 is eighth in the nation of sugar beet production. But how do these beets turn into the sugar we eat? After farmers pull beets from the soil, they are delivered to the factory or pile grounds. Here beets are dry screened, sampled and weighed. The sugar beets are dumped into a wet hopper and floated into the factory. After passing through a catcher to remove debris, the beets are washed, rinsed and fed into beet slicers. Here very sharp knives cut them into long noodle-like pieces called cassettes. The cassettes are fed into a diffusion system. Sugar is removed from the beets by hot water washing. The hot water emerges from the diffuser as sugar water called raw juice. The juice enters the evaporators at 13 to 15% solids and leaves at 60% solids. It is now called thick juice. The thick juice is sent to a melter where the raw sugars are dissolved through agitation and heat. This is fed to the white pan where white sugar is crystallized. After crystallization, the solution is concentrated to 92% solids and consists of a sugar crystal surrounded by syrup. Crystals are separated from the syrup by spinning the sugar against a screen. The white sugar is conveyed to the granulator for further drying and cooling. From the University of Wyoming Extension, I'm Ashley Garls, exploring the nature of Wyoming.