Version of Record: https://www.sciencedirect.

com/science/article/pii/S0260877419303140
Manuscript_493e05436601cd2d19d0f47ea6ec07c0

1 Clarification of Sugarcane Juice by Ultrafiltration

2 Membrane: Toward the Direct Production of Refined

3 Cane Sugar

4 Vu Thevua, Jeffrey LeBlanca and Chung Chi Choub

5 aDepartment of Chemical Engineering, University of Louisiana, 131 Rex Street, Lafayette, LA 70503
6 bDr.Chou Technologies Inc., 4306 Charlemagne Ct., Austin, TX 78727
7 *Corresponding author: phone: (337) 482-6562, email: jeffrey.leblanc@louisiana.edu

8 Abstract

9 The conventional process for producing white sugar is energy intensive and inefficient. This paper

10 discusses an intensified sugar refining process that utilizes ultrafiltration (UF) membrane technology as

11 an alternative to a chemical purification process to remove color and simplify further refining. The

12 inclusion of sodium bicarbonate combined with UF filtration improved the occlusion index of the cane

13 juice, by removing excess calcium ions and polysaccharides, which led to improvements in crystal growth

14 rate, crystal size, and sugar color. The UF permeate could be directly boiled and crystallized to produce

15 United States Food Grade white sugar. Pilot studies of the UF process achieved a refined sugar of 83

16 ICUMSA from a clarified syrup of 11,425 ICUMSA and 85% purity. Application of a UF membrane

17 system in sugar mills can eliminate various refining processes such as affination, phosphatation, and/or

18 granular carbon/bone char/ion exchange for decolorization. Therefore, the UF-assisted process would

19 produce high-quality food-grade sugar products meeting commercial specifications with considerable

20 savings in both capital and operating costs.

21 Keywords

22 Cane Sugar; VHP refinery; ultrafiltration; process intensification

23

1
© 2019. This manuscript version is made available under the Elsevier user license
https://www.elsevier.com/open-access/userlicense/1.0/
24 1. Introduction

25 In the early 21st century, the sugar industry is facing new challenges in environmental protection,

26 social health, and global competition. To survive and prosper in this new millennium, the industry must

27 drastically reduce the production cost by evaluating and improving unit operations. Unfortunately, over

28 the last 50 years, the sugar industry has made only incremental improvements in the production of sugar

29 from sugarcane. Refined cane sugar is conventionally produced from an intermediate product called “raw

30 sugar” which is produced from sugarcane extract at a sugar mill through crushing, clarification,

31 evaporation, and crystallization. The raw sugar then undergoes the refining unit operations including

32 affination, remelting, primary decolorization, secondary decolorization, evaporation, crystallization,

33 centrifugation, sugar drying, and conditioning.

34 The conventional refining procedure is expensive, energy intensive, and consists of ten or more-

35 unit operations. The most energy intensive unit operations of sugar refining are evaporation and

36 crystallization (Bhattacharya et al., 2001). In addition, sugar solutions must be evaporated and crystallized

37 twice in the conventional practice. Furthermore, the use of multiple decolorization units leads to high

38 operating costs, including chemical costs, process control, and solid waste disposal. However, more often

39 than not, refineries use multiple secondary decolorization processes in series (Chou and Engel, 2009). It

40 is desirable to reduce number of unit operations to mitigate energy consumption involved with sugar

41 production. Reducing the unit operations also decreases the labor and maintenance costs resulting in lower

42 capital and operating costs for the refinery (Chou, 2010; Rein, 2015).

43 Researchers studied sugar production from beets to conceptualize a simplified process for

44 sugarcane. Currently, beet sugar production contains only one evaporation and crystallization step. The

45 energy consumption for one-step beet sugar production is 555 MJ/ton which is 18 % of the energy amount

46 required for cane sugar (Jensen et al., 2015). The objective of this work is to reach a similar energy

47 efficiency by developing a process for refining cane sugar with a single evaporation and crystallization

48 step. Table 1 lists all the non-sucrose impurities and their concentration found in beet and cane molasses.

49 The molasses is compared because it consists of the isolated non-sucrose impurities found in the juice.

2
50 While comparing beet and cane sugar molasses, there is an apparent difference in concentrations of

51 calcium, magnesium and sodium ions (Theoleyre and Baudoin, 1999). These impurities degrade sucrose

52 or generate a brown color in the raw sugar product (Lu et al., 2017; Schlumbach and Pautov, 2017). The

53 current state of the literature suggests that if excess calcium ions and polysaccharides can be removed

54 from the raw juice, colorants will be avoided and more easily removed in crystallization (Schlumbach and

55 Pautov, 2017). These impurities attributed color retention during crystallization are referred to as the color

56 occlusion index which is measured relatively to the number of polyvalent anions and cations in the

57 sugarcane juice (Chou, 2002). The addition of sodium bicarbonates will provide a source of carbonate

58 anions (CO32-) polyvalent anion to precipitate the excess calcium ions out of the sugarcane juice.

59 Table 1. Impurities and their concentrations found in Cane and Beet molasses(Hubert Olbrich, 2006)

Non-sucrose impurities Cane Beet*

Calcium 0.70% 0.07%

Magnesium 0.40% 0.02%

Sodium 0.05% 2.20%

pH 5.3 8.5

Color (ICUMSA) 165,000 45,000

Nonfermentable Reducing Matter 4.50% 0.50%

Reducing Sugar 16% 0.40%

Sucrose 35% 55%

Total Sugar 51% 55.40%

Total Organic Matter 64% 64%

Total Nonsugar Organic Matter 13% 18.60%

60 *Non-US Beet Plants

61 Membrane processes like microfiltration, ultrafiltration, nanofiltration, ion-exchange or

62 electrodialysis can be used for decolorization and removal of other impurities (Guo et al., 2018; Hamachi

63 et al., 2003). Recently, the use of membrane filtration in the food industry is widely accepted due to its

64 energy-efficient, simplicity of operation, and scalability (Abbara, 2015). Moreover, membrane filtration

3
65 is used in clarification and decolorization specifically in the production of juices with high quality, natural

66 taste, and free of additives (Almandoz et al., 2010; Shi et al., 2019). In fact, membrane filtration has been

67 extensively applied to sugar refining, for example, cane juice purification and concentration (Congress,

68 2010; Luo et al., 2019, 2016), refining of remelted raw sugar as well as clarification and decolorization

69 of molasses (Bernal et al., 2016; Guo et al., 2018; Luo et al., 2018; Qiang et al., 2019). Though the concept

70 of using membrane filtration for sugarcane juice purification has been suggested earlier, there is little

71 experimental work that describes an actual complete pilot-scale process starting from pre-treatment of

72 sugarcane juice to crystallization of refined sugar.

73 Hence, a method for the direct production of refined sugar from raw cane juices using UF

74 membranes is presented in this work. The proposed method is a direct process that requires the addition

75 of soda ash for the pre-treatment and a crossflow UF membrane for purification. Results on reduction in

76 turbidity, viscosity as well as the color of sugarcane juice are presented. Furthermore, the UF permeate is

77 directly boiled and crystallized to produce the final product. Results on color reduction and improved

78 crystal growth rate are presented.

79 2 Materials and Methods

80 2.1 Materials

81 The clarified juice used in the experiments was provided from Cora Texas mill (White Castle,

82 Louisiana). Distilled water was used as the solvent for measuring the color of sugar juice. Buffer solutions

83 (pH 4, 7, 10.1) were used in pH meter calibration. Before UF treatment, the juice was clarified by adding

84 the calcium hydroxide (ACS reagent with assay ≥ 95 % supplied from Sigma Aldrich) and bubbling the

85 solution with a 12% v/v industrial grade carbon dioxide (Airgas, Lafayette Louisiana). Certified ACS

86 grade sodium bicarbonate with 99.7 % to 100.3 % of purity supplied from Fisher Scientific was added to

87 the clarified juice before filtration.

88 A SCEPTER cross-flow membrane with a nominal pore size of 0.02 micron was used for the

89 sugarcane juice purification. Membrane tubes are made of 316L stainless steel with diameter of 25 mm

4
 90 and a length of 6m, providing a surface area of 800 m2. The maximum operating temperature and pressure

91 used in the experiments were 85 ºC and 100 psi.

92 2.2 Methods

93 2.2.1. Analytical Methods

94 The sugar cane juice was characterized at various points during the pre-treatment and UF process.

95 The color of sugar was measured following International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar

96 Analysis Method 4 using a wavelength of 420 nm for white sugars and light-colored products (Chou,

97 2000). The absorbance of sugar solution was measured by the Jasco V-630 Spectrometer (USA) with

98 distilled water as the reference sample. The concentration of sugar solution is measured by the Sper

99 Scientific 300034 Refractometer. A glass rod is used to stir the sample (juice/ sugar solutions) and transfer

100 one or two drops of solution to the prism face of the refractometer without touching the surface. It was

101 ensured that no air bubbles formed on the prism surface. Refractometer gives brix concentration which is

102 the percentage of solid sugar weight over solvent weight in the solution. Rheological measurements were

103 made on the original and treated syrup using Modular Compact Rheometer MCR 302. Crystal size

104 measurement was done manually by measuring sugar crystals under a microscope.

105 2.2.2. Ultrafiltration of Sugarcane Juice

106 Carbonation was used as the pre-treatment method for the clarified juice. In this process, the

107 clarified juice was heated to 85 °C. The pH of the juice was adjusted to 10.5 by adding calcium hydroxide.

108 The concentration of calcium hydroxide was 0.9 to 4.0 % dry-solid weight basis depending on the initial

109 pH of the clarified juice. The carbonation was performed by bubbling 12% carbon dioxide (balance air)

110 gas via sparger into the juice at a rate of 0.025 pounds per hour. The pH of the juice was monitored

111 throughout carbonation and the flow of carbon dioxide gas was stopped once the pH of the juice reached

112 8.3. The juice was then allowed to sit at room temperature for an hour until the cake was completely settle

113 at the bottom of the beaker. Finally, carbonated juice was decanted to another container and the cake was

114 discarded.

5
115 After carbonation pre-treatment, 100 ppm of sodium bicarbonate was added into the carbonated

116 juice. Then, the carbonated juice was treated in the two-gpm UF membrane unit. Figure 1 demonstrates

117 a proposed pilot trial process for treating clarified sugarcane juice with UF membranes. As shown in

118 Figure 1, the retentate from the UF membrane is recycled to a secondary clarifier before crystallization

119 (not tested in this study). A pH of, at least, 8 is maintained throughout the UF process, which avoids

120 sucrose destruction and improves yield. The permeate from the membrane filtration was then evaporated

121 using a laboratory evaporator.

122

123 Figure 1. Proposed Process for UF and Secondary Clarification of Clarified Juice to Manufacture White Sugar
124
125 UF treated juice (permeate) was concentrated through boiling and evaporation in a Buchi Rotavap

126 R-210. The evaporation was performed at 65 ˚C at 25-27 in Hg vacuum pressure to minimize the sucrose

127 loss and color formation. When the syrup reached 75 brix, the seed was added into the boiling pan to start

128 the crystallization process. Temperature and pressure were kept constant. Final crystallized sugar was

129 collected and washed with cold distilled water in a centrifuge.

130 3. Results and Discussion

131 3.1. Turbidity Color Reduction after UF Treatment

6
132 Table 2 provides the characteristics of clarified sugarcane juice before and after UF treatment.

133 The inconsistency of pH and color reduction of the UF permeate is the result of adding distilled water

134 during the UF process. Due to the nature of UF membrane, the retentate gets more viscous though

135 processing; hence, distilled water was added into the feed to recover as much sucrose as possible.

136 Regarding the turbidity, results clearly show considerable improvement in turbidity by the carbonation

137 and UF. Dramatic decrease in turbidity as high as 98.6% is due to the removal of high molecular weight

138 impurities and fine particulates (Bekker and Stolz, 2001; Bhattacharya et al., 2001; Chou et al., 2006;

139 Ghosh and Balakrishnan, 2003; Hamachi et al., 2003; Shi et al., 2019). The addition of sodium bicarbonate

140 increased the ratio of polyvalent anions to polyvalent cations in the juice, therefore the polyvalent cations

141 (mainly Ca2+ and Mg2+) were precipitated and removed from the solution. The UF membrane removes

142 the large molecular weight complexes from the juice. The removal of impurities also significantly reduced

143 the color of sugar solutions. In fact, results showed that color removal of up to 50% can be achieved by

144 UF. The ability of UF treatment to remove color is essential to making refined white sugar from the sugar

145 mill. Cartier et al reported a similar reduction in color of affination syrup using a Kerasep Techasep

146 membrane with a 15 kDa MWCO (Cartier et al., 1996).

147 Table 2. Juice characteristic improvements by the carbonation and UF treatment of clarified juice

Turbidity Color
Run No. Samples Brix (°) pH
(NTU) (ICUMSA)
Clarified Juice 14.4 6.9 111 17139
Carbonated Juice 14.7 8.3 9.3 17105
1 UF Juice 11.1 9.3 1 15457
% Improvement 91% 9.80%
Clarified Juice 15.5 6.6 87.7 16959
Carbonated Juice 13.3 8.6 11.5 16670
2 UF Juice 10.9 8.6 5.6 13539
% Improvement 93.60% 20.20%
Clarified juice 14.4 6.25 116 17139
Carbonated juice 12.5 8.1 8 18409
3 UF Juice 11.4 7.7 1.62 8476.1

7
 % Improvement 98.60% 50.50%
148

149 3.2 Effect of UF Treatment on Rheology of Sugar Cane Juice

150 The viscosity of the solution is an important process parameter for pumping and filtering of juice.

151 The low viscosity of juice compared to syrup is a primary reason why color removal at the mill is preferred

152 over color removal at the refinery. Figure 2 shows the measured viscosity of a clarified juice and a UF

153 treated juice between 25 °C and 90 °C, which is the operating temperatures of the UF membrane. Brix of

154 the clarified juice was 14.4% while that of the UF juice was 11.4%. Initially, without the effect of

155 temperature (at 25°C), a significant reduction in viscosity was observed between clarified and UF treated

156 juice. In fact, the viscosity reduced from 0.0035 Pa.s for the clarified juice to 0.00128 Pa.s for UF treated

157 juice. The change in viscosity of the juice is expected due to the removal of high molecular weight

158 impurities (Ghosh and Balakrishnan, 2003). The removal of impurities is also reflected in the brix

159 reduction. This reduction in viscosity also leads to an increase in the crystal growth rate (discussed later).

160 Furthermore, viscosity was further reduced when the temperatures were elevated, as expected. The

161 viscosity reduced by 92 % and 93.5 % for between 25 °C and 90 °C, for clarified juice and UF treated

162 juice, respectively. This information is essential for the process development since a reduction in viscosity

163 would improve the permeate flux through the membrane. Hence, higher UF operating temperature would

164 result in higher permeate flow rates.

8
165
166 Figure 2. Measured viscosity of clarified juice and UF treated juice between 25and 90 °C.

167 3.2. Crystal Size and Growth Rate

168 It is important to include the effect of crystallization within the study of white sugar production

169 from cane juice since the crystallization process was found to remove 90-96% of the colorant from sugar.

170 The sugar color for a given weight of sugar product increases with increasing surface area due to the fact

171 that about 15 to 30% of colorants are on the outside of the crystal (Chou et al., 2002). Figure 3 shows the

172 improvements of crystallization for UF treated syrups concentrated to 85° brix. Compared with a non-

173 treated clarified syrup, UF treatment increased the crystal growth rate by 49 %, 38 %, and 37 % for the

174 first hour, second hour, and third hour of sugar crystallization, respectively. This could be attributed to

175 the removal of impurities affecting the rate of crystallization. The increase in crystal growth rates during

176 boiling will subsequently increase vacuum pan capacities and yield, reduce sucrose loss, and increase

9
177 yield (Chou et al., 2002). In addition, the UF treated syrup produced crystals that were 8.4-9.3 % larger

178 than those crystallized from clarified syrup at all measured points during crystallization. Crystal size is

179 directly related to the amount of color present on the surface of the sugar crystal. Smaller crystals have a

180 higher surface to volume ratio and the total color increases with surface area. Therefore, the color

181 reduction from crystallization is expected to be higher for treated syrups.

182

183
184 Figure 3. Measured crystal size and growth of syrup produced from clarified and the UF treatment.

185 3.3. Color Reduction from Crystallization

186 Table 3 presents the percentage reduction in color of the final crystallized products obtained from

187 clarified syrup and UF syrup. It was found that the percent decolorization for the clarified syrup was

188 between 95.3 % to 96.7 % which is slightly lower than typical decolorization capability of crystallization.

189 This could be attributed to the high concentration of polysaccharides in the clarified juice which generates

190 color during crystallization (i.e. color occlusion index). Moreover, the color of the final crystallized

191 product is always higher than 400 ICUMSA, which is considered to be in the brown sugar color range,

192 opposed to white sugar. When comparing to the UF syrup, UF process successfully produced a refined

193 sugar of 83 ICUMSA from a clarified juice of 11,425 ICUMSA and 85 % purity. Indeed, the color

194 reduction of UF juice through crystallization is between 97.7 % - 99.3 % which is significantly higher

195 than the color reduction of clarified juice. This indicates that the UF system reduces the color occlusion

10
196 index of the sugarcane juice. More importantly, the color of the final products from crystallizing UF juice

197 is between 83 and 192 ICUMSA. This is a promising result for the implementing UF processing in

198 sugarcane refining.

199 Table 3. Comparison of sugars from crystallization of clarified syrup and UF syrup

Color (ICUMSA)
Run No. Material Before crystallization After crystallization Color
Reduction
1 Clarified juice 10,638 495 95.30%
2 Clarified juice 14,997 563 96.20%
3 Clarified juice 13,474 439 96.70%

4 UF juice 8,925 159 98.20%

5 UF juice 8,476 117 98.60%
6 UF juice 8,476 192 97.70%
7 UF juice 11,425 83 99.3%
200 Therefore, this work successfully demonstrates purification of clarified sugarcane juice by

201 carbonatation and UF treatment to improve color reduction after crystallization. The technique utilizes

202 the addition of sodium bicarbonate to alter the ratio of polyvalent anions to polyvalent cations. It has been

203 pointed out in previous works that both polyvalent anions and cations affect the retention of color (Chou,

204 2002, Theoleyre and Baudoin, 1999)). Though this work does not quantify or establish the contribution

205 of anions or cations, it does demonstrate that large molecular weight impurities are effectively removed

206 by UF resulting color of crystallized sugar. While use of a rotary evaporator in this work does not mimic

207 an industrial scale crystallization process, it does provide comparative study of crystallizing untreated

208 clarified and UF-treated clarified juice (shown in Table 3). Furthermore, despite the differences in the

209 compositions of the clarified juice due to the variations in collection time from the mill and extents of

210 storage time, the results show that UF lowers the impurity content enough to crystallize a low-color sugar

211 in every case. This finding ultimately proves that sugar of 83-193 ICUMSA can be produced from

212 sugarcane juice with only the addition of two unit operations, carbonatation and UF.

213 4. Conclusion

214 In this current work, treatment of juice using soda ash and UF membrane enabled the

215 crystallization of white sugar with 83 ICUMSA color. The results were achieved from a 2 gpm pilot-scale

11
216 setup of secondary clarification, ultrafiltration, crystallization, and sugar washing. Treatment of juice by

217 UF effectively reduces the occlusion index of cane juice. The results showed that the removal of

218 polysaccharides from cane extract will inhibit colorants from being formed hence, reducing the color of

219 the sucrose crystals. It is also assumed that through secondary clarification and addition of soda ash, large

220 molecule weight complexes were formed with excess calcium cations, and thereby removed by UF,

221 proving this hypothesis will be a subject of future work. UF treatment produced a juice with lower

222 viscosity, lower turbidity, higher crystal growth rate, larger crystal size, and higher color reduction. The

223 results show promise that the UF process could be used to produce refined sugar at lower energy, operating

224 and capital cost. It also offers environmental benefits and no reduction in product quality compared to

225 commercial processes. Lastly, utilizing a UF system will provide an alternative for sulfitation process,

226 thereby improving the quality of sugar product, and eliminating the emission of sulfur dioxide and the

227 harsh working environment for the mill workers.

228 Acknowledgments.

229 The authors would like to thank Dr. Chou Technologies, Inc. for supporting this research. Cora-Texas

230 Manufacturing Company and Sterling Sugar Company for providing the juice and syrup for the study,

231 respectively.

232 References

233 Abbara, A.A., 2015. Utilizing of Membrane Filtration in the Sugar Industry : A Review, in: The 33rd
234 Annual Conference of the Egyptian Society of Sugar Technologists, At El-Hawamdia, Egypt.
235 Almandoz, C., Pagliero, C., Ochoa, A., Marchese, J., 2010. Corn syrup clarification by microfiltration
236 with ceramic membranes. J. Memb. Sci. 363, 87–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2010.07.017
237 Bekker, P.I., Stolz, H.N.P., 2001. Enhancement of Sugar Production Part 1 : Production of White Sugar
238 in the Raw House, in: Proceedings of The South African Sugar Technologists Association. pp. 341–
239 345.
240 Bernal, M., Ruiz, M.O., Geanta, R.M., Benito, J.M., Escudero, I., 2016. Colour removal from beet
241 molasses by ultrafiltration with activated charcoal. Chem. Eng. J. 283, 313–322.
242 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cej.2015.07.047
243 Bhattacharya, P.K., Agarwal, S., Gopal, U.V.S.R., 2001. Ultrafiltration of sugar cane juice for recovery
244 of sugar : analysis of flux and retention. Sep. Purif. Technol. 21, 247–259.

12
245 Cartier, S., Theoleyre, M.A., Decloux, M., 1996. Développement actuel et potentiel des procédés à
246 membranes en sucrerie et raffinerie de Canne. Ind. Aliment. Agric. 113, 557–560.
247 Chou, C.C., 2010. Pros and Cons of Various Decolorization Processes for Production of Refined Sugar,
248 in: Sugar Industry Technologists Annual Technical Conference. Savannah, Georgia.
249 Chou, C.C., 2002. Process for pretreating colored aqueous sugar solutions to produce a low colored
250 crystallized sugar. US 6,485,574 B1.
251 Chou, C.C., 2000. Handbook of Sugar Refining: A Manual for the Design and Operation of Sugar
252 Refining Facilities, 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons Inc.
253 Chou, C.C., Engel, L., 2009. Simplified Refining Process for the 21st Century, in: Sugar Industry
254 Technologists Annual Technical Conference. New Orleans, Louisiana.
255 Chou, C.C., Iqbal, K., Min, Y.G., Gao, D.W., Duffaut, E., 2006. SAT Process as a Replacement for
256 Sulfitation in Mill White Sugar Production, in: Sugar Industry Technologists Annual Technical
257 Conference.
258 Chou, C.C., Iqbal, K., Min, Y.G., Gao, D.W., Duffaut, E., 2002. White and Refined Sugar Production
259 from Cane Sugar Factories, in: First Biennial World Conference On Recent Development in Sugar
260 Technologies. Delray Beach, Florida.
261 Congress, C.T., 2010. QUT Digital Repository : This is the published version of this conference paper :
262 Steindl , Rod J . and Rackemann , Darryn W . ( 2010 ) Membrane filtration of clarified juice . In :
263 Procceddings of the 27th International Society of Sugar 7–11.
264 Ghosh, A.M., Balakrishnan, M., 2003. Pilot demonstration of sugarcane juice ultrafiltration in an Indian
265 sugar factory. J. Food Eng. 58, 143–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0260-8774(02)00340-0
266 Guo, S., Luo, J., Wu, Y., Qi, B., Chen, X., Wan, Y., 2018. Separation and Puri fi cation Technology
267 Decoloration of sugarcane molasses by tight ultra fi ltration : Filtration behavior and fouling control.
268 Sep. Purif. Technol. 204, 66–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2018.04.067
269 Hamachi, M., Gupta, B.B., Aim, R. Ben, 2003. Ultrafiltration : a means for decolorization of cane sugar
270 solution. Sep. Purif. Technol. 30, 229–239.
271 Hubert Olbrich, 2006. The molasses. Biotechnologie-Kempe GmbH.
272 Jensen, S., Morin, B., Jensen, A.S., Morin, B., 2015. Energy and the environment in beet sugar production
273 Energy and the environment in beet sugar production. Eur. Soc. Sugar Technol.
274 Lu, Y., Thomas, L., Schmidt, S., 2017. Differences in the thermal behavior of beet and cane sucrose
275 sources. J. Food Eng. 201, 57–70. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2017.01.005
276 Luo, J., Guo, S., Qiang, X., Hang, X., Chen, X., Wan, Y., 2019. Sustainable utilization of cane molasses
277 by an integrated separation process : Interplay between adsorption and nanofiltration. Sep. Purif.
278 Technol. 219, 16–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seppur.2019.03.008
279 Luo, J., Guo, S., Wu, Y., Wan, Y., 2018. Separation of Sucrose and Reducing Sugar in Cane Molasses by
280 Nanofiltration. Food Bioprod. Process. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-018-2062-0
281 Luo, J., Hang, X., Zhai, W., Qi, B., Song, W., Chen, X., 2016. Re fi ning sugarcane juice by an integrated
282 membrane process : Filtration behavior of polymeric membrane at high temperature. J. Memb. Sci.
283 509, 105–115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2016.02.053
284 Qiang, X., Luo, J., Guo, S., Cao, W., Hang, X., 2019. A novel process for molasses utilization by
285 membrane fi ltration and resin adsorption. J. Clean. Prod. 207, 432–443.

13
286 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.10.005
287 Rein, P., 2015. White cane sugar production. Int. Sugar J.
288 Schlumbach, K., Pautov, A., 2017. Crystallization and analysis of beet and cane sugar blends Sugar beet
289 processing Slicing Sugar cane processing Milling & Extrac on Extrac on Purifica on of juice Evapora
290 on of juice Clarifica on of syrup Crystalliza on of syrup & centrifuging White beet s. J. Food Eng.
291 196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2016.10.026
292 Shi, C., Rackemann, D.W., Moghaddam, L., Wei, B., Li, K., Lu, H., Xie, C., Hang, F., Doherty, W.O.S.,
293 2019. Ceramic membrane filtration of factory sugarcane juice : Effect of pretreatment on permeate
294 flux , juice quality and fouling. J. Food Eng. 243, 101–113.
295 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2018.09.012
296 Theoleyre, M.-A., Baudoin, S., 1999. PROCESS FOR REFINING A RAW SUGAR, PARTICULARY
297 RAW SUGAR FROM THE SUGAR CANE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 5865899.
298

14