1. General Information

1.1 Economic Context

Sugar (sucrose) is produced from sugar beets or sugarcane. Global production, which totaled 175.5 Mt (million metric tons) during the 2024–2025 crop year, is derived approximately 80% from sugarcane and 20% from sugar beets [1]. In both cases, from the start of the supply chain to the production of the final sugar, the goal of sugar mills is to start with the purest possible raw material and produce high-quality sugar with optimal yield. The sugar mill is therefore primarily a separation and purification industry. A large number of unit operations for separation are thus carried out.

Until the end of September 2017, sugar production in France was governed by a European regulation that established production quotas by country and by year...