SITE INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE

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KLEINFELDER File No. 20-3978-01.W 10 June 12, 1997 3.0 BACKGROUND 3.1 Process Description Of Former Operations The site is the location of a former beet sugar processing plant. The description of the manufacturing process was provided by Mr. Jerry Tucker of Spreckels Development Co. during the site reconnaissance. Mr. Tucker's description has been supplemented by information posted to the Internet by Monitor Sugar Company. Sugar beets were transported from the farm to the processing plant via trucks and railcar. The loaded trucks and railcars were weighed at the scales, and the beets were unloaded at the unloading station. The Spreckels Manteca plant most recently used a series of conveyors, but formerly utilized an underground beet flume which utilized water to transport the beets from the unloading area to the factory. After unloading the beets were washed. The wash water contained soil and other substances (possibly agricultural chemicals) and was transported to the mud ponds for disposal. After washing, the beets were sliced and placed into the diffusion towers. The diffusion towers used hot water to remove the sugar from the beets. The beet pulp was then separated from the raw sugar water. At the Spreckels Manteca plant, the beet pulp was dried and stored in the pulp warehouse pending use as cattle feed. Several different feedlots have been present on the Spreckels property for this purpose since the plant was constructed. Prior to the installation of pulp dryers, the wet pulp was pumped into a large holding pond, formerly located to the east of the existing pulp warehouse, and allowed to dry prior to use as cattle feed. The pulp dryers were installed to reduce odors emanating from the plant. The raw sugar water or "juice" was purified by adding "milk of lime" and carbon dioxide to precipitate out the impurities. The milk of lime is produced by "calcining" the lime in the lime kiln and then adding water. The kiln was lined with a refractory material to withstand the high operating temperatures. The "used" lime was regenerated for reuse by activated carbon. Eventually the spent lime was disposed of at the lime ponds. After the precipitation of impurities using lime, the raw sugar juice was passed through a series of filters to further purify it. Sulfur dioxide was used to inhibit discoloration of the sugar. After filtering, the raw sugar juice was sent to the evaporators to thicken it. The thickened juice was then sent through a series of centrifuges to crystallize out the sugar. The syrup left after crystallization is molasses. The sugar was then dried in granulators and stored in the sugar warehouse or silos, or ground into powdered sugar. According to Mr. Tucker, the sugar produced at the Manteca plant was shipped off site in bulk. 10-3978-OI.W]0120I7LI55 Page 6 of 44 Copyright 1997,Kleinfelder,Inc.