Abstract
A polymeric water-insoluble material, the so called ‘canjica’, was collected in nine Brazilian sugar and alcohol plants. It was found that all the samples were very similar to each other regarding the moisture and variable in ash contents, whereas CHNS analysis showed that they were carbohydrates. Trace amounts of nitrogen and sulphur compounds were also found to be present, and their source were attributed to proteinaceous material from sugarcane juice contaminants. Paper chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis showed that the polymers are formed by repeated glucose moieties bond by 1,6-linkages. Infrared spectroscopy revealed a dextran polysaccharide structure, while X-ray fluorescence determined that various other elements (Ca, Al, Fe, K, Cl, Mn, P and traces of Si and Ti) were also associated with the polymer, in amounts that varied considerably from sample to sample. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the polysaccharide dextran structure while identifying a certain amount of different (polysaccharide) material present in the ‘canjica’.
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