H I S T O R Y
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Sugar Processing Research Institute, Inc. (S.P.R.I.)
Sugar Processing Research Institute, Inc. is a research institute run by and for the international sugar manufacturing and processing industries for the purposes of developing, monitoring and understanding new processes and products, maintaining and developing analytical methodology for the sugar industry, solving problems and serving as an information data base for sponsoring companies.
S.P.R.I., as the Institute is generally known, is a non-profit corporation maintained through annual contributions of the sponsoring member companies of the corporation. S.P.R.I. exists primarily for the needs of its sponsoring member companies. Member companies include beet and cane sugar producers and refiners, suppliers to the industry and major sugar users. S.P.R.I. is based in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, in laboratory and office space at the Southern Regional Research Center, through a special agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Southern Regional Research Center is part of U.S.D.A.'s Agricultural Research Service) although S.P.R.I., Inc. is not part of U.S.D.A. The Board of Directors of S.P.R.I. (one Director from each sponsoring member) elects the corporate officers and Executive Committee every two years. The Managing Director is responsible for the research program, personnel and financial operations of the group. The group is small: four to five research scientists (chemists, biochemists), several full time support scientists and/or engineers, technicians and office staff, but benefits from its location in a major research center with access to high technology, equipment and cooperating scientists in many fields.
ORIGINS
The Sugar Processing Research Institute, Inc. has developed from two
preceding research organizations. In the late 1930's there was concern on the
part of some cane sugar refiners in the U.S. that their refining process
depended on bone char, a substance about which little was known. A group of
sugar refiners was brought together by John W. Lowe of Revere Sugar to support
research on bone char at the National Bureau of Standards,
In 1963, the National Bureau of Standards changed policy and stopped housing
industry-sponsored research. Industrial sponsors wanted the work to continue
and instituted a cooperative research effort with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Southern Regional Research Center in
In the late 1970's, the work of CSRRPI moved toward raw cane sugar quality from both refiners' and producers' viewpoints. As the 1980's began, beet sugar producers showed interest in membership. In 1981, the research group was reorganized to S.P.R.I. (then Sugar Processing Research, Inc. - the term "Institute" was added a few years later), with Dr. Margaret A. Clarke as Managing Director. Dr. Michael C. Bennett, who had been President of CSRRPI, became the first President of S.P.R.I.
S.P.R.I. TODAY
The goals of S.P.R.I. today are:
1. To examine the fundamentals of sugar production and refining processes to gain understanding of the chemical and physical bases of these processes in order to improve the operation of current processes and to develop new processes and products.
2. To study the chemical nature of sugars, sweeteners, non-sugars and sugar-producing plants in order to explain processing problems and product quality problems, and to coordinate new developments and problems in agricultural and production practices.
3. To develop new analytical methods for the sugar industry, as such needs are identified, and to improve and expand methods in current use, to apply rapid, practical methods to industrial needs.
4. To apply information on the chemical nature of sugars, non-sugars and sugar producing plants to uses of sugar, and of molasses and other byproducts of sugar manufacture, including bagasse and beet pulp.
5. To serve as an information resource and data base on sugar production, process problems, sugar manufacturing byproducts, sweeteners, and associated areas for sponsoring companies of S.P.R.I., Inc.
6. To assist in problem solving in research-related areas for sponsoring companies of S.P.R.I., Inc.
In addition to operating its research program, S.P.R.I. holds the Conference on Sugar Processing Research every second year, for technical leaders in the sugar industry. Proceedings of these Conferences form a written record of advances in processing, new products and analytical methodology in the cane and beet sugar industries. Workshops, on selected topics of interest to the sugar industry, are usually held in conjunction with the Conferences. Proceedings are also published from Workshops, and are for sale to the public as working tools.
The S.P.R.I. Science Award has been presented at each Conference since 1986 to a scientist selected by a Judging Committee for significant contributions to the science of sucrose processing and production. A new award, the S.P.R.I. Industrial Technology Award, was presented for the first time at the 1998 S.P.R.I. Conference to a nominee who has made outstanding contributions to the technology of sugar production.
For 14 years S.P.R.I. hosted annually the New Orleans Carbohydrate
Symposium, a small symposium on the frontiers of carbohydrate chemistry that
achieved a significant international reputation. After the death of Dr.
Margaret Clarke in June 1998 the meetings were discontinued. The last meeting
was held in
S.P.R.I.'s accomplishments emphasize the non-sugars in sugar crops, and their effects on process. Examples include: application of colorant classification in cane and beet sugars to factory and refinery processing and removal of colorant types in process; identification of dextran problems in cane and beet processing, and development of both an official (AOAC) test for dextran in raw sugars as well as a rapid assay; assessment of filter impeding factors and identification of fine field soil particles as a major hazard; identification of both vegetative and microbial polysaccharides in sugarcane and sugarbeet and their process and product related problems, and, most recently, finding the causes of acid beverage floc in beet sugars. S.P.R.I. has been in the forefront of research on the sensory characteristics of sugar products, bringing in Near Infrared methodology since 1990, and HPLC/IC systems in the 1980's. The cooperation from USDA, particularly from the Sugarcane Field Station now led by Dr. Ben Legendre until 2000, has been of great assistance.
S.P.R.I.'s current major areas of research, are in sugar colorant and polysaccharides, sucrose loss, membrane filtration, Near Infrared (NIR) and other analytical methodology and product quality studies, are described in the papers presented by S.P.R.I. personnel at the Conference on Sugar Processing Research.
At the 2006 S.P.R.I. Conference, held in Águas de São Pedro, Brazil, entitled “Frontiers in Sugar Processing,” S.P.R.I., brought together Cane, Beet and Ethanol producers and scientists to enjoy a two day technical session and technical tour of the São João Mill and Distillery. The 25th Session of ICUMSA followed the SPRI Conference and both conferences were very successful. SPRI is in its 67th year as a research institute that today is increasing in productivity and is still growing. The range and diversity of sponsoring companies gives S.P.R.I. the perspective to conduct research across the industry, to accommodate sponsors' needs, from field to final product, and permits the objectivity that is a characteristic of the work of Sugar Processing Research Institute, Inc. Join us in 2008 for the S.P.R.I. Conference in Florida, USA.
