Page 26 - Port of Baltimore Magazine Nov/Dec 2012
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The Port of Baltimore
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November/December 2012
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S
tu FitzGibbon is amazed that some people think that
the Domino Sugar refinery where he works is an old,
abandoned factory.
Well known for its 70-foot-by-120-foot neon sign,
Domino Sugar is actually celebrating 90 years in
Baltimore, but the surrounding neighborhood has changed greatly
in those years. Sleek upscale condos overlook the brick factory,
which was built on the waterfront in 1921-1922.
Not only is it still open, the thriving refinery produces 14
percent of the sugar consumed by Americans annually and every
day refines more than 6.5 million tons of sugar — packaged on
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Raw sugar contains a
thin coating of molasses
around each crystal. That
layer is softened and mingled
in machines that blend the
raw sugar with a solution of
molasses and water.
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The thick, sticky mixture,
called magma, is fed into the
steel baskets of centrifuges
that spin it at high speed,
forcing the liquid out while
holding sugar crystals in
place. Hot water then washes
off the crystals, which are
discharged and melted.
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The washed raw sugar
goes into a melter, where
it is heated until the sugar
crystals dissolve. Impurities
are removed by passing the
melted crystals through a
strainer and also utilizing a
carbonation process.
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The carbonated liquor is
pressed through ultrafine cloth
filters, and the pressed liquor,
now a golden yellow color, is
pumped into special containers
filled with char, which filters
the yellow impurities, resulting
in a colorless liquid, called “A”
liquor.
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“A” liquor is heated in
vacuum pans just enough to
re-crystalize, and then a small
amount of sugar crystals are
injected, acting as seeds that
cause more crystals to grow
around them.
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When the crystals reach
the right size, air is allowed
back in the pans, “striking”
the sugar and stopping the
process. Another set of
centrifuges is used to remove
uncrystalized particles.
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The remaining crystals are
double-washed and then dried
in a machine resembling a
giant tumble dryer. The now-
pristine sugar crystals are
sorted by size and packaged.
PORT
BULK
9-OH,
Domino!
In 90th Year, Refinery Brings
Record Amount of Raw Sugar
Through Port
How
Sugar
is Made
site in 22 lines producing everything from single-serving packets
and the familiar yellow-and-white boxes to 2,000-pound bags. Both
bulk and liquid sugar, used to make food and candy products, are
manufactured in Baltimore, too, along with specialized sugars such
as confectioners, light and dark brown sugars, pharmaceutical
sugars and molasses for animal feed.
“We’ve taken public understanding for granted for so many
years, but the city has become more gentrified and people are
further removed from industry,” said FitzGibbon, Refinery Manager
for American Sugar Refining Inc. “People go to the store and buy
sugar — they don’t know where it comes from. We’re undertaking
BY NANCY MENEFEE JACKSON
Photography by Kathy Bergren Smith
