Abstract
Cane sugar production is an important industrial process. One of the most important steps in cane sugar production is the clarification process, which provides high-quality, concentrated sugar syrup crystal for further processing. To gain fundamental understanding of the physical and chemical processes associated with the clarification process and help design better approaches to improve the clarification of the mixed juice, we explore the fractal behavior of the variables pertinent to the clarification process. We show that the major variables in this key process all show persistent long-range correlations, for time scales up to at least a few days. Persistent long-range correlations amount to unilateral deviations from a preset target. This means that when the process is in a desired mode such that the target variables, color of the produced sugar and its clarity degree, both satisfy preset conditions, they will remain so for a long period of time. However, adversity could happen, in the sense that when they do not satisfy the requirements, the adverse situation may last quite long. These findings have to be explicitly accounted for when designing active controlling strategies to improve the quality of the produced sugar.
Highlights
Sugar has been a highly regarded and widely traded commodity, for the simple reason that sweetness is an essential ingredient of life
To gain fundamental understanding of the physical and chemical processes associated with the clarification process and help design better approaches to improve the clarification of the mixed juice, we explore the fractal behavior of the variables pertinent to the clarification process
Since adaptive fractal analysis (AFA) provides additional advantages over detrended fluctuation analysis (DFA) to deal with signals with arbitrary trends, we only present results of AFA for the variables pertinent to the clarification process of cane sugar production here
Summary
Sugar has been a highly regarded and widely traded commodity, for the simple reason that sweetness is an essential ingredient of life. Sugarcane, and reduced sugar, the mixed juice contains many organic and inorganic nonsugar components, such as colloidal substances, inorganic salts (iron, magnesium, aluminum, calcium, etc.), and pigments. While these nonsugar components are residual nutrients in the sugarcane, they are detrimental to the sugar production. The purpose of the clarification process is to remove as many nonsugar components as possible, improve the purity of the juice, and reduce its viscosity and color values. This is critical for providing high-quality, concentrated sugar syrup crystal to the boiling stage.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
