engineering

Moerbeke Sugar Factory

Moerbeke Sugar Factory is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Moerbeke Sugar Factory rather than just read about it. In short: The Moerbeke Sugar Factory was a beet sugar factory in Moerbeke, Belgium. The factory was last part of Iscal Sugar, a competitor of Raffinerie Tirlemontoise.

Key takeaways

Moerbeke Sugar Factory belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Moerbeke Sugar Factory to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Moerbeke Sugar Factory from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Moerbeke Sugar Factory was a beet sugar factory in Moerbeke, Belgium. The factory was last part of Iscal Sugar, a competitor of Raffinerie Tirlemontoise. In 2008, the factory was shut down and later completely demolished.

Sucrerie Jules De Cock & Co (1869-1893)

Foundation In 1869 the partnership limited by shares Sucrerie Jules De Cock et Compagnie was founded by contract. It is claimed that the Lippens family and the De Kerchove family together held 37.5% of the shares. Jules de Cock might be related to Albert de Cock, who got permission to found a distillery in Moerbeke on 5 January 1869.

The Lippens and De Kerchove families The Lippens family had acquired a lot of land in the area, especially during the French period. In Moerbeke municipality alone, this was 715 hectares. The family also held political power in the municipality. Filips-Jean Lippens (1772-1839) married Victoria Amelie de Naeyere, and had Auguste Marie Lippens (1818-1892). Auguste would become mayor of Moerbeke in 1847 and a member of parliament. He was most probably one of the founders of Moerbeke Sugar Factory. The Kerchove family was a rich noble family with strong roots in the east of the County of Flanders. It was very influential in the liberal party. The engineer Charles de Kerchove de Denterghem (1819-1882) was mayor of Gent and a member of parliament. He married Eugénie de Limon. Their children married the children of Auguste Lippens. Oswald de Kerchove de Denterghem (1844-1906) married Marie Stephanie Lippens. Louise Marie de Kerchove de Denterghem married Hippolyte Lippens (1847-1906).

Location of the factory

The location of the sugar factory was favorable. The land in the area was very suitable to grow sugar beet. In the 1860s, a sugar factory was profitable if it could process 8-9000 t of beet per campaign. For this about 300 hectares of land were required. Contracting with farmers was not easy, because they often did not know how to grow the beet, but were aware that it could exhaust the ground. In such circumstances, the fact that the Lippens family owned so much land in the immediate vicinity would have come in handy to ensure a steady supply of beet. Sugar beet from nearby fields could economically be brought to the factory by wagon or cart, but this was limited to a distance of no more than about 5–6 km. This distance increased when roads were paved. The canal Moervaart runs from the Ghent–Terneuzen Canal to the Durme (a tributary of the Scheldt). In the 1870s, a good system of inland navigation allowed a company to bring in sugar beet from dozens of kilometers away. For Moerbeke, it was e.g. possible to economically contract for beets from Zeelandic Flanders. A railway from Zelzate to Moerbeke, part of the Belgian railway line 26 had opened in 1867. From the south came the Belgian railway line 77A from Lokeren, which also opened in 1867. This railway crossed the Vapeurbrug over the Moervaart. The factory was located on the north west side of this crossing, so beet could be unloaded from trains and boats directly onto the factory grounds.

Sucrerie de Moerbeke (1893-1914)

The public company Naamloze vennootschap Sucrerie de Moerbeke was founded when the partnership that owned the factory was about to end. The new company would start on 1 August 1893 and have a share capital of 1,000,000 francs divided in 1,000 franc shares. The management (administrateurs) was done by Léon Leirens, Hippolyte Lippens, Jules de Cock, Emile Halot and Eugène Lippens. Victor van der Haeghen and Théophile de Keyser were supervisors. The shareholders were:

Mr. Jules de Cock 25 shares Mrs. Jules de Cock 25 shares The heirs of widow Pierre van Remoortere de Naeyere 100 shares The widow of Dominique Soenen 100 shares Théophile de Keyser 25 shares The heirs of Eugène van der Haeghen 25 shares Ms. Louise van der Haeghen 25 shares Emile Halot 50 shares Mrs. Mortureux-Huser 25 shares Eugène Lippens 25 shares Victor de Hoon-Hesnault 25 shares Vicor van der Haeghen-Hesnault 25 shares Auguste Claus van der Haeghen-Hesnault 25 shares Jules Claus van der Haeghen-Hesnault 25 shares Heirs of N.A. Claus van der Haeghen-Hesnault 75 shares Ms. Amélie van den Berghen 50 shares Alfred de Vos 50 shares Four members of the Halot family 25 shares Countess De Kerchove de Denterghem de Limon 25 shares Mrs Hippolyte de Kerchove-Lippens 100 shares Heirs of A.M. Lippens 125 shares Jules Halot 25 shares

Refining activities In 1913, the factory was expanded in order to produce white sugar instead of raw sugar. Up till then, it had produced raw sugar, which had to be refined by a sugar refinery before it could be sold to consumers. After the changes, the factory produced sugar that was so pure that it could be sold directly to consumers and manufacturers. Engineer Paul Lippens was instrumental in this change.

Zeeuwsch-Vlaamsche Tramweg Maatschappij In June 1911 the Zeeuwsch-Vlaamsche Tramweg Maatschappij was founded in Terneuzen. It planned to connect the western and eastern parts of Zeelandic Flanders, but also wanted to ease transport of sugar beet. The management had two members of the Lippens family, but also representatives from the Wittouck factory in Zelzate. Sucrerie de Moerbeke participated, and so in 1916 the Drieschouwen–Moerbeke Line was opened. The line primarily served to transport sugar beet to Moerbeke, but it also transported passengers for while. The line was closed down in 1949.

Sucrerie et Raffinerie de Moerbeke (1914-1929)

Concentration in the sugar industry On 27 March 1914, the Sucrerie et Raffinerie de Moerbeke was founded. As the share capital of the new company was increased, the Lippens family became a majority shareholder. In Zelzate, there were three sugar factories in 1878, those of L. Tydgadt & Co; Félix Wittouck; and J. and O. Mechelynck. In 1915 the factory of director-owner Tytgadt still existed. Soon after, it had become a child company or simple production location of the Sucrerie et Raffinerie de Moerbeke.

Suikerfabrieken van Vlaanderen (1929-1989)

In 1929 the Suikerfabrieken van Vlaanderen / Sucreries de Flandres was formed by a merger of: the Sucrerie et Raffinerie de Moerbeke-Waes; the Sucrerie Frantz Wittouck in Selzate; and the Sucrerie de l'Espérance in Snaaskerke.

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Moerbeke Sugar Factory

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Moerbeke Sugar Factory claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Moerbeke Sugar Factory before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Moerbeke Sugar Factory ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Moerbeke Sugar Factory

In research: Moerbeke Sugar Factory appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Moerbeke Sugar Factory in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Moerbeke Sugar Factory is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1867 establishments in Belgium, 2009 disestablishments in Belgium, Buildings and structures demolished in 2009, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Moerbeke Sugar Factory outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Moerbeke Sugar Factory in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Moerbeke Sugar Factory means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Moerbeke Sugar Factory out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Moerbeke Sugar Factory in simple terms?

The Moerbeke Sugar Factory was a beet sugar factory in Moerbeke, Belgium. The factory was last part of Iscal Sugar, a competitor of Raffinerie Tirlemontoise.

Why does Moerbeke Sugar Factory matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Moerbeke Sugar Factory?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Moerbeke Sugar Factory.