The Malaysian Journal of Analytical Sciences Vol 12 No 3 (2008): 513 - 519

 

 

MINIMIZATION OF SUCROSE LOSSES IN SUGAR INDUSTRY BY pH

AND TEMPERATURE OPTIMIZATION

 

Kornvalai Panpae¹*, Wasna   Jaturonrusmee¹, Withawat   Mingvanish¹  , Chantana   Nuntiwattanawong², Surapon Chunwiset ²  ,  Kittisak Santudrob¹ 

and Siriphan Triphanpitak¹

 

¹Department  of  Chemistry ,  Faculty of  Science ,  King’s Mongkut’s

University of  Technology Thonburi,  Bangkok 10140,  Thailand

²Chaimongkol  Refined  Sugar  Company,  Limited.(  U-Thong  Factory ),

Supanburi  Province 72160,  Thailand

 

*Corresponding author:  kornvalai.pan@kmutt.ac.th

 

 

Abstract

 

Invert sugar has several disadvantage properties that play an important role in many food applications. It has a high affinity for water and is the cause of making products retain moisture.Invert sugar also affects the caramelization process , producing a browning effect. In this study, the possibility of minimization of sucrose inversion during the industrial production of sugar cane was investigated by the variation of the important parameters, i.e. temperature and pH of sugar cane juice for each of samples. The amounts of sucrose and reducing sugar alerting during the sucrose inversion process were determined by the values of % Pol and % reducing sugar (% RS), respectively. Starting with the study of temperature and pH effects of the sucrose solution with the concentration of 16 Brix, used as a sample model, it was found that no change in amounts of reducing sugar and sucrose was observed at room temperature (34^oC) in the pH range of 5-11.

 

At pH 3, the amounts of reducing sugar increased and the amount of sucrose decreased as the time increased. These indicated that the process of sucrose inversion should better occur in more acidic solutions. Compared to the room temperature, it was found that the increment of temperature led to enhance the process of sucrose inversion. This was depicted by higher values of %RS and lower value of % Pol as the temperatures were elevated. The experiments were also done with real sugar cane juice, i.e. first, last, and mixed juice. The tendency of changes of the amounts of reducing sugar and sucrose in sugar cane samples by varying temperature and pH were found to resemble to those for the sample model. The increment of temperatures have also affected on a reduction of amounts of sucrose in each sugar cane juice. In addition, it could be concluded that the acidity of the solution affects sucrose easier to be broken down to glucose and fructose molecules.

 

Keywords:  Sugar  industry ,  Sugar  cane juice ,  Sucrose inversion ,  Reducing sugar,Inverted  sucrose

 

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