Traditionally, sugarcane processing requires two stages. Mills extract juice from freshly harvested cane to crystalise it into grains that becomes sugar, and sometimes whiten it to make "mill white" sugar for local consumption. Sugar refineries, often located nearer to consumers in North America, Europe, and Japan, then produce refined white sugar, which is 99 percent sucrose. These two stages are slowly merging. Increasing affluence in the sugar-producing tropics increased demand for refined sugar products, driving a trend toward combined milling and refining.
Milling

Old wood sugarcane press in Goiás, Brazil

japanese 19th wood sugarcane press in Tokunoshima
Small rail networks and trucks are common methods of transporting cane to a mill. Newly arrived cane is tested for sugar content and trash percentage.
The mill washes, chops, and uses revolving knives to shred the cane. Shredded cane is repeatedly mixed with water and crushed between rollers in the milling tandem; the collected juices contain 10-15 percent sucrose.
Energy in the sugar mill
The remaining fibrous solids, called bagasse, are burned for fuel in the mill's steam boilers. These boilers produce high-pressure steam, which is passed through a turbine to generate electrical energy (cogeneration).
The exhaust steam from the turbine is passed through the multiple effect evaporator station and it is used to heat vacuum pans in the crystallization stage as well as for other heating purposes in the sugar mill.
Bagasse makes a sugar mill more than energy self-sufficient; surplus bagasse goes in animal feed, in paper manufacture, or to generate electricity for sale.
Further processing

Continuous sugar centrifugal for recovery products
The cane juice is next mixed with lime to adjust its pH to 7. This mixing arrests sucrose's decay into glucose and fructose, and precipitates some impurities. The