which was developed in the northern Brazilian state of Pernambuco. A European sugar production group has showed interest in the project.

According to the creator of the method, Frederico Dantas, the process for clarifying sugar syrup through bicarbonation has many advantages over traditional technology: it is more beneficial to human health and to the environment, it improves production and reduces operational costs for the production plants. The process has already been registered by the National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI).

Dantas, who is also an expert in environmental technology, said that the preference for sulfur-free sugar is a current tendency in the world market, which has constantly been requiring healthier products, free of toxic residues, in both their production and conservation processes.

To implement the process in the granulated sugar production plants, entrepreneurs will have to initially invest US$ 266,000 to install a production unit of calcium bicarbonate.

The President of the Syndicate of the Sugar and Alcohol Industry in Pernambuco, Renato Cunha, said that the sector, responsible for the industrialization and commercialization of 1.4 million tons of sugar per year, welcomes the new technologies of production improvement.

Agência Brasil