29.12.2013 Views

Lynne Wong's PhD thesis

Lynne Wong's PhD thesis

Lynne Wong's PhD thesis

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

CHAPTER 4. BRIX-FREE WATER IN CANE FIBRES<br />

As mentioned in Chapter 2 (Section 2.2), natural fibres have associated water, which is<br />

separate from the water in the juice and which cannot be removed by mechanical means.<br />

This water is generally termed Brix-free water or hydrated water in South Africa, and<br />

adsorption water or hygroscopic water in Australia. Brix-free water is present in varying<br />

amounts for a particular substance depending on the vapour pressure of water in the<br />

atmosphere and the temperature. Prinsen Geerligs (1897) and Steuerwald (1912) studied<br />

the change in concentration of solutes dissolved in water brought about by the addition of<br />

fibre to the solution. Previous determinations of Brix-free water in cane reported by<br />

Steuerwald (1912), Foster (1962, 1963) and Richardson (1970) gave values ranging from<br />

10% to 50% on fibre.<br />

4.1 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BRIX-FREE WATER IN CANE<br />

The existence of Brix-free water in cane and its unavailability for the dissolution of sucrose<br />

affect milling control and direct cane (or bagasse) analyses. Brix-free water in extraneous<br />

matter, and particularly in dry trash, when present with cane, can inflate the press juice<br />

analytes.<br />

4.1.1 Effect of Brix-free water in cane on milling control<br />

Brix-free water is characterised as water strongly adsorbed onto the cane fibre and<br />

unavailable for the solution of the soluble components present in sugar cane. As a result, it<br />

is incorrect to assume that the mass of juice that can be extracted from cane can be<br />

obtained by deducting the mass of fibre as found by drying, from the mass of the cane<br />

sample from which the juice is extracted. The mass of fibre plus Brix-free water should be<br />

subtracted:<br />

Mass of juice = mass of cane - mass of fibre - mass of Brix-free water<br />

This juice is termed undiluted (or normal) juice and is the juice expressed by the mills or<br />

retained in the bagasse corrected for Brix-free water. For purposes of calculation, it has<br />

the Brix of the primary juice. The concept of Brix-free water expressed as a percentage of

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!