A process for treating an aqueous solution, wherein the aqueous solution comprises dissolved sugar solids in an amount of 10% to 50% by weight based on the weight of the aqueous solution; wherein the dissolved sugar solids contain monosaccharides in an amount of 1% to 99% by weight based on the weight of the dissolved sugar solids; wherein the aqueous solution has ionic conductivity of 100 to 10,000 μS/cm and color content of 100 to 10,000 international color units; wherein the process comprises bringing the aqueous solution into contact with a collection of resin particles, wherein the resin particles comprise one or more vinyl aromatic polymers, and the total weight of polymerized units of all vinyl aromatic monomers is 90% or more by weight of the polymer; wherein the polymer comprises methylene bridge groups between aromatic rings, wherein the methylene bridge groups are present in an amount of 4% or less by weight of methylene bridge groups as a percentage of the weight of the polymer; wherein the polymer comprises amino groups bonded to the resin particles and the total amount of amino groups bonded to the resin particles is 1.2 to 1.6 equivalents per liter of the collection of resin particles, wherein an amino group has the structure -NR 1 R 2, or the structure -N + HR 1 R 2, where the open bond connects directly or indirectly to an atom on the main chain of the polymer; where each of R 1 and R 2 is an unsubstituted alkyl group, and neither R 1 or R 2 is directly or indirectly bonded to an atom in the main chain of the polymer except through the nitrogen atom of the amino group via the open bond shown in the structure above; wherein the polymer has an amount of quaternary ammonium groups of 0.14 to 0.2 equivalents per liter of the collection of resin particles; wherein the resin particles have water retention capacity of 53% to 60% by weight of water based on the weight of the collection of resin particles; and wherein the resin particles have surface area of from 10 m 2 /g to 100 m 2 /g, using the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method using nitrogen gas. wherein the aqueous solution comprises dissolved sugar solids in an amount of 10% to 50% by weight based on the weight of the aqueous solution; wherein the dissolved sugar solids contain monosaccharides in an amount of 1% to 99% by weight based on the weight of the dissolved sugar solids; wherein the aqueous solution has ionic conductivity of 100 to 10,000 μS/cm and color content of 100 to 10,000 international color units; wherein the process comprises bringing the aqueous solution into contact with a collection of resin particles, wherein the resin particles comprise one or more vinyl aromatic polymers, and the total weight of polymerized units of all vinyl aromatic monomers is 90% or more by weight of the polymer; wherein the polymer comprises methylene bridge groups between aromatic rings, wherein the methylene bridge groups are present in an amount of 4% or less by weight of methylene bridge groups as a percentage of the weight of the polymer; wherein the polymer comprises amino groups bonded to the resin particles and the total amount of amino groups bonded to the resin particles is 1.2 to 1.6 equivalents per liter of the collection of resin particles, wherein an amino group has the structure -NR 1 R 2, or the structure -N + HR 1 R 2, where the open bond connects directly or indirectly to an atom on the main chain of the polymer; where each of R 1 and R 2 is an unsubstituted alkyl group, and neither R 1 or R 2 is directly or indirectly bonded to an atom in the main chain of the polymer except through the nitrogen atom of the amino group via the open bond shown in the structure above; wherein the polymer has an amount of quaternary ammonium groups of 0.14 to 0.2 equivalents per liter of the collection of resin particles; wherein the resin particles have water retention capacity of 53% to 60% by weight of water based on the weight of the collection of resin particles; and wherein the resin particles have surface area of from 10 m 2 /g to 100 m 2 /g, using the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method using nitrogen gas.