Lynne Wong's PhD thesis

A sugar refractometer (see Section 2.1.2) was needed to measure the Brix of the washings
from the fibre cake to ensure no residual Brix remained in the extracted fibre.
A selection of three sieves with openings of 2 mm, 1.18 mm and 38 μm were assembled on
top of each other. The top two sieves served to retain the fibre and the bottom sieve of 38
μm, the pith.
Because of the large number of samples required to be dried, a large capacity industrial
oven equipped with a thermostat was required (Fig 3.8).
Figure 3.8. Industrial drying oven.
3.4.3 Method of fibre extraction from the sugar cane plant
When the three replicates (each consisting of four stalks) of the four varieties aged 52
weeks were delivered at the laboratory, for each sample (a total of 12), the number of dry
leaves and green leaves were noted, separated from the stalks and weighed. The cane tops,
after being detached from the stalks at the point where they naturally broke off from the
stalks, were weighed. All the nodes were removed, weighed and discarded (this was done
because the nodes could not be separated into homogeneous fibres and proved difficult to
disintegrate). The rind was peeled off longitudinally from the stalk. The masses of the
tops, rind and peeled stalk were determined.
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