Abstract:  Reported here is a new sugar processing method （membrane process） providing an energy efficient and environmentally friendly process for the production of refined cane sugar．The UF （Ultra Filtration） membranes used in cane sugar process can remove color with minimal effect on environmental quality．The color removal ranges from48．7％ for raw sugar to58．2％ for affination syrup．The treatment of affination syrup using the membrane process removes impurities which affects the rate of crystallization‚and improves the crystal growth rate by up to48．9％‚38．2％ and37．0％ respectively for the first hour‚the second hour‚ and the third hour．The subsequent increase in crystal growth rate will increase the plant capacity‚reduce sucrose loss‚and increase yield．The result shows the reduction in viscosity by17％ due to the ultra filtration treatment．Application of the membrane process in raw sugar mills in conjunction with a sugar refinery can eliminate one or more of the various refining processes‚such as affination‚carbonation‚phosphatation‚and／ or granular carbon／bone char／ion exchange for decolorization．In summary‚the membrane process can produce high quality food grade sugar products meeting customers’needs with a considerable reduction of both capital and operating costs．

Key words: ultrafiltration membrane；cane sugar；clarified cane juice；color removal