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Site
Visit - Domino Sugar Company (Baltimore, MD)
Overview:
One of the three Domino Sugar Refineries (Baltimore, Louisiana and New
York) located in Baltimore has been producing sugar for more than 100
years. At the Domino dock, it receives freighters with hundreds of tons
of ground sugar cane from countries as diverse as Brazil and Australia.
Sugar refining looks a lot like it did when the plant opened in 1921. To
remove color and impurities, the raw sugar is softened, spun, melted,
shot through with carbon dioxide, filtered, then recrystalized in vacuum
pans and tumbled dry in 60-foot granulators (not unlike gigantic clothes
dryers). Computers and automation have made the work easier on the back,
which means that fewer backs are now required. A shift of 18 handles the
actual refining.
Approximately 6.3 million pounds of refined sugar is processed and
shipped out on a daily basis from the plant, via truck and train, to a
nation and international destinations eager for a sugar high . The
proposed site visit will focus on the company’s environmental policy and
how it meets environmental requirements for market access. Additionally
coexistence with the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem will be discussed as well
as cost implications of compliance with local regulations.
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