1. General data

1.1 Economic context

Beet is a living raw material subject to numerous degradation reactions. Its shelf life is limited, and the sugar industry is therefore seasonal, with campaigns lasting two to three months a year.

We're witnessing a high concentration of production facilities, limited only by the cost of transporting beet to the sugar factories. As a result, factories are located close to production zones, i.e. north of the Loire in France.

This concentration is accompanied by a high level of process automation. Sugar factories are often considered to be the "heavy industry" of the food industry, equivalent to a chemical industry. But the material processed undergoes numerous biological, physical and chemical degradations, and the...