of a neutral phosphate based compound the inventive process takes place in a flotation system after evaporation of the sugar syrup the sugar syrup is passed to the flotation system where the sugar syrup is coagulated or pre coagulated prior to the syrup being passed to the crystallization phase of the white sugar production process after evaporation of the sugar syrup the syrup becomes more concentrated as do the relative level of impurities present therein this syrup is passed along to a flotation device where a coagulant is added in the process of the present invention a flocculating polymer is added to the sugar syrup as well as the neutral phosphate source compound the syrup containing the polymer and neutral phosphate compound is allowed to sit in the flotation device where the impurities in the syrup can be separated from the sugar syrup the clarified syrup is then passed to the next stage for further evaporation for purposes of the present invention the neutral phosphate based compound can be a water soluble phosphate containing compound that will not substantially i e gt 0 5 ph units decrease the ph of the sugar syrup representative neutral phosphate compounds include but are not limited to the halogen salts such as phosphorous trichloride tripolyphosphates pyrophosphates hexametaphosphates and trisodium phosphates any phosphate salt that is water soluble and will not substantially decrease the ph of the sugar syrup is expected to be within the purview of this invention preferably the neutral phosphate based compound is food grade sodium tripolyphosphate such as those commercially available from monsanto as nutriphos 088.