Treatment of sugar juice

A process for treating clarified sugar cane juice, which process includes

• subjecting, in a first treatment stage, clarified sugar cane juice to purification to remove particles larger than about 0.1 micron;
• passing the clarified sugar juice from the first treatment stage through a primary ion exchange stage in which the sugar juice is sequentially brought into contact with at least one strong acid cation ion exchange resin in the hydrogen form and thereafter with at least one weak base anion ion exchange resin in the hydroxide form, to effect primary demineralization of the sugar juice;
• thereafter passing the sugar juice through a secondary ion exchange stage in which the sugar juice is sequentially brought into contact with at least one strong base anion ion exchange resin in the hydroxide form and thereafter with at least one acid cation ion exchange resin, to effect secondary demineralization of the sugar juice, thereby to obtain a purified sugar solution;
• and
• recovering sugar products from the purified sugar solution.