Effective of Natural Flocculants on Sugarcane Juice Clarification “A Comparative study”

 

Mahadevaiah¹*, Masih Ansari Dezfuly², T.Demappa³

¹Assistant Professor, Dept. of Studies in Sugar Technology, Sir. M.V Post Graduate Centre,

University of Mysore, Tubinakere, Industrial Area, Mandya-571402. India..

²Research scholar, Dept. of Studies in Sugar Technology, Sir. M.V Post Graduate Centre,

University of Mysore, Tubinakere, Industrial Area, Mandya-571402. India.

³Assistant Professor, Department of Studies in Polymer Science, Sir. M.V Post Graduate Centre,

University of Mysore, Tubinakere, Industrial area, Mandya-571402. India.

*Corresponding Author E-mail: mahadevsugar@yahoo.co.in; ansari_1340@yahoo.com; tdemappa2003@yahoo.co.in

One important step in the processing of sugar is the clarification of the sugarcane juice obtained after milling. In practice, the juice is limed so as to produce coagulated suspensions, these settle slowly and it requires a fair amount of time to thicken. Therefore, common practice that natural or synthetic flocculants (or clarifying aids) are added to the limed juice in order to improve settling and compaction of the coagulates, but the use of synthetic flocculant is not permitted in the production of organic food and organic sugar, as only lime can be utilized. In the manufacture of khandsari and gur the cane juice is clarified using the mucilage of plants such as Hibiscus vitifolius, Aloe vera, etc. The present work made an attempt to assess the effect natural flocculants viz Hibiscus vitifolius, Aloe vera on sugarcane varieties selected in Mandya region and results reveals that the natural flocculants have shown good results over the existing commercial flocculant but natural flocculants requires less settling time and turbidity of the clarified juice when compared to commercial flocculant.

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

One important step in the processing of sugar is the clarification of the juice obtained after milling. This procedure is essential to remove impurities which would otherwise interfere with the crystallization of sugar. In practice, the juice is limed so as to produce coagulated suspensions, these settle slowly and will require a fair amount of time to thicken therefore, common practice that natural or synthetic flocculants (or clarifying aids) are added to the limed juice in order to improve settling and compaction of the coagulates. On the other hand the use of synthetic flocculant is not permitted in the production of organic food and organic sugar, as only lime can be utilized.

 

In the manufacture of khandssari and gur the cane juice is clarified using the mucilage¹ of plants such as Hibiscus ficulneus (deola), Hibiscus esculentus (Bhindi), Cadia celcina (sukalai), Bombax malabarium (semal bark), Grewia asiatica (falsa), Arachis hypogeal (ground nut), Recinus communis (castor seed), Aloe vera (Indian aloe), etc. When extracts of such plants were tried out for clarification of cane juice in the sugar industry it was found that extracts of the plant Hibiscus vitrifolius² gave better results and could be used in place of imported polyelectrolytes used as clarifying agents. Jahn³ has reported a spectrum of plant materials with flocculating properties. For instance, the stem of “Ladies finger (Okra)”, the gum from “Anacardiaceae”, and the bark from “Tiliaceae” all have been used for cane juice clarification. In developing countries, the clarifying property of the seeds of “Moringa oleifera” for food and water purification processes is well known. Krishnamohan⁴ et al have observed that the settling was faster and the mud volume was lesser than in the case of Magnafloc LT-27 and over the blank.

Chauhan⁵ et al have found that gur made from cane juice treated with Hibiscus vitifolius extract had better keeping quality than that made from chemical treated juice. Thangamuthu⁶ has revealed that the supernatant juice obtained by the addition of Hibiscus vitifolius extract was found superior than that of the juice obtained by the addition of chemical flocculant. Sak hoi⁷ et al have indicated that applied at 16% of the seed of drumstick tree on limed juice produced a solution (52%) clearer than one without a flocculant, but the mud produced was twice in volume, and also they have resulted that the fruits of cordial myxa prove to be superior since its solution added at 0.04% produces a clear juice 42% clearer with 9% reduction in mud volume. Xiong⁸ et al have observed that the advantageous properties of the bioflocculant from B. licheniformis such as stable thermal and pH characteristics, a dosing rate comparable to those of chemical flocculants to flocculate suspended solids, and flocculation efficiency in the sugar refinery process, suggest its potential industrial utility.

 

Awing⁹ et al have shown that Cassia alata (natural flocculant) leaves can remove turbidity up to 93.33% at the optimal dosage of 1.0 mL/L. In addition, the potential of Cassia alata leaves to remove other pollutants presence in the river water like suspended solids, ferum, manganese and pH was also identified. Mangale¹⁰ et al have shown that after treatment of water samples with Moringa oleifera (natural flocculant) seed powder were analyzed for different parameter like pH, turbidity, total dissolved solids (TDS), total solids (TS), hardness, chlorides, alkalinity, acidity, most probable number (MPN) means total coliforms and standard plate count (SPC) means total bacterial count. All parameters were reduced with increased dose of Moringa oleifera seed powder except alkalinity and pH. Bergamasco¹¹ et al have indicated that chitosan and Moringa oleifera (natural flocculants) have a potential application as natural coagulants in microfiltration (MF) and ultrafiltration (UF) hybrid processes for treating drinking water with relatively high turbidity. This process can be used reliably to produce drinking water of excellent quality.

 

The present work made an attempt comparison study of natural flocculants between Aleo vera and Hibiscus vitifolius with existing standard commercial flocculant on sugarcane juice clarification and major growing sugarcane variety samples were collected from Mandya region of Karnataka state.

 

MATERIAL AND METHODS:

Different sugarcane varieties (Co-62175, Co-86032, Co-8371, Co-92005 and Co-419) collected from V.C Farm, (Agriculture University Extension centre) Mandya region in Karnataka state of India. The mixed sugarcane juice was extracted by electrically operated crusher and used for determining the various quality parameters such as brix, pol, purity, pH, turbidity and settling time. The water used throughout the experiment was distilled water.

 

Extraction of Aleo vera

Matured succulent leaves of Aleo vera plant were collected and washed with water, the outer skin of the leaves was removed. The white tissue was soaked in water for two to three minutes. The first washing was discarded, then this tissue was squeezed well. The tissue was thrown out and the extract so obtained was taken for the experiment.

 

Extraction of Hibiscus vitifolius

Matured leaves of the plant were collected and washed with water. The leaves were soaked in water and squeezed to extract the mucilaginous matter using Rapi Pol Extractor. Then the extract so obtained was taken for the experiment after filtering through a cloth.

 

Preparation of natural and standard flacculants

0.05% solution of Aleo vera, Hibiscus vitifolius and Magnafloc LT-27 were prepared by taking 0.5g of each of them and put into 100ml volumetric flasks separately. 80ml water was added to volumetric flasks. The flasks were stopped and shaken well to dissolve the flacculants. The volumes were then made upto 100ml by using water. Then diluted to ten times with water to give 0.05% solution, for Aleo vera and Hibiscus vitifolius 2ml of 0.05% solution when added to 1 liter of juice corresponds to 1ppm.

 

Procedure

Mixed sugarcane juice was heated to 70^oC then added milk of lime and brought to boil – 100^oC. The boiled limed juice was then poured into graduated cylinders (500CC) and treated with Aleo vera, Hibiscus vitifolius and Magnafloc LT-27.  The content of the cylinders were stirred well.

 

RESULT AND DISCUSSION:

The results have been shown in table 1 and figure 1 and reveals that brix%, pol%, purity%, and pH will be increased by treatment of flocculants. There is significant rise in purity from raw juice to all flocculants especially Hibiscus vitifolius treated juice. Turbidity will be decreased by treatment of flocculants, but by treatment of Aleo vera (natural flocculent) turbidity will be better than Hibiscus vitifolius (other natural flocculant) and Magnafloc LT-27 (standard flocculant). The settling time sugarcane juice was faster by treatment natural flocculants than standard flacculant.

 

In table the results have shown that good result by treatment of Hibiscus vitifolius than other flocculants. Generally results have shown almost same rate for different parameters sugarcane juice clarification by natural and standard flocculants although natural flocculants are best results.

 

Figure 1. Effective of natural and standard flocculants on different parameters sugarcane juice clarification

 

 

Table 1. Effective of natural and standard flocculants on different parameters of mixed juice clarification

Flocculants	Aleo vera	Hibiscus vitifolius	Magnafloc LT-27
Parameters of mixed juice
Brix %	16.32	19.15	17.10
Pol %	13.70	16.10	14.36
Purity %	83.95	84.07	83.98
pH	9.26	9.16	9.11
Turbidity (NTU)	48	50	53
Settling time (min)	23.30	22.40	25.20

 

CONCLUSION:

In the manufacture of organic sugar, with the consequences that mud volume rises in the clarifiers, and cane processing has to be slows down to a minimum or even stopped to allow the muds to settle. Colour of the sugar made may also be unattractive due to the impurities occluded in the crystal. The comparative results of natural and standard flocculants, and also clarifying properties natural flocculants have shown that them can be used in sugar and organic sugar production. Further, natural flocculants extract have a peculiar bleaching action which helps in removing the unwanted colours in the juice and produce golden yellow colour. In addition by treatment natural flocculants the formation of the floc is bigger and quicker so they settle at a faster rate decreasing the retention time. Generally application of this low cost natural flocculants are recommended for eco-friendly.

 

ACKNOWDEGMENT:

The authors expressed their thanks to the University of Mysore for providing the facility to conduct the present research work.

 

REFERENCES:

1.       H.L. Bhagat “A brief outline of the open pan system of white sugar manufacture and the improvements which could be made in the existing methods” Proc. STAI. 4^th, 1935. Pp 107.

2.       K.C. Phillips “Steps in Developing a New Sweetener in T. H. Green” by Ed 1-43 Elsevier Applied Science, London, 1989.

3.       S.A.A.Jahn “Chemotaxonomy of flocculating plant materials and their application for rural water purification in developing countries” Acta Univ. Ups. Symb. Bot. Ups. XXVIII, 1988, (3):pp. 171-185.

4.       N.R. Krishnamohan, and P. Thangamuthu “Aloevera-a new flocculant substitute” 48^th Annual convention. The sugar technologists, Association of India. Kanpur, 1984.

5.       A K. Chauhan, S. Sharma, P. Sharma, R. Maheshwari  “Production of organic sugar employing vegetable agent for sugarcane juice” International Journal of Institutional Pharmacy and Life Sciences 2(2): March-April 2012.

6.       P. Thangamuthu “A vegetable clarifying agent for cane juice clarification” Sugar journal-39^th Annual convention of SISSTA, 2008.

7.       L.W.Sak hoi and S.T.Chi shum “Plant materials as natural flocculants in cane juice clarification” International society of sugarcane technologists. XXIII. ISSCT.congress, New Delhi, 1999, pp. 7-15.

8.       Y. Xiong, Y. Wang, Y. Yu, Q. Li, H. Wang, R. Chen, and N. He “Production and characterization of a novel bioflocculant from Bacillus licheniformis” Applied and environmental microbiology, Vol 76(9), 2010, pp. 2778-2782.

9.       E.R. Awing, A. Anwar, M.I. Siti Rafiqah and O. Suhaimi “Cassia alata as a potential coagulants in water treatment” Res. J. Recent. Sci, Feb 2012, Vol. 1(2), 28-33.

10.     M.S. Mangale, G.S. Chonde and P.D. Raut “Use of Moringa oleifera (Drumstick) seed as natural absorbent and an antimicrobial agent for ground water treatment” Res. J. Recent. Sci 2012, Vol. 1(3), 31-40.

11.     R. Bergamasco, A.M.S. Vieira, L. Nishi, A.A. Araujo and G.F. Silva “Application of Hybrid Process of Coagulation/ Flocculation and Membrane Filtration to Water treatment” Ecological Water Quality – Water Treatment and Reuse, Dr Voudouris (Ed.), 2012.

 

 

Received on 26.06.2013       Modified on 12.07.2013

Accepted on 19.07.2013      © AJRC All right reserved