Industrial Crops and Products 47 (2013) 1–12

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Industrial Crops and Products

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Sugar cane plant fibres: Separation and characterisation

Lynne Wong Sak Hoi a,b , Bice S. Martincigh a,∗
a
School of Chemistry and Physics, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville Campus, Private Bag X54001, Durban 4000, South Africa
b
Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute, Reduit, Mauritius

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Sugar cane is a potential source of large amounts of natural fibres which has not yet been adequately
Received 2 November 2012 exploited. A simple physical method was devised to separate the fibres and the fines/pith from var-
Received in revised form 9 February 2013 ious locations in the plant to yield nine components. The yield of fibres obtained was greatest from
Accepted 11 February 2013
the leaves. The fibre/pith ratios of four cane varieties investigated indicated good millability. All the
components, except stalk pith, were morphologically similar and FTIR spectroscopy confirmed the ligno-
Keywords:
cellulosic nature of the material. The four components that arise from the cane, namely, rind fibre, rind
Sugar cane
fines, stalk fibre and stalk pith, showed clear trends in the crystallinity index, combustion temperatures,
Fibre
Pith
amount of residue after pyrolysis, percentage carbon content and gross calorific value. The fibres from
Crystallinity the leaves and tops did not exhibit clear trends. The information gleaned from this study can be used to
Value addition select appropriate end-uses for these different fibres.
© 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction According to Van Dillewijn (1952), the structure of cane stalk

Sugar cane is the world’s largest crop and is grown in more than
100 countries (White et al., 2011). Although it is primarily grown
for the production of sugar, current focus on sustainable energy
and sound environmental practices have led to the realisation that
lignocellulosic biomass such as that derived from sugar cane can
form the basis of a biorefinery with a wide range of possible prod-
ucts (Moncada et al., 2012). The recent drop in the worldwide price
of sugar in 2012 has also spurred an increased interest in other uses
of the sugar cane plant.
Because the sugar cane plant is a perennial C4 grass it is a highly
efficient converter of solar radiation into biomass, more so than
wheat or maize. The composition of sugar cane depends very much
on the cane variety, the region and the climatic conditions under
which it is grown, the degree of maturity of the cane, and so on.
Sugar cane is composed mainly of sucrose, fibre and water, usu-
ally in the proportions of about 12%, 15% and 70%, respectively
(Anon., 2007), in Mauritius. The remaining constituents are other
sugars (glucose and fructose), inorganic materials, nitrogenous sub-
stances, gums, waxes and organic acids (Chen and Chou, 1993).
The sugar cane plant can be divided into three parts: roots, stalk
and leaves, the composition of which was reported by Brown and
Blouin (1907) and is shown in Table 1. It can be seen that the main
part of the sugar cane plant from which sugar can be extracted is
the stalk.
∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +27 31 2601394; fax: +27 31 2603091.
E-mail address: martinci@ukzn.ac.za (B.S. Martincigh).
can be roughly divided into two parts: an outer peripheral region
or rind, and an inner soft pith section, which differ mainly in the
relative concentrations of juice-containing cells (parenchyma) and
fibrovascular bundles. The rind has a strong outer cuticle often cov-
ered with a layer of wax, which prevents evaporation of water
from the inner cells and gives them protection against mechanical
injuries and attack by micro-organisms. The term “rind” normally
refers to the relatively thin external layer of the stalk, but it is some-
times also taken as the adjacent layer of dense tissue in which there
is a high concentration of vascular bundles and relatively few juice
cells. By virtue of its high fibre content, this is the strongest portion
of the plant and it gives the stalk much of its characteristic strength
and rigidity.
The juice-containing parenchyma cells are thin-walled and con-
tribute only a small part of the total fibre in the cane. On the other
hand, the vascular bundles contain many small thick-walled cells
which surround the large vessels and sieve tubes. The vessels carry
water from the roots and the sieve tubes conduct sugary juices from
the leaves. High tensile strength in the vascular bundles appears to
impart good milling quality to the cane variety.
After the sugar-containing juice has been extracted from the
cane stalk by either tandem milling or diffusion, the remaining
dry fibre (known as bagasse) is left. It consists mainly of cel-
lulose, hemicellulose and lignin (Paturau, 1989). Cellulose is a
glucopolysaccharide having the general formula (C6 H10 O5 )n and it
is the main constituent of vegetable tissue. It rarely occurs in nature
in the pure state but is generally intimately mixed with lignin,
hemicellulose, gums, tannins, fats, colouring matter, etc. It forms
chains of up to approximately 10,000 glucose units arranged in

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2 L. Wong Sak Hoi, B.S. Martincigh / Industrial Crops and Products 47 (2013) 1–12
Table 1
Composition of different parts of cane (Brown and Blouin, 1907).
Percentage composition Stalks Roots
Water 74.96 68.79
Ash 0.64 1.87
Fats and wax 0.38 0.54
Nitrogenous matter 0.58 1.59
Fibre
Crude cellulose 4.86 9.58
Pentosans 3.04 7.04
Ligneous bodies 2.14 4.25
Sugars, etc. 13.40 6.34
microfibrils held together by hydrogen bonds. These bonds impart
high tensile strength to cellulose and make it insoluble in most
solvents. Hemicellulose is a polysaccharide consisting of a number
of different sugar units, but xylose is the most predominant sugar
present. It is amorphous in nature and has a random structure with
branching in the polymer chains. Lignin is an amorphous, com-
plex phenolic polymer cross-linked to hemicellulose. It provides
mechanical strength for plants, and because of its hydrophobic
nature prevents the absorption of water through the cell walls.
Paturau (1989) identified two important types of fibrous residue
occurring in bagasse: (a) the tough, hard-walled, cylindrical cells of
the rind and vascular tissues (true fibre); and (b) the soft, thin-
walled, irregularly shaped parenchymatous cells of the inner stalk
tissue (pith). The vessel segments, also associated with the vascular
bundles, are often, but not always, considered as a pith fraction.
According to Paturau (1989), the true fibre and the pith have
almost the same chemical composition but their structures differ
widely. The true fibres have a fairly high ratio of length-to-diameter
(approximately 70), and a relatively high coefficient of expansion
and contraction upon wetting and subsequent drying. This results
in close bonding of one fibre with another and accounts for the
strength, cohesiveness and ability to become matted when sub-
jected to pulping processes. The pith cells are of irregular size and
shape, with a length-to-diameter ratio of about 5. They are char-
acterised by their absorption properties. They do not adhere and
so tend to weaken any pulp in which they are incorporated and,
further, prevent its rapid drying. However, they can absorb many
times their mass of liquid.
Currently sugar factories use this bagasse by-product almost
entirely as fuel for their boilers and some countries are using or
investigating the use of bagasse for cogeneration of electricity.
However, in countries like Brazil there is an excess supply and
stock-piling is a problem (Ramajo-Escalera et al., 2006; White et al.,
2011). This bagasse is a very promising feedstock for energy, mate-
rials and chemicals.
Bagasse composition is highly variable. This has been exacer-
bated by the advent of green cane harvesting, because cane supplied
to mills now contains increased amounts of extraneous material.
This extraneous matter includes green and dry (that is, brown,
senescing leaves) cane leaves, cane tops and other non-cane mate-
rial.
There is therefore an increased interest in the fibre component
of sugar cane, that is, both bagasse and sugar cane leaves, and a
need for better knowledge of its chemical and physical properties.
This will assist in determining the end-uses of these fibres. This
work consequently focussed on separating the fibres from the sugar
cane stalk and leaves and characterising these component parts by
elemental analysis, bomb calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared
spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis
(TGA), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and scanning elec-
tron microscopy (SEM). To the best of our knowledge this is the
first time that fibres from all parts of the sugar cane plant have
been separated and characterised.
2. Experimental
Leaves 2.1. Materials
74.38
2.23 The cane samples tested in this work were all grown under
0.69 the same conditions in the North of Mauritius in an area called
1.70 Nouvelle Industrie. Four Mauritian cane varieties: R 579, R 570, M
1557/70 and M 1400/86, each aged 52, 44 and 36 weeks were cho-
9.18
5.49 sen. The samples used for fibre extraction consisted of four cane
4.13 stalks including cane tops each from each of three replicates with
2.21 all their attached dry and green leaves. The materials were removed
“randomly” from the experimental rows of maturity testing trials
established by the Plant Physiology Department of the Mauritius
Sugar Industry Research Institute (MSIRI).
2.2. Equipment for fibre extraction
A heavy duty universal model 264 Jeffco cutter-grinder with
a 7500 W, three-phase motor, was used to pre-treat peeled cane
stalk, rind, dry leaves and green leaves prior to fibre extraction in
a Jeffco wet disintegrator. The Jeffco wet disintegrator used was a
Model 292 with a water-jacketed 7 L-bowl and a standard 50 Hz
AC motor of 2250 W, three phase, 2880 rpm and 415 V. The bowl
unit could be easily lowered or raised for sample disintegration
and tilted for sample unloading. Up to four blades could be fitted at
right angles to each other on the central vertical spindle which can
be rotated at high speed to disintegrate the cane sample. A Pinette
Emidecau press was used to press out liquid from fibre cake pre-
pared from sugar cane components. A Schmidt and Haensch DUR
W2 sugar refractometer was used to measure the refractive index
of the washings and the results were displayed as dissolved solids
(g) in 100 g solution (Brix). The Brix readings of the washings from
the fibre cake were required to ensure no residual Brix remained
in the extracted fibre. A selection of three sieves with openings of
2 mm, 1.18 mm and 38 ␮m was assembled on top of each other.
The top two sieves served to retain the fibre and the bottom sieve
of 38 ␮m, the pith. Because of the large number of samples required
to be dried in this study, a large capacity industrial oven equipped
with a thermostat was used.
2.3. Method of fibre extraction from the sugar cane plant
When the three replicates (each consisting of four stalks) of
the four varieties aged 52 weeks were delivered at the laboratory,
for each sample, the number of dry leaves and green leaves were
noted, separated from the stalks and weighed. The cane tops (that
is, the growing point region or the immature apical internodes),
after being detached from the stalks at the point where they nat-
urally broke off from the stalks, were weighed. All the nodes were
removed, weighed and discarded (this was done because the nodes
could not be separated into homogeneous fibres and proved diffi-
cult to disintegrate). The rind was peeled off longitudinally from
the stalk. The masses of the rind and peeled stalk were determined.
The extraction of fibres starting first with the tops, followed by
green leaves, peeled stalk, rind and dry leaves, could be completed
within one week. All the samples were separated into fibre and
pith/fines, dried and sealed in plastic bags pending dry sieving at a
later stage.
The optimum conditions for fibre extraction from the various
components of the sugar cane plant depend on the type of sample
processed; the sample mass used and the disintegrating time vary,
as detailed in the following section.
2.3.1. Cane stalk
The peeled cane stalks were cut longitudinally into thin sticks
(about 6–8 pieces depending on the diameter of the stalk), and put
 L. Wong Sak Hoi, B.S. Martincigh / Industrial Crops and Products 47 (2013) 1–12 3

through a Jeffco cutter-grinder. About 500 g of the sample was then

placed in a Jeffco wet disintegrator, followed by 4 dm3 of water. The
disintegrator was operated at 8000 rpm for 30 s. The fibres were
then inspected to see whether they were well separated and soft;
if not, the disintegration was continued until good separation was
obtained. After all the cutter-ground stalks had been processed in
this manner, the resulting fibres and pith were washed free from
gummy matter and rinsed under tap water, using a 38 ␮m sieve to
catch the sample. Retting of the sample was then effected overnight
in a bucket of water. After which, the sample was washed free from
sucrose and tested for residual Brix. The Brix readings of the wash-
ings were required to be less than 0.01 when 150 cm3 of distilled
water was added to 16 g of the moist pressed fibre-cake sample.
To separate pith from fibre, a sieve assembly was mounted with
a 2 mm, 1.18 mm and 38 ␮m sieve in order on top of each other. A
handful of fibre and pith mixture was put onto the top sieve, and
running tap water was used to wash the pith into the bottom sieve.
Separation of pith from the fibre in the sample was thus effected.
The separated fibre was hand-pressed and placed in a metal tray
for drying in an oven at 65 ◦ C to constant mass. The separated pith
was also dried in the same way.
The dried fibre samples sometimes still contained some pith,
and dry sieving by using a 1.18 mm sieve mounted on top of a
receiver was used to ensure complete separation.

2.3.2. Rind, dry leaves and green leaves

These samples were treated in the same way as cane stalk. Pre-
treatment in a Jeffco cutter-grinder was necessary. In the case of
rind, dry leaves and green leaves, sample masses of 300, 100 and
300 g were treated in the Jeffco wet disintegrator for disintegration
times of 75, 60 and 30 s, respectively.

2.3.3. Cane tops

After the cane tops were detached from the stalks at the point
where they naturally broke off the stalks, they were cut into 10 cm
lengths and into thin strips lengthwise; pre-treatment in a Jeffco
cutter-grinder was therefore not necessary. The top sample was
then treated as for the cane stalk; a sample mass of 400 g was
disintegrated for 60 s in the Jeffco wet disintegrator.
The three replicates (four stalks each) of the four varieties aged
44 weeks were treated in the same manner the following week, and
those aged 36 weeks the week thereafter.
Some relevant fibre extraction processes from the sugar cane
plant are illustrated in Fig. 1.

2.4. Characterisation of the sugar cane component parts

The fibres extracted were investigated by elemental analysis,

bomb calorimetry, FTIR, attenuated total reflectance spectroscopy
(ATR), X-ray diffraction, TGA, DSC and SEM, in order to observe any
structural and morphological differences.

2.4.1. Elemental analysis

The elemental analysis of the nine components of R 570 of 52
weeks age was performed on a ThermoScientific Flash 2000 instru-
ment. Prior to analysis the fibres were dried to ensure the absence
of any residual moisture. This was done by first drying the fibres for
2 h in an air-oven at 65 ◦ C, followed by 16 h overnight in a vacuum
oven at 65 ◦ C and 900 mbar.
2.4.2. Bomb calorimetry
The gross calorific value of the extracted fibres was measured
with a Parr model 1241 adiabatic oxygen bomb calorimeter. Sam-
ples of the four cane varieties R 579, R 570, M 1557/70 and M
1400/86 (52 weeks old) were analysed. The nodes were rejected
and the combined rind fibre and fines, as well as stalk fibre, stalk
Fig. 1. Fibre extraction process from sugar cane stalks and leaves. (a) Removal of
cane nodes. (b) Removal of green leaves. (c) Green leaf sample before and after
cutter-grinding. (d) Washing of green leaf sample after cutter-grinding and retting.
(e) Green leaf cake washed free from Brix (top) and three fractions after wet-sieving.
(f) Dry leaf sample before and after cutter-grinding. (g) Dry leaf cake washed free
from Brix (top) and three fractions after wet-sieving. (h) Cane top sample cut into
10-cm lengths and then in thin strips before being treated in a wet disintegrator.
(i) Cane stalk with rind (top), with rind removed and cut into thin sticks (left) and
rind (right). (j) Stalk sample before and after cutter-grinding. (k) Stalk cake washed
free from Brix (top) and three fractions after wet-sieving. (l) Rind sample before and
after cutter-grinding. (m) Rind cake washed free from Brix (top) and three fractions
after wet-sieving.
4 L. Wong Sak Hoi, B.S. Martincigh / Industrial Crops and Products 47 (2013) 1–12
pith and dry leaf, were examined. The fibres were dried at 105 ◦ C
for 3 h before analysis. Each sample, when required, was removed
from the oven, pressed into a pellet and burnt in the adiabatic
oxygen bomb calorimeter. Benzoic acid was used to calibrate the
calorimeter.
2.4.3. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy
For the infrared technique, samples of stalk fibre and pith of the
four different cane varieties aged 36, 44 and 52 weeks, and the fibres
extracted from the top, rind, dry leaf and green leaf of the same four
cane varieties aged 52 weeks, were examined. The measurements
were performed on a Nicolet FTIR spectrophotometer. The samples
were dried and pressed with KBr into discs for analysis. Additional
measurements were made on the nine cane component parts of R
570 aged 52 weeks with a Perkin Elmer Spectrum 100 Universal
ATR spectrometer. This instrument has a diamond crystal.
2.4.4. X-ray diffraction
The cellulose crystallinity of the material from R 570 aged 52
weeks was determined by X-ray diffraction. X-ray data were col-
lected with a Rigaku Miniflex 600 diffractometer with Ni-filtered
Cu-K␣ radiation. Samples were scanned from 2 of 10◦ to 30◦ with
a step size of 0.02◦ . The crystallinity index (CI) was calculated by
the Segal et al. (1959) method where
I0 0 2 − Iam
CI = × 100
I0 0 2
Here I0 0 2 is the diffraction intensity of the peak at about 22.5◦ and
Iam is the intensity of the baseline at about 18◦ .
2.4.5. Thermal analysis
The thermogravimetric experiments were performed on a TA
Q600 instrument. Approximately 10 mg of sample was heated from
ambient temperature to 700 ◦ C at a heating rate of 10 ◦ C/min, under
a nitrogen flow of 50 mL/min. DSC was performed on a Shimadzu
DSC-60 using about 5 mg sample in an aluminium pan heated from
room temperature to 600 ◦ C at a rate of 10 ◦ C/min. Fibres of the nine
cane component parts extracted from the R 570 sugar cane plant
aged 52 weeks were examined.
2.4.6. Scanning electron microscopy
For the scanning electron microscopy, samples were mounted
on an aluminium stub by using double-sided carbon tape, the spec-
imens were then sputter-coated with gold in a Polaron coating
unit, and viewed in a Leo 1450 scanning electron microscope at
10 kV. Fibres derived from cane variety R 570 aged 52 weeks were
examined.
2.5. Statistical analyses
The software used for the statistical analyses was the widely
used free statistical computing environment R (R Development
Core Team, 2011). In particular, the routines aov and pairwise.t.test
were used to perform analyses of variance and pairwise compar-
isons, the latter with level 0.01 and method = BH, i.e. with the
Benjamini–Hochberg adjustment for multiple testing. In all cases
variety has four levels (R 579, R 570, M 1557/70 and M 1400/86)
and age has three (36, 44 and 52 weeks).
3. Results and discussion
The greatest percentage of fibre extracted was from the dry
leaves, followed by green leaves, tops and cane stalks (rind, pith
and fibre). This is in keeping with the composition of these plant
parts as indicated in Table 1, where fibres form 18% of the leaves
and 10% of the stalk.
3.1. Dry mass % cane extracted from sugar cane component parts
The dry mass % cane extracted as rind, stalk fibre and stalk pith
was calculated and the average results for the samples of the three
ages are presented in Table 2. Since the nodes had been excluded
from fibre extraction, the mass of cane was taken to be the mass
of stalk plus rind only. In the analysis of variance, the three fac-
tors considered were variety, age and part of plant (three levels:
rind, stalk fibre and stalk pith). Variety (p = 0.017) and part of plant
(p < 0.001) are significant, but not age. In pairwise comparisons, all
pairwise differences between parts of the plant are significant. The
means are: 1.341 (stalk fibre), 2.018 (stalk pith) and 4.982 (rind).
Thus, the lowest dry mass extracted was from the hard fibre of
the stalk, followed by stalk pith and rind. In the case of rind the
percentage fibre extracted decreased with age for all the varieties.
On the other hand, for stalk fibre this percentage increased with
age (except for R 570). There are no significant pairwise differences
between varieties, the means of which are: 2.381 (R 579), 2.816 (M
1400/86), 2.955 (M 1557/70) and 2.969 (R 570).
3.2. Fibre/pith ratios in cane component parts and in cane
Bernhardt (1998), in characterising the particle properties of
bagasse, suggested that it was not only the mean fibre length
obtained by sieving with an assembly of sieves of differing aper-
tures that was important; it was also important to determine the
“coarse-to-fine” ratio of bagasse. This ratio he defined as the mass of
particles retained by the sieves with apertures of 2 mm and higher,
divided by the mass of particles that pass through the 0.85 mm
sieve.
In this work it was found much simpler to separate the fibres
into two fractions, namely, one that is retained by a 1.18 mm sieve
and one that passes through it. The former is referred to as fibre and
the latter as fines in the case of dry leaf, green leaf, top and rind,
and as pith in the case of stalk.
Results of the fibre/fines ratios of dry leaf, green leaf, top, rind
and stalk in the four cane varieties at three ages are given in Table 3.
In the analysis of variance, the factors are variety, age and part of
plant (five levels: dry leaf, green leaf, top, rind and stalk). Part of
plant and age are significant (p < 0.001), but not variety. The means
by part of plant show only one non-significant difference (dry leaf
and rind). They are as follows, with means having a superscript
in common not being significantly different: 0.571a (stalk), 1.402b
(dry leaf), 1.784b (rind), 2.360c (green leaf) and 3.890d (top). Thus it
can be seen that, irrespective of the cane variety and age, stalk has
the lowest fibre/pith value, followed by dry leaf, rind, green leaf and
top. There were no significant pairwise differences between ages,
the means of which are: 1.664 (36 weeks), 2.001 (44 weeks) and
2.339 (52 weeks).
By combining the mass of fibre or pith in both rind and stalk, and
expressing the hard fibre, pith and total fibre as % cane, some mean-
ingful results, including the fibre/pith ratio in cane, were obtained
and are presented in Table 4 for the four cane varieties of three ages.
The changes in these parameters due to the presence of extraneous
matter, namely dry leaf, green leaf and tops were also calculated
and appear in Table 4. This was done because, as was mentioned
earlier, cane stalks are commonly delivered with extraneous mat-
ter to the mills. Again, since the nodes had been excluded from the
fibre extraction, the mass of cane was taken to be the mass of stalk
plus rind only. For all varieties and ages, green leaves appear to
affect the fibre/pith ratio the most as indicated by the statistical
analysis.
In the analysis of variance of the fibre/pith ratio, the factors are
variety, age and type of extraneous matter (four levels: none, dry
leaf, green leaf and tops). Variety and type of extraneous matter are
significant (p < 0.001), but not age. For pairwise comparisons the
 L. Wong Sak Hoi, B.S. Martincigh / Industrial Crops and Products 47 (2013) 1–12 5

Table 2
Average dry mass % cane extracted from sugar cane components of four cane varieties and three ages.

Age (weeks) 52 44 36

Sample Rind Stalk fibre Stalk pith Rind Stalk fibre Stalk pith Rind Stalk fibre Stalk pith

R 579 3.60 1.69 1.92 3.80 1.29 2.04 4.13 1.22 1.74
R 570 4.28 1.36 1.73 5.89 1.60 1.92 6.65 1.17 2.11
M 1557/70 4.94 1.62 2.08 5.72 1.34 2.13 5.97 0.92 1.87
M 1400/86 4.80 1.50 2.24 4.98 1.34 2.38 5.02 1.03 2.05

Table 3
Average fibre/fines ratio in cane components of four cane varieties and three ages.

Age (weeks) 52 44 36

Sample Dry leaf Green leaf Top Rind Stalk Dry leaf Green leaf Top Rind Stalk Dry leaf Green leaf Top Rind Stalk

R 579 1.38 2.08 5.43 2.18 0.63 1.13 2.46 3.57 1.91 0.63 1.42 2.47 2.25 2.23 0.55
R 570 1.40 2.08 6.34 1.55 0.69 1.16 2.42 3.35 2.04 0.66 1.72 2.36 2.37 1.53 0.55
M 1557/70 1.31 2.38 5.90 1.91 0.64 0.89 2.30 2.56 1.74 0.55 2.14 2.38 2.31 1.70 0.45
M 1400/86 1.34 2.64 6.90 1.65 0.55 1.04 2.31 3.04 1.39 0.52 1.91 2.44 2.66 1.57 0.45

means by variety are as follows, with means having a superscript
in common not being significantly different: 1.150a (M 1400/86),
1.276ab (M 1557/70), 1.290b (R 570) and 1.303b (R 579). The means
by extraneous matter type are: 1.112a (none), 1.198a (dry leaf),
1.277a (tops) and 1.432b (green leaf).
3.2.1. Effect of cane age on fibre and pith contents of cane
As the cane matures, the hard fibre % cane is expected to
increase, as is the total fibre % cane.
Moodley (1991) tested two cane varieties aged 6 months and
19 months. With one variety, the fibre/pith ratio did not vary to a
large extent; it was 2.22 and 2.27 for the 6-month and 19-month
samples respectively, whereas for the other, it was 2.94 and 3.45
respectively.
Snow (1974) investigated the seasonal variations in the ratio of
hard fibre to pith within a cane variety at regular monthly intervals
for 7–12-month old cane. Young or immature cane had more pith
than hard fibre with a fibre/pith ratio of about 0.58 at 7 months. As
the cane reached maturity (9 months) more hard fibre was present
in the stalks giving approximately equal amounts of hard fibre and
pith. This fibre/pith ratio of approximately one remained constant
for the duration of the season.
From Table 4 for the four cane varieties, the pith % cane increases
in all cases (except R 570) as the cane matures from 36 to 44 weeks,
but decreases from 36 to 52 weeks. However, there is no indication
of an increase of hard fibre % cane with age in any of the four cane
varieties. In fact, the value found for the total fibre % cane was on
the low side. This can be attributed to the fact that the samples
examined had had the nodes eliminated, and some probably had
some stalk and rind removed in the process as in the case of cane
aged 52 weeks. However, R 570, M 1557/70 and M 1400/86 did
show an increase in hard fibre % cane from 36 weeks to 44 weeks.
In spite of this shortcoming, the fibre/pith value in cane calculated
can still be considered as reliable since both Moodley (1991) and
Snow (1974) had found that fibre/pith ratio remained more or less
constant.

Table 4
Average effect of extraneous matter on fibre/pith ratio in four cane varieties and three ages.

R 579 R 570 M 1557/70 M 1400/86

Age (weeks) 52 44 36 52 44 36 52 44 36 52 44 36

Initial
Mass of cane/g 4740 4540 2827 4020 4487 4020 5087 3897 2747 4653 4397 3340
Hard fibre % cane 3.80 4.04 4.14 3.68 5.71 5.51 4.46 5.09 4.89 4.24 4.39 4.31
Pith % cane 3.18 3.60 3.46 3.51 4.42 5.10 3.77 4.62 4.41 4.03 4.78 4.44
Total fibre % cane 6.98 7.64 7.61 7.19 10.13 10.61 8.22 9.71 9.30 8.27 9.17 8.75
Fibre/pith ratio 1.21 1.12 1.20 1.08 1.30 1.08 1.20 1.11 1.11 1.06 0.92 0.97
Dry leaf
Mass added/g 207 583 253 253 533 323 230 553 193 287 547 290
% gross cane 4.49 11.80 8.08 6.09 10.60 7.67 4.43 12.45 6.55 5.75 10.99 8.23
Hard fibre % cane 5.34 6.11 6.76 5.58 7.41 8.36 5.73 6.41 7.26 6.04 6.30 7.57
Pith % cane 4.24 5.41 5.24 4.78 5.96 6.63 4.71 6.26 5.38 5.28 6.52 5.99
Total fibre % cane 9.59 11.52 12.00 10.36 13.37 14.98 10.44 12.67 12.64 11.33 12.83 13.55
Fibre/pith ratio 1.27 1.13 1.29 1.18 1.25 1.26 1.22 1.02 1.35 1.15 0.97 1.27
Green leaf
Mass added/g 720 880 583 840 897 1010 980 853 757 663 800 777
% gross cane 13.86 16.85 17.12 17.47 16.97 20.81 17.51 18.10 21.51 12.04 15.43 19.07
Hard fibre % cane 5.48 5.87 6.23 5.76 7.38 8.18 6.67 6.97 7.39 5.92 6.36 7.06
Pith % cane 3.81 4.03 4.01 4.24 4.78 5.67 4.39 5.00 4.97 4.40 5.18 5.07
Total fibre % cane 9.28 9.90 10.24 10.00 12.16 13.85 11.06 11.96 12.36 10.32 11.54 12.13
Fibre/pith ratio 1.45 1.45 1.55 1.37 1.56 1.44 1.53 1.40 1.49 1.34 1.23 1.40
Tops
Mass added/g 603 450 300 680 570 413 660 433 370 460 527 387
% gross cane 12.27 9.47 9.57 14.78 11.60 9.76 12.61 10.10 11.90 9.23 10.70 10.45
Hard fibre % cane 4.01 4.45 4.77 4.00 6.18 6.22 4.97 5.45 5.66 4.84 5.03 5.22
Pith % cane 2.91 3.48 3.65 3.10 4.25 5.28 3.48 4.49 4.62 3.80 4.63 4.64
Total fibre % cane 6.92 7.93 8.42 7.09 10.43 11.50 8.45 9.94 10.28 8.64 9.66 9.86
Fibre/pith ratio 1.39 1.28 1.30 1.32 1.46 1.18 1.46 1.22 1.23 1.28 1.09 1.13
6 L. Wong Sak Hoi, B.S. Martincigh / Industrial Crops and Products 47 (2013) 1–12

Table 5
Elemental analysis of fibres from sugar cane plant.

Component C H O Sum General formula Cx Hy Oz Relative ratio

(C + H + O) x y z C/Sum H/Sum O/Sum

Stalk fibre 46.080 5.691 46.125 97.896 1.000 1.472 0.751 0.471 0.058 0.471
Stalk pith 44.388 5.880 48.328 98.596 1.000 1.579 0.817 0.453 0.060 0.494
Rind fibre 46.774 5.857 45.689 98.320 1.000 1.492 0.733 0.478 0.060 0.467
Rind fines 46.474 5.925 45.399 97.798 1.000 1.519 0.733 0.475 0.061 0.464
Top fibre 41.498 5.005 46.729 93.232 1.000 1.437 0.845 0.424 0.051 0.477
Green leaf fibre 39.115 2.973 45.049 87.137 1.000 0.906 0.865 0.400 0.030 0.460
Green leaf fines 37.391 1.865 45.173 84.429 1.000 0.594 0.907 0.382 0.019 0.461
Dry leaf fibre 45.202 5.788 47.350 98.340 1.000 1.526 0.786 0.462 0.059 0.484
Dry leaf fines 44.631 5.114 44.766 94.511 1.000 1.365 0.753 0.456 0.052 0.457
Cellulose 44.46 6.17 49.37 (C6 H10 O5 )n
Pentosan (xylan) 45.47 6.06 48.47 (C5 H8 O4 )n
Lignin 64.80 6.34 28.86 C9 H8.83 O2.37 (OCH)0.96
Sugar cane bagassea 45.50 5.60 45.20
a
Bilba et al. (2007).

3.2.2. Effect of cane variety on fibre/pith ratio in cane
From Table 4, for the mature cane aged 52 weeks, the fibre/pith
ratios of R 570 and M 1400/86 were close to the expected value
of one with values of 1.08 and 1.06 respectively, whereas those
of R 579 and M 1557/70 were high, at about 1.20. According to
Snow (1974), cane with a high ratio of hard fibre to pith, e.g. 1.52,
causes problems in milling due to the toughness of the stalks entail-
ing excessive maintenance of the equipment due to stress and mill
chokes induced by bagasse jamming in the radial and juice grooves.
On the other hand, cane varieties with more pith than hard fibre,
with a fibre/pith ratio of about 0.6, cause an overall slowdown in
mill operations manifested in occasional reduced grinding rates
due to the soft “mushy” consistency of the macerated material
leading to mill roll slippage or chokes, and high residual mois-
ture content of the bagasse. Varieties with approximately equal
amounts of hard fibre and pith proved to be the best milling vari-
eties. Hence the varieties investigated here should be considered
good milling varieties if judged on their fibre/pith ratios.
Snow (1974) tested eight cane varieties of 11-month maturity,
where the fibre/pith ratio varied from 0.66 to 1.52 and fibre % cane
(presumably total fibre % cane) ranged from 9.0 to 12.2. Moodley
(1991) tested four different varieties of cane aged 19 months and
found that although the fibre/pith ratio did vary from 2.00 to 2.86,
there was not much difference in pith % cane, but that the hard fibre
% cane did vary over a wide range from 8.85 to 12.86.
In this study, with the four cane varieties aged 52 weeks,
fibre/pith ratio in cane ranged from 1.06 to 1.21, in agreement with
values found by Snow (1974). Hard fibre % cane varied from 3.68 to
4.46, pith % cane from 3.18 to 4.03, and total fibre % cane from 6.98
to 8.27. As mentioned earlier, the total fibre % cane values appear
to be low, as do those of hard fibre % cane.
3.2.3. Effect of extraneous matter on fibre/pith ratio in cane
From the data in Table 4 it can also be seen that all the extrane-
ous matter (dry leaves, green leaves and tops) added to clean cane
increases the fibre/pith ratio (except dry leaf when added to 44
week old cane) and hard fibre % cane. Dry and green leaves, in addi-
tion, increase pith % cane and total fibre in cane but not cane tops.
These results are consistent with the adverse effects of extraneous
matter reported by Wong Sak Hoi and Martincigh (2012).
The elemental composition of the fibres is shown in Table 5.
In addition, the relative ratios calculated as (element amount/sum
amount) and general formulae are given to facilitate comparisons.
The elemental composition and general formulae for the main com-
ponents of the fibres, namely, cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin,
are given after Ouensanga (1989). Rind fibres and rind fines showed
the highest carbon content. This reflects the higher lignin content
of the rind since lignin imparts mechanical strength to these outer
fibres of the cane stalk. Green leaf fibre and fines exhibited the
lowest carbon and hydrogen content. Since this is the growing part
of the plant, it is likely that this part contains more nitrogen (not
measured) and hence these lower amounts. The composition of the
stalk fibres agreed very well with that reported by Bilba et al. (2007)
for sugar cane bagasse. Stalk pith contained less carbon than stalk
fibres. In the case of the other locations, the fines fraction also con-
tained marginally less carbon but this was within the experimental
error margin so is not conclusive. The relative ratios (C/Sum) and
(H/Sum) were smaller for top fibre and green leaf fibre and fines,
whereas for the other components they were similar. The ratio
(O/Sum) was virtually constant irrespective of the location of the
fibre. Ouensanga (1989) observed that between the bottom and the
top of the sugar cane stalk there was a decrease in lignin and pen-
tosan content, whereas the cellulose content increased up to the
middle of the stalk and then decreased up to the top.
Since sugar cane bagasse is widely used as an energy source it
was of interest to determine the amount of energy provided by the
various components of the plant. The results of the determination
of the gross calorific value (GCV) of the various cane components
are listed in Table 6. THE GCV is the amount of heat released from
a specific quantity of material after it is burnt and the products are
cooled back to the pre-combustion temperature. In the analysis of
variance the factors are variety and part of plant (four levels: rind,
stalk fibre, stalk pith and dry leaf). Both variety and part of plant are
significant (p < 0.001). Pairwise comparisons between parts of plant
show only one non-significant difference (stalk fibre and rind). The
means by part of plant are as follows: 17,512a (stalk pith), 18,268b
(dry leaf), 19,041c (stalk fibre) and 19,443c (rind). Thus, the rind
has the highest gross calorific value, followed by stalk fibre and dry
Table 6
Gross calorific value of sugar cane components.

Sample Gross calorific value of dried sample/kJ kg−1

3.3. Characterisation of sugar cane component parts
Rind Stalk fibre Stalk pith Dry leaf
A number of techniques were employed to characterise the com- R 579 19,241 19,411 17,927 18,211
ponents separated from the sugar cane plant. These were elemental R 570 19,885 19,302 17,318 19,085
analysis, bomb calorimetry, FTIR, X-ray diffraction, TGA, DSC and M 1557/70 19,203 18,978 17,086 17,734
M 1400/86 19,444 18,472 17,716 18,042
SEM.
Table 7
Peak wavenumbers (in cm−1 ) of the main IR absorption bands and their interpretation including values of crystallinity indices for the nine fibre components of R 570 aged 52 weeks.

Stalk fibre Stalk Rind Rind Top Green leaf Green leaf Dry leaf Dry leaf Cellulose Hemicellulose Lignin Assignmenta
pith fibre fines fibre fibre fines fibre fines

L. Wong Sak Hoi, B.S. Martincigh / Industrial Crops and Products 47 (2013) 1–12
3334.45 3332.24 3330.49 3335.49 3326.78 3325.78 3329.25 3318.87 3323.3 X O H stretching vibration
2898.77 2895.05 2894.40 2900.06 2917.55 2918.82 2919.29 2918.50 2917.70 X C H stretching vibration
2851.49 2850.81 2850.71 X CH2 symmetric stretching vibration
1727.51 1726.89 1728.52 1727.75 1730.73 1730.75 1729.87 1731.06 1727.89 X X C O stretching vibration
1632.85 1634.03 1631.60 1633.20 1635.62 1633.13 1633.88 1625.03 1632.5 X H O H bending of adsorbed water
1602.82 1604.49 1603.26 1603.90 1604.51 1604.56 1603.57 X C C stretching of aromatic ring
1514.21 1514.83 1509.39 1511.61 1513.59 1513.87 1513.90 1515.22 1511.21 X C C stretching of aromatic ring
1456.59 1455.89 1462.38 1455.89 X X C H bending
1424.76 1427.02 1424.71 1424.93 1427.07 1427.06 1427.45 1428.99 1423.51 X C H bending
1370.93 1370.63 1368.33 1369.35 1370.15 1368.44 1370.07 1367.83 1369.17 X C H bending
1321.82 1319.22 1321.48 1320.85 1317.88 1316.72 1318.08 1317.70 1318.32 X C H bending
1242.93 1245.77 1242.29 1242.49 1244.98 1244.54 1244.74 1239.78 1245.62 X C O C stretching of ether linkage
1159.63 1159.92 1159.59 1160.55 1157.90 1161.51 1160.58 1160.52 1159.74 X C O C, C OH stretching
1102.88
1033.15 1032.50 1029.2 1033.67 1028.97 1032.78 1034.53 1034.65 1031.05 X C OH stretching
897.68 897.97 897.06 897.74 897.79 897.19 897.58 897.03 897.54 X X ␤-Glycosidic linkages of glucose ring in
cellulose
833.05 833.76 833.53 833.35 831.28 833.86 833.49 833.28 831.75 X
718.86
663.66 663.53 661.70 663.23 663.74 Out of plane bending vibration of
intermolecular H-bonded O H groups
and out-of-plane O H bending
560.49 561.68 554.36 558.23 563.76 546.65 558.51 557.27 563.64 Torsional vibration of pyranose ring
523.96 523.12 527.88
460.88
0.7680 0.6863 0.7390 0.8130 0.4267 0.1995 0.7219 0.1818 0.5309 Total crystallinity index (TCI)
0.6111 0.4398 0.8542 0.7178 0.4430 0.2264 0.3706 0.2021 0.4361 Lateral order index (LOI)
50.32 45.62 68.68 55.31 50.91 51.42 46.32 51.91 46.54 Crystallinity index as determined by X-ray diffraction
a
Bilba and Ouensanga (1996), Cherian et al. (2008), Garside and Wyeth (2003), Morán et al. (2008), Mwaikambo and Ansell (2002) and Viera et al. (2007).

7
8 L. Wong Sak Hoi, B.S. Martincigh / Industrial Crops and Products 47 (2013) 1–12
leaf. Stalk pith has the lowest value. This trend is in keeping with the
carbon content of the components. Pairwise comparisons between
varieties show no significant differences. The means are: 18,250 (M
1557/70), 18,418 (M 1400/86), 18,697 (R 579) and 18,897 (R 570).
The stalk fibres of R 579 and R 570 have higher values than those
of the other two cane varieties. The GCV values obtained here for
dried rind and stalk fibres are close to the value of 19.25 MJ kg−1
reported by Hugot (1986) for dry bagasse.
The sugar cane fibre samples from the various component parts
were analysed by FTIR and ATR–FTIR in order to confirm the
presence of the main chemical constituents. The resulting spectra
contained essentially the same bands that are typical of ligno-
cellulosic fibres. For all samples the strongest peaks occurred at
approximately 3327 and 1032 cm−1 . These arise from O H and
C OH stretching vibrations, respectively. The fibres arising from
the cane, namely stalk and rind, showed one absorption peak at
approximately 2900 cm−1 . Those fibres arising from the leaves and
tops, however, showed a doublet in this region (at approximately
Fig. 2. ATR–FTIR spectra of the nine components of R 570 aged 52 weeks: (a) stalk fibre, (b) stalk pith, (c) rind fibre, (d) rind fines, (e) top fibre, (f) green leaf fibre, (g) green
leaf fines, (h) dry leaf fibre, (i) dry leaf fines.
2918 and 2850 cm−1 ). This doublet is characteristic of the spectrum
of hemicellulose (Fan et al., 2012). All the infrared absorbance peaks
for the components are listed in Table 7, along with their corre-
sponding assignments as found in the literature and whether they
arise from the cellulose, hemicellulose or lignin component. The
ATR–FTIR spectra for the components of R 570 aged 52 weeks are
shown in Fig. 2.
Cellulose crystallinity in the fibres is an important parameter
since it affects the thermal stability and the mechanical properties
of the fibres. It was assessed by both FTIR spectroscopy and X-ray
diffraction. It must be borne in mind that these crystallinity values
are relative measures and not absolute values.
The relative crystallinity of the fibres was assessed by calcu-
lating the FTIR indices proposed by Nelson and O’Connor (1964).
They established the absorption band at 1430 cm−1 as typical of
crystalline regions, and that at 900 cm−1 as typical of amorphous
regions in the polymer (O’Connor et al., 1958). The ratio of the inten-
sities of these two bands is termed the “lateral order index” (LOI).
 L. Wong Sak Hoi, B.S. Martincigh / Industrial Crops and Products 47 (2013) 1–12
Later they arrived at another crystalline index from the ratio of the
bands at 1372 and 2900 cm−1 called the “total crystallinity index”
(TCI) (Nelson and O’Connor, 1964). From the values listed in Table 7
it is apparent that the fibres from the rind are the most crystalline
followed by stalk fibres. Those fibres derived from the leaves are
the least crystalline since they contain more amorphous polymers.
Hemicelluloses and lignin are amorphous polymers, whereas cel-
lulose contains crystalline and amorphous regions. In sugar cane,
cellulose I is the predominant polymorph of cellulose, hence the
LOI is an indication of the amount of cellulose I in the fibres (Oh
et al., 2005). A knowledge of the degree of crystallinity of the fibres
is important since this controls the degree of reactivity. Most reac-
tants only penetrate the amorphous regions on the surface (Ciolacu
et al., 2011).
The crystallinity index as measured by powder X-ray diffraction
is a measure of the amount of crystalline cellulose present in the
biomass. The CI values listed in Table 7 indicate that rind fibres fol-
lowed by rind fines contain the most crystalline cellulose and stalk
pith the least. Therefore, sugar cane, unlike wheat straw (Liu et al.,
2005), shows a variation in the crystallinity index for different tis-
sue types. The CI has also been shown to differ between the stems
and leaves of sorghum (Reddy and Yang, 2007), which like sugar
cane, is also a C-4 photosynthetic grass. This may be attributed
to a difference in the content of amorphous components, that is,
hemicellulose and lignin, in the component parts. The CI and LOI
values for the material derived from the cane (namely, stalk and
rind) are in the same relative order. However, for the rest of the
fibres there is no coherence between the CI and LOI. As has been
observed by other workers (Colom et al., 2003), and as is the case
here, there is also no coherence between the TCI and LOI values. As
mentioned by Colom et al. (2003) the band at 2900 cm−1 does not
arise exclusively from cellulose and it may be that the TCI is not a
suitable indicator for multicomponent samples. In fact, Garside and
Wyeth (2003) have used the absorption at 2900 cm−1 as a measure
of overall organic content for such multicomponent samples with
some degree of success.
Fig. 3. TG (a) and (b) and DTG (c) and (d) thermograms for the nine components of the sugar cane plant R 570 aged 52 weeks determined in an atmosphere of nitrogen.
9
The pyrolysis characteristics of the nine components in an inert
atmosphere of nitrogen are shown in Fig. 3 in the form of TG and
DTG curves. All the components showed a small weight loss at
low temperatures (<100 ◦ C). This corresponds to the evaporation
of physically adsorbed water. Because of the hygroscopic nature
of the fibres, the amount of moisture is highly dependent on the
ambient humidity and the manner in which the fibres are han-
dled. The fibres are essentially stable up to a temperature of 200 ◦ C.
Thereafter, the thermal stability decreases and pyrolysis occurs.
Yang et al. (2007) investigated the individual pyrolysis char-
acteristics of the three main components of biomass, namely,
hemicellulose, cellulose and lignin. They found that the max-
imum weight loss for hemicellulose and cellulose occurred at
268 ◦ C and 355 ◦ C respectively. Lignin was difficult to decompose
and did so slowly from ambient temperature to 900 ◦ C with no
clear maximum. The solid residue remaining was the highest for
lignin (45.7 wt.%), followed by hemicellulose (20 wt.%) and cellu-
lose (6.5 wt.%). The DSC thermograms showed that the pyrolysis
of cellulose at 355 ◦ C was endothermic, but those of hemicellulose
at 275 ◦ C and lignin at 365 ◦ C were exothermic. They accounted
for this behaviour in terms of the structures of the three compo-
nents. Hemicellulose consists of saccharides and has a random,
amorphous and branched structure which is easy to decompose at
low temperatures. Cellulose, on the other hand, is a long polymer
of glucose without branches, is ordered and has hydrogen bond-
ing, and is therefore more difficult to decompose. Lignin consists of
differing aromatic rings with branching and therefore decomposes
over a wide thermal range. The three components therefore do not
decompose as three independent reactions.
At temperatures above 200 ◦ C the DTG curves in Fig. 3 show two
overlapping peaks for the fibres from the stalk and rind whereas, for
the fibres from the tops and leaves, two clear maxima are observed.
All the curves exhibit tailing at temperatures greater than 400 ◦ C.
The first maximum occurs at approximately 300 ◦ C and corresponds
to the decomposition of hemicellulose and lignin. The second max-
imum at approximately 350 ◦ C arises from the decomposition of
10 L. Wong Sak Hoi, B.S. Martincigh / Industrial Crops and Products 47 (2013) 1–12

Table 8
Thermal analysis results for the fibres from the nine components of R 570 aged 52 weeks.

Component Thermogravimetric analysis in an inert atmosphere of nitrogen Differential scanning calorimetry in an

oxidative atmosphere of air

First-decomposition Second-decomposition Residue at 700 ◦ C/mass % First-combustion Second-combustion

temperature/◦ C temperature/◦ C temperature/◦ C temperature/◦ C

Stalk fibre 317 365.0 9.1 356.38 480.22

Stalk pith 306 363.2 21.4 344.19 444.72
Rind fibre 313 363.8 6.4 356.37 498.87
Rind fines 310.5 367.6 7.1 352.72 492.89
Top fibre 310.5 357.8 14.5 356.38 469.39
Green leaf fibre 302.8 358.1 12.7 352.73 476.68
Green leaf fines 305.2 359.7 14.4 349.89 456.64
Dry leaf fibre 308.2 353.9 18.1 358.19 456.64
Dry leaf fines 309.8 357.5 21.1 352.73 440.22

10
30
30

5 20
Heat/mW

Heat/mW
20
Heat/mW

10
10
0
0 200 400 600 0
0
0 200 400 600
0 200 400 600
-5 -10
-10
Temperature/oC Temperature/oC
Temperature/oC

Stalk fibre Stalk pith Rind fibre

20 30
20
20
Heat/mW

Heat/mW
Heat/mW

10
10
10
0
0 0
0 200 400 600
0 200 400 600 0 200 400 600
-10 -10 -10
Temperature/oC Temperature/oC Temperature/oC

Rind fines Top fibre Dry leaf fibre

30
20
20
20
Heat/mW
Heat/mW
Heat/mW

10
10 10

0 0 0
0 200 400 600 0 200 400 600 0 200 400 600

-10 -10 -10

Temperature/ C o Temperature/oC Temperature/oC

Dry leaf fines Green leaf fibre Green leaf fines

Fig. 4. DSC curves for the nine cane component parts of R 570 aged 52 weeks in an atmosphere of air.
 L. Wong Sak Hoi, B.S. Martincigh / Industrial Crops and Products 47 (2013) 1–12
cellulose and lignin. Since lignin decomposes at a very slow rate
over 100–900 ◦ C a maximum is not clearly visible apart from the
tailing in the DTG curves at temperatures greater than 400 ◦ C. It
has been noted that the two degradation maxima observed here
are not always clearly visible (as is the case for the fibres from stalk
and rind) (Griffin, 2011). This has been attributed to the presence
of inorganic materials that catalyse the decomposition reactions.
Washing with water has been shown to reduce this mineral con-
tent (Müller-Hagedorn et al., 2003), leading to a separation of the
merged peaks (Manya and Arauzo, 2008). The pre-treatment of
the fibres in this work with water in order to separate them has
therefore decreased the mineral content. Table 8 lists the degrada-
tion temperatures and the amount of residue remaining at 700 ◦ C
for the various samples. Green leaf fibres showed the lowest first-
decomposition temperature and stalk fibres the highest. For the
nine components the first-decomposition temperatures fell within
the range 303–317 ◦ C and the second-decomposition temperatures
fell within 354–368 ◦ C. The maximum degradation rates reported
for bagasse by Griffin (2011) occurred at temperatures of 308 and
358 ◦ C which fall within these ranges. Han and Wu (2004) ana-
lysed sugar cane rind and reported the temperatures of maximum
weight loss for the outer layer of the rind as 368 ◦ C, the middle layer
of rind as 373 ◦ C and the inner rind layer as 372 ◦ C. These values are
consistent with the second decomposition temperatures reported
here for rind fibre and rind fines. Rind fibres produced the least
amount of residue (6.4 wt.%) at 700 ◦ C, whereas stalk pith produced
the most (21.4 wt.%). This is, however, less than the 35% reported
by Ramajo-Escalera et al. (2006) for sugar cane bagasse.
Fig. 5. Fibres of the sugar cane components of R 575 aged 52 weeks observed under a scanning electron microscope. (a) Stalk fibre. (b) Stalk pith. (c) Rind fibre. (d) Rind fines.
(e) Top fibre. (f) Dry leaf fibre. (g) Dry leaf fines. (h) Green leaf fibre. (i) Green leaf fines.
11
The DSC thermograms recorded in air are displayed in Fig. 4.
They show an endotherm below 100 ◦ C that corresponds to the
evaporation of moisture from the fibres. There are two exotherms:
one at approximately 350 ◦ C (range 344–358 ◦ C) and the other
between 440 and 500 ◦ C (see Table 8). It is known that in air
the pyrolytic temperature is lowered (White et al., 2011). Griffin
(2011) showed that the DTG plots for bagasse in an air environ-
ment exhibited maxima at 325 and 454 ◦ C. The first was ascribed
to hemicellulose and cellulose degradation and the second to oxi-
dation of char and non-volatile material. From our results it appears
that these are exothermic processes. Ramajo-Escalera et al. (2006)
found that in an oxygen environment the two exotherms occurred
at 316 and 436 ◦ C, which is consistent with our findings since their
results are for a more oxidative environment than air.
All the scanning electron micrographs showed normal wood tis-
sues such as parenchyma and wood fibres, and no difference was
detected in the fibres of dry leaf, green leaf, rind, stalk and top
(Fig. 5). These components are fibrous, exhibit bundles of microfib-
rils and have a high aspect ratio. Stalk pith (Fig. 5b), however,
appears to be different; it is flaky, does not exhibit the fibrous nature
and has a higher surface area than the other components. The fibres
from the fines components (Fig. 5d, g and i) contain some debris
together with shorter aspect ratio fibres.
Some consistencies are evident from the results of the various
characterisation techniques. If one considers the four components
that arise from the cane, namely, rind fibre, rind fines, stalk fibre
and stalk pith, in that order, they are in the same order as the
(i) LOI ratio (highest to lowest) which is an indicator of the
12 L. Wong Sak Hoi, B.S. Martincigh / Industrial Crops and Products 47 (2013) 1–12
cellulose I content, (ii) the CI derived from X-ray diffraction (highest
to lowest) which is an indicator of crystalline cellulose content, (iii)
second-combustion temperature (highest to lowest) observed in
DSC ascribed to oxidation of char and non-volatile material, (iv) the
percentage residue remaining (lowest to highest) after TG analysis,
(v) percentage carbon content (highest to lowest) from elemental
analysis and (vi) GCV (highest to lowest). The fibres derived from
the leaves and tops do not show such clear trends.
In the case of the fibres and fines derived from a particular
location in the plant, the fibres show a greater percentage car-
bon content, a higher degree of crystallinity (as measured by XRD),
higher combustion temperatures in DSC, and lower residues in TG
analysis than the respective fines component.
4. Conclusions
The sugar cane plant of four Mauritian cane varieties and of
three ages was successfully separated into fibres of its component
parts by means of a simple physical method specially developed
for the purpose. The use of a 1.18 mm sieve ensured complete sep-
aration of fibres from pith, of which the ratio gives an indication
of the milling quality of the cane variety. The four cane varieties
under study showed a fibre/pith ratio approaching one, indicating
good millability. In terms of % cane the greatest percentage of dry
mass of fibre was extracted from the rind. For rind this percentage
decreased with the age of the cane sample for all the varieties.
The rind fibres and fines showed the highest carbon content and
the green leaf fibres and fines the lowest. The rind also exhibited
the highest GCV. The GCV values mirrored the carbon content of the
fibres. The FTIR spectra of the components were typical of lignocel-
lulosic material and rind fibres exhibited the greatest crystallinity.
All the components were thermally stable up to a temperature of
200 ◦ C. Thereafter, pyrolysis occurred at approximately 300 and
350 ◦ C corresponding to the decomposition of hemicellulose and
lignin and cellulose and lignin respectively. Two exotherms were
apparent in the DSC curves: one at 350 ◦ C and the other between
440 and 500 ◦ C. The fibres from the rind and stalk showed clear
trends in their properties.
This study has furnished information on the properties of the
different fibres which can be extracted from the sugar cane plant.
This will assist in determining suitable end-uses for these fibres,
which will add value to the crop.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank MSIRI for the use of their facilities and
Anis Mangenda and Marius de Jager for assistance with the collec-
tion of the ATR–FTIR and XRD data respectively. LWSH thanks the
University of KwaZulu-Natal for a short-term Postdoctoral Fellow-
ship.
References
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