Norbert Rillieux

Considered one of the earliest chemical engineers, Norbert Rillieux revolutionized the sugar industry when he invented a refining process, evaporation in multiple effect. This process became the basic of all modern industrial evaporation and is used to produce not only sugar but also soap, gelatin, condensed milk and glue. It also is used in the recovery of waste liquids in factories and distilleries.

Rillieux was born in New Orleans in 1806. His mother Constance Vivant, who had formerly been enslaved, and his father Vincent Rillieux, an engineer and inventor, saw that he took a strong interest in engineering from a young age, so he was sent to France where he could receive a formal education.

At the age of 24, Rillieux became an instructor, teaching applied mechanics at the Ecole Centrale in Paris. By 1830, Rillieux had published several papers on steam engines and steam power, and he subsequently began working on what would become the multistage evaporator.

Rillieux’s idea improved upon a process that was not only expensive, requiring large amounts of fuel to heat multiple kettles, but also extremely dangerous. This labor-intensive process threatened the lives of enslaved people as they were directed to transfer boiling cane juice from one cauldron to another.

To provide a better and safer alternative, Rillieux began by harnessing vapors from boiling sugar cane syrup and passing them through several chambers, in which a series of vacuum pans heat one another in a sequence. While Rillieux’s idea was proven to be highly effective, he was caught between America’s prevailing racism and Europe’s technological conservatism. After weighing his options, he decided to move back to New Orleans in the 1830s – a time which coincided with the sugar boom.

Continuing to build upon his invention over the course of a decade, Rillieux was eventually hired to install his evaporator on Judah Benjamin’s Bellechasse Plantation in 1843. Benjamin became one of Rillieux’s most dedicated supporters, writing in 1846 that the sugar produced with Rillieux’s evaporator technology was superb, equating to that of “the best double-refined sugar of our northern refineries.” In the same year, Rillieux patented his multistage evaporator.

Rillieux's invention made an immediate impact following its commercial release, producing a higher-quality product while using less fuel. These improvements in efficiency catapulted the U.S. into a leading role in global sugar production and helped transform sugar from a luxury item to a common one.

With the success of his work, Rillieux became “the most sought-after engineer in Louisiana,” and he acquired a large fortune. However, as the Civil War loomed and the status of free Black Americans deteriorated in the South, Rillieux moved back to Paris.

While in Paris, Rillieux found that some French engineers had misused his process, making it look ineffective and damaging the reputation he’d built in America. He then chose to move away from process engineering and instead began to focus on archaeology. Nonetheless, Rilliuex did apply his engineering skills once again at the age of 75, when he developed and patented another process. This one cut the cost of processing sugar beets in half.

Remaining in Paris until his death in 1894, Rillieux never received the credit he was due for his multistage evaporation process during his lifetime. However, in 1934, the International Sugar Cane Technologists created a memorial recognizing his revolutionary achievements, and in 2002, the American Chemical Society designated his automated sugar refining invention a National Historic Chemical Landmark.