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130-527: During the first few hundred years after its creation in about 1600, the Amsterdam sugar industry consisted of many small sugar refineries. These sugar refineries processed the raw sugar from sugarcane to create white sugar . The French period (1794–1815) was extremely tough for the Dutch sugar industry, which at times completely cut off from its resources. By the late 1820s the Amsterdam sugar industry

260-586: A combine , or sugarcane harvester . The Austoft 7000 series, the original modern harvester design, has now been copied by other companies, including Cameco /  John Deere . The machine cuts the cane at the base of the stalk, strips the leaves, chops the cane into consistent lengths and deposits it into a transporter following alongside. The harvester then blows the trash back onto the field. Such machines can harvest 100 long tons (100 t) each hour, but harvested cane must be rapidly processed. Once cut, sugarcane begins to lose its sugar content, and damage to

390-419: A genetic map developed for USDA ARS -run breeding programs for brown rust of sugarcane . Some sugarcane varieties are capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen in association with the bacterium Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus . Unlike legumes and other nitrogen-fixing plants that form root nodules in the soil in association with bacteria, G. diazotrophicus lives within the intercellular spaces of

520-419: A 40 hp boiler and a 6 hp steam engine. Showing that over 80% of the power was allotted for boiling and heating. The small steam engine was used for driving the pumps, and to keep a vacuum in two pans. In 1834, the machine factory Van Vlissingen en Dudok van Heel got a license to produce vacuum pans according to the invention of Pelletan and De la Barre. This system created a vacuum by condensation and

650-606: A Dutch harbor, was abolished on 1 January 1874. The British import tax on raw sugar was abolished on 1 April 1874. It all led to a major reroute of Java sugar from the Netherlands to harbors in the United Kingdom. While 59% of the Java sugar was shipped to the Netherlands in 1873, this was only 29% in 1874. In absolute terms the Dutch imports also decreased by 30%. In 1874, the competitor Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij

780-492: A big modern refinery on Bolwerk (Bastion) Osdorp in 1843, which became operational in 1846. In parallel, De Bruyn founded a company to produce coal gas , the Hollandsche Gaz Fabriek. The use of gas to light the refinery allowed it to operate at night, and was much safer than using candles. The Imperial Continental Gas Association provided coal gas in Amsterdam. However, as a monopoly it refused to give

910-541: A choice. West Indian planters, therefore, needed new workers, and they found cheap labour in China and India. The people were subject to indenture , a long-established form of contract, which bound them to unfree labour for a fixed term. The conditions where the indentured servants worked were frequently abysmal, owing to a lack of care among the planters. The first ships carrying indentured labourers from India left in 1836. The migrations to serve sugarcane plantations led to

1040-641: A consignment of LNG from Lake Charles, Louisiana , US, to a new LNG terminal on Canvey Island , in the Thames estuary in Essex, England. A 212-mile (341 km) long high-pressure trunk pipeline was built from Canvey Island to Bradford. The pipeline and its branches provided Area Gas Boards with natural gas for use in reforming processes to make town gas. A large-scale LNG reception plant was commissioned on Canvey in 1964, which received LNG from Algeria in two dedicated tankers, each of 12,000 tonnes. The slow decline of

1170-545: A continuing business, and possible liquidation should not play a role. On 20 December 1877, the firma Deichmann & Vom Rath bought the buildings and machinery of the NSR for ƒ245,000 and announced they would found a limited company for refining sugar. On 7 September 1878 they founded the Amstel Suikerraffinaderij. It was to have a share capital of ƒ600,000. Sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane

1300-516: A country with a mechanical agriculture looking for a high production of large fields, as in North America, sugarcanes are replanted after two or three harvests to avoid a lowering yields. In countries with a more traditional type of agriculture with smaller fields and hand harvesting, as in the French island of Réunion , sugarcane is often harvested up to 10 years before replanting. Sugarcane

1430-497: A discount to big customers, so the Amsterdam sugar refineries supported De Bruyn's foundation of a competitor that started to operate in August 1847. The very high debts and a few adversities brought De Bruyn acute liquidity problems in late 1847. On 6 December 1847 De Bruyn en Zonen therefore asked the Amsterdam court for an automatic stay so that the company could be reorganized. On 7 December, its creditors agreed to this stay. In

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1560-444: A dividend of ƒ34 per ƒ350 share was paid. In 1867 production was high, but profits stayed behind. 1868 was also a very busy year in Amsterdam, but the NSR processed 1,000 tons less than in 1867. In 1869 the Amsterdam refineries were also busy, with competitor Hollandsche Suikerraffinaderij processing about 20,000 tons. In 1870 the Dutch sugar industry profited from the absence of the French competition. The NSR produced 'slightly more than

1690-496: A feedstock to manufacture town gas. These facilities utilised the chemical reaction processes described above. The rise of oil as a feedstock to manufacture town gas is shown on the graph below. The peak usage in 1968/9 and subsequent decline coincides with the availability of North Sea gas which, over the next few years, displaced town gas as a primary fuel and led to the decline of oil as a feedstock for gas making, as shown. Oil-based town gas production, millions of therms By

1820-528: A lawsuit against the directors of the company, H.C. Cruijs and H.J.F. Munzebrock. The vendor noted that the balance sheet of 1876 admitted a loss of ƒ453,000. Furthermore, the December 1877 auction of buildings and inventory for ƒ263,200 proved that their valuation at ƒ790,000 was at least ƒ300,000 too high. Therefore, the board should have known that on 22 March 1877 the total loss was at least (453,000 + 300,000) ƒ753,000 and thus should have known that over 75% of

1950-410: A perennial tropical grass , exhibits a unique growth pattern characterized by lateral shoots emerging at its base, leading to the development of multiple stems. These stems typically attain a height of 3 to 4 meters (approximately 10 to 13 feet) and possess a diameter of about 5 centimeters (approximately 2 inches). As these stems mature, they evolve into cane stalks, constituting a substantial portion of

2080-467: A preliminary check of the accounts, the assets of the sugar refineries were ƒ2,957,979 and the liabilities ƒ2,284,792. For the gas factory this was ƒ893,654 and ƒ482,328. In early 1848, the receivers of De Bruyn en Zonen concluded that a liquidation of the company by selling its assets, would lead to very high losses for its creditors. The most probable reason would be that its specialized buildings and machinery and its sugar in stock, could not be sold for

2210-460: A process called "affination". Its purpose is to wash away the sugar crystals' outer coating, which is less pure than the crystal interior. The remaining sugar is then dissolved to make a syrup, about 60% solids by weight. The sugar solution is clarified by the addition of phosphoric acid and calcium hydroxide , which combine to precipitate calcium phosphate . The calcium phosphate particles entrap some impurities and absorb others, and then float to

2340-406: A producer (generator), carburettor and a super heater connected in series with gas pipes and valves. During a make run, steam would be passed through the generator to make blue water gas. From the generator the hot water gas would pass into the top of the carburettor where light petroleum oils would be injected into the gas stream. The light oils would be thermocracked as they came in contact with

2470-503: A profit with use this new method. The Amsterdam refineries were slow to follow the foreign inventions. In 1830 J.H. Rupe & Zoon bought a boiler in order to use steam for heating its pans. In 1833 or 1834 Rupe and Beuker & Hulshoff bought vacuum pans and steam engines in England. The fact that Rupe's single boiler replaced 13 fires gives an idea of the impact of these installations. Beuker & Hulshoff's installation consisted of

2600-488: A sharp increase of sugar production on Java. The tax system encouraged the export of Java sugar to Dutch harbors. Also in about 1830, the character of the Amsterdam sugar industry would be changed by two major inventions. Traditionally, raw sugar was boiled by making a fire below the pan. This was very inefficient, because the fire continued to consume fuel if it was no longer needed and a refinery required many fires. The invention of using tubes that led steam or hot oil through

2730-864: A significant number of ethnic Indians, Southeast Asians, and Chinese people settling in various parts of the world. In some islands and countries, the South Asian migrants now constitute between 10 and 50% of the population. Sugarcane plantations and Asian ethnic groups continue to thrive in countries such as Fiji , South Africa , Myanmar , Sri Lanka , Malaysia , Indonesia , the Philippines , Guyana , Jamaica, Trinidad , Martinique, French Guiana , Guadeloupe, Grenada , St. Lucia , St. Vincent , St. Kitts , St. Croix , Suriname, Nevis , and Mauritius . Between 1863 and 1900, merchants and plantation owners in Queensland and New South Wales (now part of

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2860-619: A sugar factory to produce raw sugar from sugar beets. This would become the Commanditaire Sociëteit voor Landbouw en Industrie onder firma De Bruyn , which founded the first successful beet sugar factory of the Netherlands in Zevenbergen . This first period of business by NSR ended with the May 1858 shareholders meeting accepting the significant losses by deprecating the nominal value of shares from ƒ1,000 to ƒ350. This brought

2990-543: A total sum of ƒ158,000. After this sale, the refinery on Osdorp bastion was modernized for ƒ262,000. In 1862, NSR processed 17,000 tons of raw sugar and had 11 steam engines and 8 boilers with a total of 85 hp. In 1863 a new competitor appeared, the Hollandsche Suikerraffinaderij. In 1864 the Dutch production of white sugar rose from 65,250 tons to 88,000 tons, of which 71,500 tons were exported. In 1865 NSR produced as much as in 1864. Over 1866

3120-428: A tropical or subtropical climate, with a minimum of 60 cm (24 in) of annual moisture. It is one of the most efficient photosynthesizers in the plant kingdom . It is a C 4 plant , able to convert up to 1% of incident solar energy into biomass . In primary growing regions across the tropics and subtropics , sugarcane crops can produce over 15 kg/m of cane. Sugar cane accounted for around 21% of

3250-1037: A virus vector, which causes the sugarcane disease ramu stunt . Sesamia grisescens is a major pest in Papua New Guinea and so is a serious concern for the Australian industry were it to cross over. To head off such a problem, the Federal Government has pre-announced that they would cover 80% of response costs if it were necessary. Numerous pathogens infect sugarcane, such as sugarcane grassy shoot disease caused by Candidatus Phytoplasma sacchari , whiptail disease or sugarcane smut , pokkah boeng caused by Fusarium moniliforme , Xanthomonas axonopodis bacteria causes Gumming Disease, and red rot disease caused by Colletotrichum falcatum . Viral diseases affecting sugarcane include sugarcane mosaic virus , maize streak virus , and sugarcane yellow leaf virus. Yang et al. , 2017 provides

3380-438: Is 99% sucrose. These two stages are slowly merging. Increasing affluence in the sugarcane-producing tropics increases demand for refined sugar products, driving a trend toward combined milling and refining. Sugarcane processing produces cane sugar (sucrose) from sugarcane. Other products of the processing include bagasse, molasses, and filtercake. Bagasse , the residual dry fiber of the cane after cane juice has been extracted,

3510-464: Is a species of tall, perennial grass (in the genus Saccharum , tribe Andropogoneae ) that is used for sugar production . The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with stout, jointed, fibrous stalks that are rich in sucrose , which accumulates in the stalk internodes . Sugarcanes belong to the grass family, Poaceae , an economically important flowering plant family that includes maize, wheat, rice, and sorghum , and many forage crops. It

3640-846: Is closely linked to the migrations of the Austronesian peoples . Saccharum barberi was only cultivated in India after the introduction of S. officinarum . S. officinarum was first domesticated in New Guinea and the islands east of the Wallace Line by Papuans, where it is the modern center of diversity . Beginning around 6,000 BP , several strains were selectively bred from the native Saccharum robustum . From New Guinea, it spread westwards to Maritime Southeast Asia after contact with Austronesians, where it hybridized with Saccharum spontaneum . The second domestication center

3770-416: Is common. Billets (stalks or stalk sections) harvested by a mechanical harvester are planted by a machine that opens and recloses the ground. Once planted, a stand can be harvested several times; after each harvest, the cane sends up new stalks, called ratoons . Successive harvests give decreasing yields, eventually justifying replanting. Two to 10 harvests are usually made depending on the type of culture. In

3900-488: Is demonstrated in this graph. Coal-based town gas production, millions of therms New technologies for manufacturing coal gas using oil, refinery tail gases, and light distillates were developed. Processes included the Lurgi Process , catalytic reforming , the catalytic rich gas process, steam reforming of rich gas, and the gas recycle hydrogenator process. The catalytic rich gas process used natural gas as

4030-587: Is eaten raw, steamed, or toasted, and prepared in various ways in Southeast Asia, such as certain island communities of Indonesia as well as in Oceanic countries like Fiji . The direct use of sugar cane to produce ethanol for biofuel is projected to potentially surpass the production of white sugar as an end product. The term sugarcane is a combination of two words: "sugar" and "cane". The former ultimately derives from Sanskrit शर्करा ( śárkarā ) as

Nederlandsche Suikerraffinaderij - Misplaced Pages Continue

4160-498: Is harvested by hand and mechanically. Hand harvesting accounts for more than half of production, and is dominant in the developing world. In hand harvesting, the field is first set on fire. The fire burns up dry leaves, and chases away or kills venomous snakes, without harming the stalks and roots. Harvesters then cut the cane just above ground-level using cane knives or machetes . A skilled harvester can cut 500 kg (1,100 lb) of sugarcane per hour. Mechanical harvesting uses

4290-429: Is native to the warm temperate and tropical regions of India, Southeast Asia, and New Guinea . Sugarcane was an ancient crop of the Austronesian and Papuan people . The best evidence available today points to the New Guinea area as the site of the original domestication of Saccharum officinarum . It was introduced to Polynesia , Island Melanesia , and Madagascar in prehistoric times via Austronesian sailors. It

4420-449: Is now a restored gasworks museum). The Portadown site has been cleared and is now the subject of a long-term experiment into the use of bacteria for the purpose of cleaning up contaminated industrial land. As well as requiring little processing before use, natural gas is non-toxic; the carbon monoxide (CO) in town gas made it extremely poisonous, accidental poisoning and suicide by gas being commonplace. Poisoning from natural gas appliances

4550-515: Is only due to incomplete combustion, which creates CO, and flue leaks to living accommodation. As with town gas, a small amount of foul-smelling substance ( mercaptan ) is added to the gas to indicate to the user that there is a leak or an unlit burner, the gas having no odour of its own. The organisation of the British gas industry adapted to these changes, first, by the Gas Act 1965 by empowering

4680-507: Is shown in the graph below. Until 1968 this was from supplies of LNG from Algeria, until North Sea gas was available from 1968. Natural gas available, millions of therms The exploitation of the North Sea gas reserves , entailing landing gas at Easington , Bacton and St Fergus made viable the building of a national distribution grid, of over 3,000 miles (4,800 km), consisting of two parallel and interconnected pipelines running

4810-418: Is sold as a food and dietary supplement. It is also a common ingredient in animal feed, and is used to produce ethanol, rum, and citric acid . Purer molasses syrups are sold as molasses, and may also be blended with maple syrup , invert sugars, or corn syrup . Both forms of molasses are used in baking. Sugar refining further purifies the raw sugar. It is first mixed with heavy syrup and then centrifuged in

4940-455: Is sometimes produced immediately after the first stage at sugar-extraction mills, intended for local consumption. Sugar crystals appear naturally white in color during the crystallization process. Sulfur dioxide is added to inhibit the formation of color-inducing molecules and to stabilize the sugar juices during evaporation. Refineries, often located nearer to consumers in North America, Europe, and Japan, then produce refined white sugar, which

5070-728: Is southern China and Taiwan, where S. sinense was a primary cultigen of the Austronesian peoples. Words for sugarcane are reconstructed as *təbuS or *CebuS in Proto-Austronesian , which became *tebuh in Proto-Malayo-Polynesian . It was one of the original major crops of the Austronesian peoples from at least 5,500 BP. Introduction of the sweeter S. officinarum may have gradually replaced it throughout its cultivated range in maritime Southeast Asia. From Insular Southeast Asia, S. officinarum

5200-530: Is today generally referred to as a manufactured gas plant (MGP). In the early years of MGP operations, the goal of a utility gas works was to produce the greatest amount of illuminating gas. The illuminating power of a gas was related to amount of soot -forming hydrocarbons ("illuminants") dissolved in it. These hydrocarbons gave the gas flame its characteristic bright yellow color. Gas works would typically use oily bituminous coals as feedstock. These coals would give off large amounts of volatile hydrocarbons into

5330-409: Is used for several purposes: The primary use of bagasse and bagasse residue is as a fuel source for the boilers in the generation of process steam in sugar plants. Dried filtercake is used as an animal feed supplement, fertilizer, and source of sugarcane wax . Molasses is produced in two forms: blackstrap , which has a characteristic strong flavor, and a purer molasses syrup. Blackstrap molasses

Nederlandsche Suikerraffinaderij - Misplaced Pages Continue

5460-692: The Canary Islands , and the Portuguese from their fields in the Madeira Islands . An article on sugarcane cultivation in Spain is included in Ibn al-'Awwam 's 12th-century Book on Agriculture . In colonial times, sugar formed one side of the triangle trade of New World raw materials, along with European manufactured goods, and African slaves . Christopher Columbus first brought sugarcane to

5590-858: The Caribbean (and the New World ) during his second voyage to the Americas, initially to the island of Hispaniola (modern day Haiti and the Dominican Republic ). The first sugar harvest happened in Hispaniola in 1501; many sugar mills were constructed in Cuba and Jamaica by the 1520s. The Portuguese introduced sugarcane to Brazil . By 1540, there were 800 cane sugar mills in Santa Catarina Island and another 2,000 on

5720-612: The Looiersgracht and Lijnbaansgracht, consisting of four capital buildings.; 2) The new steam sugar refinery on Osdorp Bastion. Both had been mortgaged to the Netherlands Trading Society for ƒ300,000. The De Bruyn brothers also brought in: 3) A traditional refinery on the Looiersgracht; 4) The warehouse called Cement Molen; 5) the house and warehouse called Oude Magazijn; 6) the warehouse Mercuur; 7)

5850-735: The Natal region of South Africa, it is normally due to anomalous climatic conditions in the region, such as warm ocean currents that sweep down the coast. In terms of altitude, sugarcane crops are found up to 1,600 m or 5,200 ft close to the equator in countries such as Colombia , Ecuador , and Peru . Sugarcane can be grown on many soils ranging from highly fertile, well-drained mollisols , through heavy cracking vertisols , infertile acid oxisols and ultisols , peaty histosols , to rocky andisols . Both plentiful sunshine and water supplies increase cane production. This has made desert countries with good irrigation facilities such as Egypt some of

5980-425: The share capital down to ƒ980,000. The original proposal had been to diminish this to ƒ700,000, and so the shareholders put it ƒ280,000 higher. A judge would later rule that the higher number caused the balance asset buildings and machinery to be fictitious for at least ƒ158,000. 1858 was also the year that the situation turned around. The Amsterdam refineries processed 62,176 tons of raw sugar against 36,425 tons in

6110-527: The turnip moth , the sugarcane borer ( Diatraea saccharalis ), the African sugarcane borer ( Eldana saccharina ), the Mexican rice borer ( Eoreuma loftini ), the African armyworm ( Spodoptera exempta ), leafcutter ants , termites , spittlebugs (especially Mahanarva fimbriolata and Deois flavopicta ), and Migdolus fryanus (a beetle ). The planthopper insect Eumetopina flavipes acts as

6240-399: The 1850s by Sir William Siemens . The incandescent fuel bed would be alternately blasted with air followed by steam. The air reactions during the blow cycle are exothermic, heating up the bed, while the steam reactions during the make cycle, are endothermic and cool down the bed. The products from the air cycle contain non-calorific nitrogen and are exhausted out the stack while the products of

6370-432: The 1860s. Gas oil (an early form of gasoline) was the flammable waste product from kerosene refining, made from the lightest and most volatile fractions (tops) of crude oil. In 1875 Thaddeus S. C. Lowe invented the carburetted water gas process. This process revolutionized the manufactured gas industry and was the standard technology until the end of manufactured gas era. A CWG generating set consisted of three elements;

6500-428: The 1960s, manufactured gas, compared with its main rival in the energy market, electricity, was considered "nasty, smelly, dirty and dangerous" (to quote market research of the time) and seemed doomed to lose market share still further, except for cooking where its controllability gave it marked advantages over both electricity and solid fuel. The development of more efficient gas fires assisted gas to resist competition in

6630-564: The Amsterdam court granted an automatic stay to the NSR. A commission of inquiry was formed to investigate: the 1876 balance sheet, business since 1 January 1877, and the probable causes of the losses. On 23 May 1877 the report of the inquiry was presented in a shareholders meeting, which then refused to approve the balance sheet over 1876 and decided to declare bankruptcy. The report noted many irregularities and bad practices. E.g. assets had not been specified in detail, and had not been deprecated properly. The inquiry turned ugly when it investigated

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6760-555: The Amsterdamsche Stoom Raffinaderij were not given. In 1853 the Amsterdam refineries processed about 83,000 tons of raw sugar, of which 21,000 tons by the NSR. Of these 21,000 tons about 7,000 were exported to the United Kingdom. 1855 was a good year for the Amsterdam refineries. The NSR processed 19,000 tons of the 66,502 that Amsterdam processed in total. In 1856 the Dutch white sugar export dropped from 53.2 to 46.3 million kg. Of these 36 million had gone to

6890-492: The Caribbean, South American, Indian Ocean, and Pacific island nations. The need for sugar crop laborers became a major driver of large migrations, some people voluntarily accepting indentured servitude and others forcibly imported as slaves . Grown in tropical and subtropical regions, sugarcane is the world's largest crop by production quantity, totalling 1.9 billion tonnes in 2020, with Brazil accounting for 40% of

7020-626: The Commonwealth of Australia) brought between 55,000 and 62,500 people from the South Pacific islands to work on sugarcane plantations. An estimated one-third of these workers were coerced or kidnapped into slavery (known as blackbirding ); many others were paid very low wages. Between 1904 and 1908, most of the 10,000 remaining workers were deported in an effort to keep Australia racially homogeneous and protect white workers from cheap foreign labour. Cuban sugar derived from sugarcane

7150-736: The Dutch government approved a first version of the provisional contract to found the naamloze vennootschap (NV) Nederlandsche Suikerraffinaderij (NSR). An updated contract was finally approved on 30 November 1849. On 7 December 1849 the contract to found the company was signed in Amsterdam. The new company issued 2,800 shares of ƒ1,000 each. The list of shareholders was headed by the Netherlands Trading Society for 462 shares. The brothers Christiaan Hendrik de Bruijn, Martinnus de Bruijn Corneliszoon, and Adrian de Bruijn, who had been partners in Firma C. de Bruyn en Zonen mainly paid for their shares by bringing in: 1) The steam sugar refinery "De Vijf Gebroeders" on

7280-638: The Gas Council to acquire and supply gas to the twelve area gas boards . Then, the Gas Act 1972 formed the British Gas Corporation as a single commercial entity, embracing all the twelve area gas boards, allowing them to acquire, distribute and market gas and gas appliances to industrial commercial and domestic customers throughout the UK. In 1986, British Gas was privatised and the government no longer has any direct control over it. During

7410-487: The LNG plant on Canvey. The Fuel Policy White Paper of 1967 (Cmd. 3438) pointed the industry in the direction of building up the use of natural gas speedily to 'enable the country to benefit as soon as possible from the advantages of this new indigenous energy source'. As a result, there was a 'rush to gas' for use in peak load electricity generation and in low grade uses in industry. The growth in availability of natural gas

7540-525: The Mediterranean in 1855, but this trade came under pressure from French competition. A change in taxes on sugar also posed a problem. In 1856 NSR processed 16 million tons of the 65 million processed in Amsterdam. In 1857 the general situation for the Dutch sugar industry became very serious. The white sugar export was only 42.75 million kg, with export shifting from the Mediterranean to the United Kingdom. In Amsterdam only 36.5 million kg of raw sugar

7670-577: The Royal Parks. The production process differs from other methods used to generate gaseous fuels known variously as manufactured gas , syngas , Dowson gas, and producer gas . These gases are made by partial combustion of a wide variety of feedstocks in some mixture of air, oxygen, or steam, to reduce the latter to hydrogen and carbon monoxide although some destructive distillation may also occur. Manufactured gas can be made by two processes: carbonization or gasification . Carbonization refers to

7800-541: The Second World War as petroleum shortages forced Nazi Germany to develop the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis to produce synthetic fuel for aircraft and tanks. The by-products of coal gas manufacture included coke , coal tar , sulfur and ammonia and these were all useful products. Dyes, medicines such as sulfa drugs , saccharine , and dozens of organic compounds are made from coal tar. The coal used, and

7930-829: The approach to crop management embraced in the cultivation of sugarcane. Ultimately, the successful cultivation of this valuable crop demands a thoughtful integration of various factors to optimize its growth and productivity. Sugarcane is a cash crop , but it is also used as livestock fodder. Sugarcane genome is one of the most complex plant genomes known, mostly due to interspecific hybridization and polyploidization. The two centers of domestication for sugarcane are one for Saccharum officinarum by Papuans in New Guinea and another for Saccharum sinense by Austronesians in Taiwan and southern China. Papuans and Austronesians originally primarily used sugarcane as food for domesticated pigs. The spread of both S. officinarum and S. sinense

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8060-424: The asset inventory ( Raffinaderij ). The chief operator alone reported about this asset. It supposedly led the directors to report a probable profit of ƒ76,000 on 12 March 1877, only to report a huge loss on 11 April when inventory was found to be surprisingly low. The commission asked the chief operator if he could uphold his reports in good faith. He answered that: the balance had been inflated somewhat, just like

8190-515: The big Amsterdam sugar refineries to export to the United Kingdom. This made the Netherlands Trading Society somewhat dependent on these companies. This was especially true with regard to De Bruyn, which took more than half of the NTS sugar at some 1841 auctions. The mutual dependency between the NTS and the big Amsterdam sugar refineries led to dangerously high credits by the NTS to De Bruyn. These were probably instrumental in allowing De Bruyn to construct

8320-484: The book value of a factory by a later auction would mean that specialized factories would have to be deprecated almost completely before they even started to operate. As an alternative, Levy suggested to look at the German commercial law, which made explicit that buildings had to be regularly deprecated for wear and tear, but not more. The German court also noted that on the balance, buildings had to be valued for their use in

8450-445: The cane during mechanical harvesting accelerates this decline. This decline is offset because a modern chopper harvester can complete the harvest faster and more efficiently than hand cutting and loading. Austoft also developed a series of hydraulic high-lift infield transporters to work alongside its harvesters to allow even more rapid transfer of cane to, for example, the nearest railway siding. This mechanical harvesting does not require

8580-429: The carbon. The purified syrup is then concentrated to supersaturation and repeatedly crystallized in a vacuum, to produce white refined sugar . As in a sugar mill, the sugar crystals are separated from the molasses by centrifuging. Additional sugar is recovered by blending the remaining syrup with the washings from affination and again crystallizing to produce brown sugar . When no more sugar can be economically recovered,

8710-616: The coal gas, but would leave behind a crumbly, low-quality coke not suitable for metallurgical processes. Coal or coke oven gas typically had a calorific value between 10 and 20 megajoules per cubic metre (270 and 540 Btu/cu ft); with values around 20 MJ/m (540 Btu/cu ft) being typical. The advent of electric lighting forced utilities to search for other markets for manufactured gas. MGPs that once almost exclusively produced lighting gas shifted their efforts towards supplying gas for heating and cooking, and even refrigeration and cooling. Fuel gas for industrial use

8840-402: The commission summarized its work on the balance of 1876 by stating that assets were ƒ302,550 less than reported, leading to a total loss of ƒ758,000 on 31 December 1876. The commission then went a bit further and also looked at the (already approved) balance sheet of 1875. It noted that this should have specified a total loss of ƒ445,963 on 31 December 1875 instead of just ƒ93,000. In other words:

8970-496: The company was known as Firma C. de Bruyn en Zonen. This was a partnership that traded under the name (Firma or Fa.) C. de Bruyn en Zonen. De Bruyn's three sons all choose to stay in the sugar refinery business. They expanded the company by buying the surrounding buildings. In the end it encompassed all buildings between the Lauriergracht , Passeerdersstraat, Lijnbaansgracht, and Passeerdersdwarsstraat. The number of boilers

9100-537: The company's capital had been lost. The court of Amsterdam convicted the board members to pay ƒ27,053 to Gottfried Meijer & Co. It reasoned that the two directors had known since 1858 that the valuation of the buildings was too high, and should have been deprecated since. It furthermore noted that the price that a sugar refiner intended on proceeding with the business paid at an auction was a good valuation. Famous lawyer Isaac Abraham Levy (1836-1920), did not like this verdict and wrote about it. He stated that determining

9230-609: The crop originated in Southeast Asia. As sugar was traded and spread West, this became سُكَّر ( sukkar ) in Arabic , zúcchero in Italian , zuccarum in Latin , and eventually sucre in both Middle French and Middle English . The second term "cane" began to be used alongside it as the crop was grown on plantations in the Caribbean . G anna is the Hindi word for sugarcane. Sugarcane,

9360-464: The development of natural gas supply and transmission—during the 1940s and 1950s in the United States and during the late 1960s and 1970s in the United Kingdom and Australia—almost all gas for fuel and lighting was manufactured from coal. Town gas was supplied to households via municipally owned piped distribution systems. Sometimes, this was called syn gas , in contrast to natural gas. At

9490-410: The devolatilization of an organic feedstock to yield gas and char . Gasification is the process of subjecting a feedstock to chemical reactions that produce gas. The first process used was the carbonization and partial pyrolysis of coal . The off gases liberated in the high-temperature carbonization ( coking ) of coal in coke ovens were collected, scrubbed and used as fuel. Depending on the goal of

9620-585: The eighth century, Muslim and Arab traders introduced sugar from medieval India to the other parts of the Abbasid Caliphate in the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia , Egypt , North Africa, and Andalusia . By the 10th century, sources state that every village in Mesopotamia grew sugarcane. It was among the early crops brought to the Americas by the Spanish, mainly Andalusians, from their fields in

9750-442: The entire plant, accounting for roughly 75% of its composition. A fully mature cane stalk generally comprises a composition of around 11–16% fiber, 12–16% soluble sugars, 2–3% nonsugar carbohydrates, and 63–73% water content. The successful cultivation of sugarcane hinges on a delicate interplay of several factors, including climatic conditions, soil properties, irrigation methods, fertilization practices, pest and disease management,

9880-482: The era of North Sea gas , many of the original cast iron gas pipes installed in towns and cities for town gas were replaced by plastic . As reported in the DTI Energy Review 'Our Energy Challenge' January 2006 North Sea gas resources have been depleted at a faster rate than had been anticipated and gas supplies for the UK are being sought from remote sources, a strategy made possible by developments in

10010-419: The field to be set on fire; the residue left in the field by the machine consists of cane tops and dead leaves, which serve as mulch for the next planting. The cane beetle (also known as cane grub) can substantially reduce crop yield by eating roots; it can be controlled with imidacloprid (Confidor) or chlorpyrifos (Lorsban). Other important pests are the larvae of some butterfly/moth species, including

10140-491: The final molasses still contains 20–30% sucrose and 15–25% glucose and fructose. To produce granulated sugar , in which individual grains do not clump, sugar must be dried, first by heating in a rotary dryer, and then by blowing cool air through it for several days. Ribbon cane is a subtropical type that was once widely grown in the Southern United States, as far north as coastal North Carolina . The juice

10270-430: The fuel gas by enriching it with CO and hydrogen (H 2 ) produced by water gas reactions. Producer gas has a very low calorific value of 3.7 to 5.6 MJ/m (99 to 150 Btu/cu ft); because the calorific gases CO/H 2 are diluted with much inert nitrogen (from air) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) (from combustion) The problem of nitrogen dilution was overcome by the blue water gas (BWG) process, developed in

10400-497: The gas-using equipment of almost thirteen million domestic, four hundred thousand commercial, and sixty thousand industrial customers were converted. Many dangerous appliances were discovered in this exercise and were taken out of service. The UK town gas industry ended in 1987 when operations ceased at the last town gas manufacturing plants in Northern Ireland (Belfast, Portadown and Carrickfergus; Carrickfergus gas works

10530-552: The global crop production over the 2000–2021 period. The Americas was the leading region in the production of sugar cane (52% of the world total). Once a major crop of the southeastern region of the United States, sugarcane cultivation declined there during the late 20th century, and is primarily confined to small plantations in Florida , Louisiana , and southeast Texas in the 21st century. Sugarcane cultivation ceased in Hawaii when

10660-422: The highest-yielding sugarcane-cultivating regions. Sugarcane consumes 9% of the world's potash fertilizer production. Although some sugarcanes produce seeds, modern stem cutting has become the most common reproduction method. Each cutting must contain at least one bud, and the cuttings are sometimes hand-planted. In more technologically advanced countries, such as the United States and Australia, billet planting

10790-622: The industry produced) to marketing management (meeting the needs and desires of customers) and the lifting of an early moratorium preventing nationalised industries from using television advertising , saved the gas industry for long enough to provide a viable market for what was to come. In 1959 the Gas Council in Great Britain demonstrated that liquid natural gas (LNG) could be transported safely, efficiently and economically over long distances by sea. The Methane Pioneer shipped

10920-490: The last operating sugar plantation in the state shut down in 2016. Sugarcane is cultivated in the tropics and subtropics in areas with a plentiful supply of water for a continuous period of more than 6–7 months each year, either from natural rainfall or through irrigation. The crop does not tolerate severe frosts. Therefore, most of the world's sugarcane is grown between 22°N and 22°S , and some up to 33°N and 33°S . When sugarcane crops are found outside this range, such as

11050-498: The length of the country. This became the National Transmission System . All gas equipment in Great Britain (but not Northern Ireland) was converted (by the fitting of different-sized burner jets to give the correct gas/air mixture) from town gas to natural gas (mainly methane ) over the period from 1967 to 1977 at a cost of about £100 million, including writing off redundant town gas manufacturing plants. All

11180-410: The market for room heating. Concurrently a new market for whole house central heating by hot water was being developed by the oil industry and the gas industry followed suit. Gas warm air heating found a market niche in new local authority housing where low installation costs gave it an advantage. These developments, the realignment of managerial thinking away from commercial management (selling what

11310-442: The north coast of Brazil, Demarara , and Suriname . Sugar, often in the form of molasses, was shipped from the Caribbean to Europe or New England, where it was used to make rum . The profits from the sale of sugar were then used to purchase manufactured goods, which were then shipped to West Africa, where they were bartered for slaves. The slaves were then brought back to the Caribbean to be sold to sugar planters. The profits from

11440-534: The other directors. The supervisory board had five members. In 1850 and 1851, the Nederlandsche Suikerraffinaderij (NSR) was very busy. Profits were not good in 1851, because very strong supplies of colonial and beet sugar forced white sugar prices downward. In 1852 the company employed 400–800 people, while its competitors Spakler & Tetterode employed 80 regular staff, and Beuker & Hulshoff 160 regular staff. The numbers for

11570-456: The pans required only one fire. It also gave much better control, diminishing the amount of sugar that burned on the pan's surface. The other invention was Howards vacuum pan, patented in 1813. This allowed to cook at a lower temperature and led to a better product. However, it also required a steam engine to drive an air pump, and a water reservoir. The cost of the machinery was such that a company had to process 1000-3000 tons of raw sugar to make

11700-437: The plant, the desired product was either a high quality coke for metallurgical use, with the gas being a side product, or the production of a high quality gas, with coke being the side product. Coke plants are typically associated with metallurgical facilities such as smelters or blast furnaces , while gas works typically served urban areas. A facility used to manufacture coal gas, carburetted water gas (CWG), and oil gas

11830-415: The previous balances . When he repeated this in the presence of the directors, there was no protest, nor notable surprise. The commission therefore made its own computations of the inventory on 1 January 1877. It noted that the balance over 1876 inflated the amount of white sugar in stock and its value by ƒ169,800. It also noted that over 111,770 kg of raw sugar had not been accounted for. The inquiry of

11960-619: The previous year'. In the early 1870s, major changes in market conditions caused a crisis in the Dutch sugar refining industry. The opening of the Suez Canal had brought the important Mediterranean customers much closer to the East Indies. On Java, the forced sale of sugar to the Netherlands Trading Society was abolished in 1872. The protectionist export tariff Diferentieel regt which supported shipping to

12090-473: The previous year. Prices were higher and the NSR employed 320 people. In 1859 and 1860 the amount of raw sugar processed in Amsterdam rose to 64,298 and 76,729 tons. The company was not that successful, because it only processed 13,000 tons in 1860. The relatively low production in 1860 may have been due to the company moving refinery activities from the Looiersgracht to the new refinery on Osdorp bastion in mid 1860. This new refinery had 7 boilers. On 30 July 1860

12220-410: The price at which they were on the balance sheet. Furthermore, the NTS had secured its credit by a mortgage on De Bruyn's two big refineries, so the prospects for the other creditors were worse than the balance sheet alone suggested. It was their luck that NTS was also interested in the survival of its biggest customer. In July 1848, the receivers of De Bruyn en Zonen proposed to the creditors to convert

12350-430: The production process included coal tars and ammonia , which were important raw materials (or "chemical feedstock ") for the dye and chemical industry with a wide range of artificial dyes being made from coal gas and coal tar. Facilities where the gas was produced were often known as a manufactured gas plant (MGP) or a gasworks . In the United Kingdom the discovery of large reserves of natural gas, or sea gas as it

12480-450: The removal of organic and nutrient-rich material, which can decrease future crop yields. It can also result in sediments and other pollutants being washed into aquatic habitats, which can result in a wide range of environmental issues, including eutrophication and acidification. Sugarcane cultivation can also result in soil compaction, which is caused by the use of heavy, infield machinery. Along with impacting invertebrate and fauna within

12610-483: The removal of soil at harvest, as well as improper irrigation practices, which can result in erosion. Erosion is especially significant when the sugarcane is grown on slopes or hillsides, which increases the rate of water runoff. Generally, it is recommended that sugarcane is not planted in areas with a slope greater than 8%. However, in certain areas, such as parts of the Caribbean and South Africa, slopes greater than 20% have been planted. Increased erosion can lead to

12740-455: The report of the directors that ƒ450,000 had been lost in the first months of 1877 was not correct, it had been lost over the previous years. It was obvious that the Nederlandsche Suikerraffinaderij had not been properly managed. It was not certain whether this would lead to personal liability of the directors. At the time, article 47 of the Wetboek van Koophandel stated that as soon as 75% of

12870-509: The sale of the slaves were then used to buy more sugar, which was shipped to Europe. Toil in the sugar plantations became a main basis for a vast network of forced population movement , supplying people to work under brutal coercion. The passage of the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act led to the abolition of slavery through most of the British Empire , and many of the emancipated slaves no longer worked on sugarcane plantations when they had

13000-420: The selection of specific varieties, and the timing of the harvest. In terms of yield, the average production of cane stalk stands at 60–70 tonnes per hectare (equivalent to 24–28 long tons per acre or 27–31 short tons per acre) annually. However, this yield figure is not fixed and can vary significantly, ranging from 30 to 180 tonnes per hectare. This variance is contingent upon the level of knowledge applied and

13130-404: The share capital (i.e. of ƒ980,000) of a limited company was lost, it was legally disbanded. From the moment that the board knew about such a loss, or should have known about this, they were liable in person for any further acts of the company. On 22 March 1877, the Nederlandsche Suikerraffinaderij bought an amount of raw sugar which it could not pay later. Vendor Gottfried Meijer & Co. brought

13260-473: The steam cycle are kept as blue water gas. This gas is composed almost entirely of CO and H 2 , and burns with a pale blue flame similar to natural gas. BWG has a calorific value of 11 MJ/m (300 BTU/cu ft). Blue water gas lacked illuminants; it would not burn with a luminous flame in a simple fishtail gas jet as existed prior to the invention of the gas mantle in the 1890s. Various attempts were made to enrich BWG with illuminants from gas oil in

13390-436: The steam refinery "De Vijf Gebroeders" was brought to auction in separate lots. In late 1861 some merchants then started the Hollandsche Suikerraffinaderij. They used these buildings for their refinery and office. In 1861, the NSR processed 16,000 tons of raw sugar. In 1860 and 1861 NSR sold its old steam refinery De Vijf Gebroeders on Looiersgracht and (probably) also its less important traditional refinery on Looiersgracht, for

13520-444: The sugar refineries and the gas factory into two public limited companies . This would allow the creditors of the refineries to get shares of the same nominal value as the money that they were owned, while still giving the new company a working capital of ƒ900,000. The creditors agreed to this proposal. However, in light of the vast interests that were involved, it would take some time before this company appeared. On 15 October 1849,

13650-555: The sugarcane's stem. Coating seeds with the bacteria was assayed in 2006 with the intention of enabling crop species to fix nitrogen for its own use. At least 20,000 people are estimated to have died of chronic kidney disease in Central America in the past two decades, most of them sugarcane workers along the Pacific coast. This may be due to working long hours in the heat without adequate fluid intake. Additionally, some of

13780-449: The technologies of pipelaying that enable the transmission of gas over land and under sea across and between continents . Natural gas is now a world commodity . Such sources of supply are exposed to all the risks of any import. Monty Python parodied the conversion from coal to North Sea gas, and the jumping through hoops some encountered, in their "New Cooker Sketch," as part of the episode that began its second series in 1970. Coal gas

13910-535: The time, a frequent method of committing suicide was the inhalation of gas from an unlit oven. With the head and upper body placed inside the appliance, the concentrated carbon monoxide would kill quickly. Sylvia Plath famously ended her life with this method. Originally created as a by-product of the coking process, its use developed during the 19th and early 20th centuries tracking the Industrial Revolution and urbanization . By-products from

14040-489: The top of the tank, where they can be skimmed off. An alternative to this "phosphatation" technique is " carbonatation ", which is similar, but uses carbon dioxide and calcium hydroxide to produce a calcium carbonate precipitate. After filtering any remaining solids, the clarified syrup is decolorized by filtration through activated carbon . Bone char or coal-based activated carbon is traditionally used in this role. Some remaining color-forming impurities are adsorbed by

14170-403: The town gas and by-products produced, by the major three gas companies of London are summarised in the table. Coke is used as a smokeless fuel and for the manufacture of water gas and producer gas . Coal tar was subjected to fractional distillation to recover various products, including Used in the manufacture of sulfuric acid Used in the manufacture of fertilisers Coal gas

14300-540: The town gas industry in the UK was driven by the discovery of natural gas by the drilling rig Sea Gem , on 17 September 1965, some forty miles off Grimsby , over 8,000 feet (2,400 m) below the seabed. Subsequently, the North Sea was found to have many substantial gas fields on both sides of the median line defining which nations should have rights over the reserves. In a pilot scheme customers on Canvey Island were converted from town gas to natural gas supplied from

14430-523: The upper layers of the soil, compaction can also lead to decreased porosity. This in turn can increase surface runoff , resulting in greater leaching and erosion. Coal gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous fuels produced for sale to consumers and municipalities. The original coal gas

14560-462: The warehouse Groote Wolbaal; 8) The buildings: De Twee Banen; Het Schild van Frankrijk and Het Huis te Egmond all on the Schans near Passeerderstraat. The management of the company was formed by the three De Bruyn brothers as directors and Izak Bussemaker Hendrikszoon as president director. Every act of the compagny that required a signature would have to be signed by the president director and one of

14690-399: The white hot checkerwork fire bricks inside the carburettor. The hot enriched gas would then flow into the superheater, where the gas would be further cracked by more hot fire bricks. Following the Second World War the slow recovery of the British coal mining industry led to shortages of coal and high prices. The decline of coal as a feedstock for town gas production using carbonisation

14820-414: The workers are being exposed to hazards such as: high temperatures, harmful pesticides, and poisonous or venomous animals. This occurs during the process of cutting the sugarcane manually, causing physical ailments due to constant repetitive movements for hours every work day. Traditionally, sugarcane processing requires two stages. Mills extract raw sugar from freshly harvested cane and "mill-white" sugar

14950-517: The world total. Sugarcane accounts for 79% of sugar produced globally (most of the rest is made from sugar beets ). About 70% of the sugar produced comes from Saccharum officinarum and its hybrids. All sugarcane species can interbreed , and the major commercial cultivars are complex hybrids . White sugar is produced from sugarcane in specialized mill factories. Sugarcane reeds are used to make pens, mats, screens, and thatch. The young, unexpanded flower head of Saccharum edule ( duruka )

15080-564: Was 74 tonnes per hectare, led by Peru with 121 tonnes per hectare. The theoretical possible yield for sugarcane is about 280 tonnes per hectare per year, and small experimental plots in Brazil have demonstrated yields of 236–280 tonnes of cane per hectare. From 2008 to 2016, production of standards-compliant sugarcane experienced a compound annual growth rate of about 52%, while conventional sugarcane increased at less than 1%. The cultivation of sugarcane can lead to increased soil loss through

15210-440: Was also introduced to southern China and India by Austronesian traders around 1200 to 1000 BC. The Persians and Greeks encountered the famous "reeds that produce honey without bees" in India between the sixth and fourth centuries BC. They adopted and then spread sugarcane agriculture. Merchants began to trade in sugar, which was considered a luxurious and expensive spice, from India. In the 18th century, sugarcane plantations began in

15340-680: Was exported to the USSR , where it received price supports and was ensured a guaranteed market. The 1991 dissolution of the Soviet state forced the closure of most of Cuba's sugar industry. Sugarcane remains an important part of the economy of Cuba, Guyana, Belize , Barbados , and Haiti, along with the Dominican Republic, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, and other islands. About 70% of the sugar produced globally comes from S. officinarum and hybrids using this species. Sugarcane cultivation requires

15470-558: Was extracted with horse- or mule-powered crushers; the juice was boiled, like maple syrup , in a flat pan, and then used in the syrup form as a food sweetener. It is not currently a commercial crop, but a few growers find ready sales for their product. In 2022, global production of sugarcane was 1.92 billion tonnes, with Brazil producing 38% of the world total, India with 23%, and China producing 5% (table). Worldwide, 26 million hectares were devoted to sugarcane cultivation in 2020. The average worldwide yield of sugarcane crops in 2022

15600-495: Was four in 1835 and probably seven in 1841. In 1840 and 1841 C. de Bruyn en Zonen processed 25,000,000 kg of raw sugar a year. This amount of sugar was worth 6,500,000 guilders (ƒ). The De Bruyn brothers displayed their new found status by travelling in coaches drawn by 4 or 6 horses. Already in 1836, the favorable trading conditions with the Dutch East Indies, and the investments in production facilities, allowed

15730-500: Was in serious decay. In 1827 the Amsterdam sugar industry consisted of about 60 companies that on average processed 200-250 tons of raw sugar. It began to grow again after the 1830 Belgian Revolution forced the Netherlands Trading Society (NTS) to redirect its supply of raw Java sugar from Antwerp to the northern Netherlands. That same year, the introduction of the Cultivation System in the Dutch East Indies also led to

15860-455: Was initially manufactured by independent companies but in the United Kingdom many of these later became municipal services . In 1948 there was a total of 1,062 gas undertakings. Both the private companies, about two-thirds of the total, and the municipal gas undertakings, about one-third, were nationalised under the Gas Act 1948 . Further restructuring took place under the Gas Act 1972 . For further details see British Gas plc . Apart from in

15990-552: Was known colloquially, in the Southern North Sea off the coasts of Norfolk and Yorkshire in 1965 led to the expensive conversion or replacement of most of Britain's gas cookers and gas heaters, from the late 1960s onwards, the process being completed by the late 1970s. Any residual gas lighting found in homes being converted was either capped off at the meter or, more usually, removed altogether. As of 2023, some gas street lighting still remains, mainly in central London and

16120-591: Was liquidated after her main refinery had burnt down, and the shareholders did not see enough prospects to rebuild it. The management of the NSR was not able to steer the Nederlandsche Suikerraffinaderij though the crisis. Instead of effectively handling the problems, or being open about them, it choose to conceal them. Some prices of the NSR shares of 350 guilders (ƒ) nominal are known for this period: November 1872: ƒ213; February 1874: ƒ181; In February 1875: ƒ88-90; in July 1875: ƒ47; In August 1876: ƒ16-18. On 18 April 1877,

16250-414: Was made using producer gas technology. Producer gas is made by blowing air through an incandescent fuel bed (commonly coke or coal ) in a gas producer. The reaction of fuel with insufficient air for total combustion produces carbon monoxide (CO); this reaction is exothermic and self-sustaining. It was discovered that adding steam to the input air of a gas producer would increase the calorific value of

16380-482: Was processed, of which 12 million by the NSR. Competitor Amsterdamsche Stoom Suikerraffinaderij had two of its refineries standing idle, and worked for only a few weeks. In November 1857, a proposal to liquidate the company was discussed in a shareholders meeting, but was rejected. The same meeting did approve the dismissal of the De Bruyn brothers as directors. Also in 1857 Fa. De Bruyn asked a government permit to found

16510-462: Was produced by the coal gasification reaction, and the burnable component consisted of a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen in roughly equal quantities by volume. Thus, coal gas is highly toxic . Other compositions contain additional calorific gases such as methane , produced by the Fischer–Tropsch process , and volatile hydrocarbons together with small quantities of non-calorific gases such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen . Prior to

16640-603: Was spread eastward into Polynesia and Micronesia by Austronesian voyagers as a canoe plant by around 3,500 BP. It was also spread westward and northward by around 3,000 BP to China and India by Austronesian traders, where it further hybridized with S. sinense and S. barberi . From there, it spread further into western Eurasia and the Mediterranean . The earliest known production of crystalline sugar began in northern India. The earliest evidence of sugar production comes from ancient Sanskrit and Pali texts. Around

16770-570: Was therefore simpler and cheaper. A couple of Amsterdam refineries bought this system to modernize their production. From 1820 to 1833, C. de Bruyn (Cornelis de Bruyn Martinuszoon) owned a traditional sugar refinery on the Lijnbaansgracht . In 1831 he got permission to use steam for boiling sugar, and to use a 6 hp steam engine to drive pumps and the like. In 1834 De Bruyn bought the nearby refinery Stokholm and another refinery. On his death in 1834 he left his sons three refineries. By then

16900-469: Was used to power several historic balloon ascents in the 19th century (see The Aeronauts ). In many ways, Germany took the lead in coal gas research and carbon chemistry. With the labours of August Wilhelm von Hofmann , the whole German chemical industry emerged. Using the coal gas waste as feedstock, researchers developed new processes and synthesized natural organic compounds such as Vitamin C and aspirin . The German economy relied on coal gas during

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