Sucro Sugar Refinery

The sweet things in life… well, they are sweet. However, just like a lot of sugar in our body can corrode our teeth so can a lot of sugar corrode a refinery.

So, when Sucro Can Sourcing, an American sugar company decided to build the biggest refinery in Canada they knew full well the corrosion challenges from refining sugar. Especially during the refining process liquids and vapors that are quite corrosive in nature and have a history of consuming the very buildings that house the refinery. While stainless and composite are often the right solution for actual machinery those corrosion resistant solutions just don’t make financial sense for the hundreds of tons of structural steel of the buildings themselves. Along with these regular corrosion challenges the solution also had to meet all regulatory food safety standards and the HACCP food processing management system criteria.

Built right in Hamilton Harbor this new sugar refinery will receive raw organic cane sugar directly off ships from South America. They will supply the $48 billion Ontario food manufacturing industry with sugar ingredients for everything from soda pop to granola bars and ice cream. The plant will answer a growing demand from consumers for real organic cane sugar rather than corn or beet-based sweeteners.

With over one million tons of annual production and $135 million dollar investment on the line the corrosive nature of sugar refining had to be addressed in a serious way.

Sucro needed a high performance, low cost and long-lasting solution to corrosion and Hot-Dip ticked all the boxes. With a century and a half of proven corrosion protection history Hot-Dip was a natural fit. Seamless coordination between the fabricator, engineer and galvanizer assured proper design consideration insuring low-cost, high-quality and quickly processed truckloads of steel.

The computer-controlled material handling system of the galvanizer insured that every piece of structural steel was delivered to the site on time and properly identified for fast erection. Automated dipping processes ensure consistent high-quality results.

In the end the entire 1,680 ton steel structure (including accessories such as railings, stairways etc.) was Hot-Dip Galvanized. It provided fast turnaround, vastly longer service life and amazingly, all this at a lower initial cost than paint solutions. That is the sweet Hot-Dip Advantage!