INVENTOR of the MONTH

Norbert Rillieux: He Revolutionized the
Sugar Industry

Norbert Rillieux’s invention of the multiple-effect vacuum pan revolutionized the sugar industry and made American sugar dominant in the world market. Prior to the Rillieux System the refining of sugar was a costly and dangerous process that yielded only a crude brown sugar that was more like molasses rather than the white crystals we know today. Rillieux’s invention, patented first in 1843 and later with improvements in 1846, used a vacuum pan process that is still used today to produce granulated sugar, condensed milk, soap, gelatin, and glue.

Rillieux was born on a New Orleans plantation on March 18, 1806. His mother was a slave and his father was a French engineer and plantation master. As a person of mixed race, Rillieux was regarded as Black and could receive only a limited education. Consequently, his father sent him to Paris, where he studied engineering and eventually conceived of the theory of multiple-effect vacuum evaporation, which became central to his invention.

Rillieux returned to America and at first met failure with his refining process. By its third installation, in 1845, he was successful. News of his invention quickly spread and it was installed all over Louisiana, Cuba, and even Mexico.

Regardless of his fame, Rillieux was not accepted by white society. As a free Black person his life was extremely limited. He resented this and when he was asked to carry a pass in 1854, he returned to Paris where he died 40 years later.

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