Chemistry and microbiology in sugar extraction

The stability of the sucrose molecule and the firmness of the tissue structure in the cossettes are of major concern when optimizing the operating conditions for the extraction system. For a given extraction system the retention time is more or less fixed, but the actual pH values and temperatures to be set across the system largely determine the extent to which both sugar gets lost by hydrolysis and the cossette structure deteriorates, particularly by dissolution of pectin. Furthermore, potential sugar loss by microbial infection in the extraction system needs to be controlled too. The influence of the pH value and temperature on these undesirable chemical and microbial reactions will be outlined in this paper, including the consequences for the subsequent processing steps. It can be concluded that the recommended optimal pH values and temperatures for operating the extraction system are a compromise between good and bad.

Application of beet sugar byproducts improves sugar beet biofortification in saline soils and reduces sugar losses in beet sugar processing

Improving the chemical and physical properties of saline soils is crucial for the sustainable production of sugar beet and efficient processing of beet sugar. Here, the impacts of the application of treated filter cake on sugar beet biofortification under saline soil and sugar losses into molasses during beet sugar processing were evaluated for the first time. The application of treated filter cake significantly reduced K%, Na% and α-amino-N while enhanced sucrose content and quality index of beet root juice. Consequently, sugar loss percentage, sugar loss yield and relative sugar loss yield were reduced, whereas recoverable sugar yield was enhanced. Linear regression analysis revealed that quality index and sugar loss yield were increased, whereas sugar loss percentage and relative sugar loss yield were reduced in response to the reduction of soil Na + content accompanied with increasing Ca 2+ content in the soil increased. The results provide treated filter cake as a promising amendment for saline soils remediation for improving biofortification of sugar beet and reducing sugar losses during beet sugar processing.

Storability as a varietal characteristic of sugar beet? – Results 2016–2018

The storability of sugar beet varieties grown in Germany has not been specified to date. In 2016–2018, nine storage trials were carried out in order to test the storability of 13 current varieties. The beet were stored in climate containers for approximately 480 °Cd. Root mass and the contents of sugar, invert sugar and marc were determined before and after storage. During storage, the sugar content decreased in all varieties while the invert sugar content increased. The observed sugar loss was most significant (about 10% of the amount before storage) in an environment where the syndrome „basses richesses“ had occurred. Differences among varieties were significant in six environments, but not for the mean of the eight trials without diseases. Variety recommendations concerning the storability of sugar beet are thus currently not possible.

A Novel Approach to Minimize Energy Requirements and Maximize Biomass Utilization of the Sugarcane Harvesting System in Sri Lanka

Sugarcane harvesting requires a significant amount of energy and time to manage dry leaves after the harvesting process. Therefore, the objective of this study was to minimize the energy requirement to process the cane and dry leaves’ harvesting (CDLH) for sugarcane while, at the same time, maximizing sugar production from cane and energy from dry leaves in Sri Lanka. The CDLH was conceptualized using a novel approach to optimize sugarcane harvesting to maximize biomass supply for energy production while reducing supply chain sugar-loss. The CDLH was investigated for manual harvesting capacity, energy consumption, sugar loss, and biomass energy potential. It was observed that CDLH consumed higher energy compared to the present practices of harvesting. However, the energy used for fieldwork was reduced because of the shifting of cane chopping and cleaning from the field to the factory. Low bulk density of the harvested cane of the CDLH system had a higher energy requirement in transportation. Comparatively, CDLH showed higher biomass energy potential and less sugar loss. High energy potential increases the energy potential to consumption ratio compared to the existing method. Therefore, the theoretical evaluation showed that the CDLH system can produce more than 20 kg of sugar and 879 MJ of electricity when processing 1 t of sugarcane.

Technological aspects of the beet yard operation

The beet yard operation comprises the handling of sugar beets after they are received on site up to the beet hopper. It is not intended here to present a detailed description of all the individual steps involved, but rather to focus on the main technological objectives of the beet yard operation: sufficient removal of soil from the beets while limiting the associated (unavoidable) sugar loss as much as possible. Parameters considered are: – Washing requirements for beets from heavy (clay) soil versus beets with easy to remove light (sandy) soil; – On site beet storage, as well as dry or wet beet intake; – Sugar losses in different steps of beet washing and impact of retention time; – Residual soil adhering to the beets after washing and HCl-insoluble ash in pulp.

Assessment of Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent Pretreatment on Sugar Production from Lignocellulosic Biomass

Before the conversion of lignocellulosic biomass into fuel such as ethanol, the biomass needs to be pretreated and the yield of ethanol is highly dependent on the pretreatment efficiency. This study investigate the performance of deep eutectic solvent (DES) in pretreating sago waste which is a type of starchy biomass. The suitable type of DES in sago waste pretreatment was selected based on three criteria, which is the structural characteristic, the sugar yield during enzymatic hydrolysis and the amount of sugar loss during pretreatment. In this study, three types of DES namely Choline Chloride-Urea (ChCl-Urea), Choline Chloride-Citric acid (ChCl-CA) and Choline Chloride-Glycerol (ChCl-Glycerol) was investigated. The effect of temperature and duration on DES pretreatment was also investigated. All DES reagents were able to disrupt the structure and increase the porosity of sago waste during pretreatment. ChCl-Urea was selected in this study as it shows apparent structural disruption as examined under Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The highest glucose yield of 5.2 mg/mL was derived from enzymatic hydrolysis of ChCl-Urea pretreated sago waste. Moreover, reducing sugar loss during ChCl-Urea pretreatment was low, with only 0.8 mg/mL recorded. The most suitable temperature and duration for ChCl-Urea pretreatment is at 110°C and 3 hr. In a nutshell, the application of DES in pretreatment is feasible and other aspects such as the biodegradability and recyclability of DES is worth investigating to improve the economic feasibility of this pretreatment technique.

Effects of Stem Length and Storage Duration on Sugar Losses in Sweet Sorghum

Sweet sorghum ( (L.) Moench) is a multi-purpose crop, yielding fuel in the form of ethanol from its stem juice, food in the form of grain, and fodder from its leaves and bagasse. The sugars utilized for bioethanol production are contained in the stalks, in an amount varying between 12% and 25% of the fresh biomass, according to the genotypes and harvesting time. However, these carbohydrates can be easily lost during harvest and post-harvest, because of wrong machinery settings and prolonged periods of exposure of the cut material to the action of fermentative agents. For these reasons, the production of biofuel from sweet sorghum is very sensitive to harvest systems and storage methods, as they can influence remarkably the final energetic yield of the crop. The main objective of the present study was to monitor the time course of dry matter and sugar content in sweet sorghum stem over a long-time storage period. The analysis was carried out by dividing the stems into portions of different length in order to test different storage configuration by varying the stem portion stored to simulate the action of different harvest machines. This work has been designed to take into account a larger storage window respect previous experimentation. The research has provided evidence that sugar loss during the storage is highly influenced by the length of the stem portion, as well as by storage conditions. Total sugar content at harvest was on average 23.2%. The decreasing of sugar content continued during the storage period but at different rate for the different portions. At the end of storage, the sugar content of the whole stem was on average 6.6%, while the smallest portion (1/16 of the whole stem) had an average content of 1.0%. Indications on best storage conditions (storage form, storage location, storage ambient condition), as well as technical details regarding new potential harvesting solutions to decrease the speed rate of sugar loss have been provided. Keywords: Biofuel, Harvesting, Storage, Sugar losses, Sweet sorghum.