Process for the production of invert liquid sugar

A process for the production of liquid sugar from sugar cane, said process comprising;

• forming a sugar solution of imbibition water and sugar cane juice by grinding the sugar cane to form ground cane, mixing the ground cane with imbibition water in an amount of from 25% to 35% in by weight at a temperature of from 60 to 75° C., and extracting the juice to obtain a sugar solution having a concentration of from 12 to 15° Brix;
• adjusting the pH of said sugar solution by heating the sugar solution to a temperature of approximately from 90 to 100° C. and then discharging the solution into a vessel and adding at least one acid to obtain a pH in the range of from 1.0 to 2.0 and thereby form an inverted juice;
• filtering said inverted juice by adjusting the pH of the inverted juice to be in the range of from 5.5 to 6.5 at a temperature in the range of between about 90 to 100° C., and then discharging the juice to a separating device, where particulate solids are separated from the juice, the clarified inverted juice from the separating device being collected and maintained at a temperature of between about 70-80° C.;
• decolorizing said inverted juice to obtain sugar syrup by feeding the inverted juice to a tandem of activated carbon columns and then feeding the decolorized syrup into a tank in which the temperature of the syrup is reduced to between about 40 to 50° C.;
• demineralizing said sugar syrup by feeding the sugar syrup to an anionic resin column, controlling the exit pH to be between 5.5 to 6.5 and subsequently raising the temperature of the demineralized sugar syrup to between about 70 to 80° C.;
• evaporating said demineralized sugar syrup by an evaporator operating at a negative pressure and a temperature of between about 120 to 130° C.;
• and
• cooling said sugar syrup to form said liquid sugar.