A beet sugar factory or sugar factory, is a type of plant that produces raw sugar from sugar beet. The first beet sugar factory was founded in 1802. Nowadays, most beet sugar factories also serve as a sugar refinery. Sugar mill, factory and refinery Nowadays there are four major types of sugar producing facilities: Beet Sugar factory: produces raw sugar from sugar beet and refines it. Cane Sugar factory: produces raw sugar from sugar cane and refines it. Sugar mill: produces raw sugar from sugar cane for shipping to a sugar refinery. Sugar refinery: produces refined sugar from raw cane sugar. The beet sugar factory comes in four subtypes: Beet sugar factory: produces raw sugar from beet and refines it (as above). Beet sugar factory: as the previous, but with a molasses-desugaring process Beet sugar factory with raw can sugar refining (there are a few of this type) Raw factory: produces either raw beet sugar or thick juice to be refined elsewhere (Nowadays very few are of this type) The terms sugar mill and sugar refinery are older than the term sugar factory. In the 18th century, the only practical way to produce (raw) sugar was to extract it from sugar cane. The extraction was done with a machine called a sugar mill, which pressed the juice out of the sugar cane. Later, the term sugar mill was also applied to the whole facility that produced raw sugar from sugar cane. Most of the raw sugar was transported to sugar refineries, which converted it to white sugar for consumers and other customers. This use of the terms mill and refinery is still very clear in e.g. the USA. When the first facilities to produce sugar from sugar beets were built, these were mostly called manufactories or just factories, simply because they were buildings were something was manufactured. These first sugar factories were modest affairs driven by animals, wind- or water power. Like the sugar mills, sugar factories sold most of their raw sugar to sugar refineries. In time, most beet sugar factories began to refine their own production. In 2005 all sugar factories in the United States produced only refined sugar, but this was not universal practice. In the tropics, the introduction of the steam engine put an end to the clear definitions of mill, factory and refinery. The creation of large separate steam powered facilities to produce raw sugar