MONITORING CANE QUALITY WITH QUICK AND CHEAP ANALYTICAL INDICATORS ON CANE JUICE

摘要

Sugar factory process efficiency is affected by some non-sugars, like reducing sugars, ash content or some polysaccharides, which influence how sucrose can be recovered as commercial sugar. These non-sugars depend on what is very generally named 'cane quality', which includes different aspects, such as cane maturity, cleanliness (as opposed to trash or to soil), and freshness (as opposed to post-harvest deterioration). Their measurement is often tedious and/or expensive. For several campaigns, pilot-scale and on-site studies have been conducted in Reunion island to find simple analytical indicators related to cane quality. Some potential indicators have been investigated for their correlation with one parameter of cane quality (namely harvest delay, trash content or soil content), their usual variability in 'good' conditions have been tested (for fresh, clean cane of different varieties and places), and the real variability in the industry has been studied, in relation to the performances of both sugar factories in Reunion. In summary, pH seems to be a good indicator of deteriorated cane, turbidity could monitor for soil content, and direct conductivity is well correlated with leaves and tops content. These simple indicators, chosen for their easy measurement in routine laboratories, could be used as incentive criteria for growers' payment, or to optimise the process according to cane quality variation.