General Terminology in Sugar Manufacturing Industry

General Terminology in sugar process industry

Sucrose:

Pure chemical compound C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁ known as white sugar, generally measured by polarization in pure solution or by High Performance Liquid Ch romatography (HPLC) and Gas Chromatography (GC) in impure solution. The chemical term is β-D- Fructofuranosyl α –D- glucopyranoside.

Sugar:

Term for the disaccharide sucrose and products of the sugar industry, essentially composed of sucrose.

Polarization (or Pol):

The apparent sucrose content expressed as a mass percent measured by the optical rotation of polarized light passing through a sugar solution. This is accurate only for pure sucrose solutions.

Brix:

Measure of dissolved solids in sugar, juice, liquor or syrup using a refractometer, otherwise referred to as refractometric dry solids. For solutions containing only sugar and water, Brix = % sugar by mass.

Purity:

The true purity is the sucrose content as a percent of the dry substance or dissolved solids content. The solids consist of sugar plus nonsucrose components such as invert, ash, and colorants. Apparent purity is expressed as polarization divided by refractometer Brix multiplied by 100.

Colour (ICUMSA):

Sugar colour is one of the important parameter for not only the quality but also for the market price. International market the colour of the sugar is measured in the solution state and the value of the same is expressed in terms of IU(International Unit). Generally colour measured using the ICUMSA method at 420nm and referred to as ICUMSA(International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis) units or IU.

Ash content:

Solid residue determined gravimetrically after incineration in the presence of oxygen. In analysis of sugar products, sulphuric acid is added to the sample, and this residue as sulphited ash heated to 525 °C is taken to be a measure of the inorganic constituents. Sometimes determined directly by measurement of electrical conductivity of the product solution foe see Conductivity ash. Higher ash in raw sugar will required more quantity of granular adsorbent like chars, activated carbon, and ion exchange resin ete & also capacity of refinery will be lowered.

Conductivity ash:

Estimate of ash content by measurement of the conductivity of the solution.

Invert sugar:

Mixture of approximately equal parts of glucose and fructose (monosaccharides) resulting from the hydrolysis of sucrose (inversion).

Dextran:

Dextran is a water soluble polysaccharide of glucose (dextran) produced by the action of Leuconostoc Mesenteroides on sucrose. It is a long chain polymer of glucose molecules joined together by alpha 1:6 linkages with molecular weight 2000 to 20000. The presence of dextran in harvested cane and subsequent formation in the factory present a potential for significant sucrose loss and processing problems like increased juice viscosity, poor clarification and crystal elongation. High % in dextran in raw sugar will increase the viscosity of affirming and adversely affect filtration rate, Crystallization rate, during clarification and pan boiling rate. This will results in the reducing design capacity of refinery & increase production cost.

Starch:

Starch is long chains of sugar molecules linked together like a chain. It is a polysaccharide. The basic chemical formula of starch is (C₆H₁₀O₅)n, where n is the number of glucose molecules in the chain. High starch in raw sugar will adversely affect the rate of filtration and finally reduces the capacity of refinery.

Moisture:

The percentage of wetness factor in material is called moisture. Excessive moisture in raw sugar will help to carry more micro organisms. A small amount of water may reduce density of protective film of molasses around crystals which will result in faster rate of determination. Higher moisture will also result in caking during the storage.

Raw sugar:

Brown sugar produced in a raw sugar mill generally destined for further processing to white sugar in a refinery.

Reducing sugars:

Generally referred to reducing sugar as invert sugar, determined by measuring reducing substance content by laboratory analysis.

Brown Sugar:

Brown sugar is white sugar combined with molasses or it was prepared by low grade massecuites. In centrifuging process without or little bit apply washing. This sugar appearing light brown colour.

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