Effectiveness of bagasse activated carbon in raw cane juice clarification

Abstract

A laboratory scale cleaner technology for raw sugar or muscovado production that uses sugarcane bagasse activated carbon (BAC) for raw sugarcane juice purification was studied. The treatment with BAC, substituted for the chemical and thermal treatments used in the current manufacture of cane sugar. It is a gentler process that protects the nutritional characteristics of the product, gives energy savings, and less pollution. The materials involved were characterized using thermogravimetry. The BAC was evaluated on its ability to remove color from cane juice samples obtained from a sugarcane mill. Muscovado or raw sugar (unrefined or non-centrifuged sugar) was obtained through crystallization from the juices treated only with BAC, and its main properties were compared with those produced using the traditional raw sugar-manufacturing process. The thermogravimetric and derived thermogravimetric curves, TG and DTG, for impregnated bagasse showed the effect of the activation agents on its decomposition and carbonization processes. The BAC was able to remove up to 98% of the color from juice at ambient temperatures, and the sugar obtained through this laboratory scale procedure, in its main physicochemical and organoleptic properties was similar to the sugar obtained in some Mexican and other countries’ sugar mills.