Lynne Wong's PhD thesis

4.7.4. Estimated Brix-free water content of reconstituted cane leaves and cane stalk
Igathinathane et al. (2005), after measuring the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) of
corn components, namely, stalk skin and stalk pith, proposed that EMC of reconstituted
corn stalk could be estimated from the sum of the dry mass fraction and the measured
EMC of each of the two components.
Thus:
M st = ׳D ss M ss + ׳D sp M sp where M st is the estimated EMC of the stalk (% db), ׳D ss and ׳D sp
are the dry matter mass fraction of stalk skin and stalk pith components, M ss and M sp are the
observed EMC of stalk skin and stalk pith component (% db) respectively.
Similarly for sugar cane component parts, it would be possible to estimate Brix-free water
value of reconstituted dry leaf from the dry mass fraction of dry leaf fibre and dry leaf
fines, and their measured constituents Brix-free water values. In so doing, it is assumed
that the Brix-free water content is additive, and that the values in the separated components
represented the values of these components in the intact state. The same can be done to
estimate Brix-free water value of green leaf from the dry mass fraction of green leaf fibre
and green leaf fines, and their measured constituents Brix-free water values.
Thus:
m dl = ׳D dF m dF + ׳D df m df
and
m gl = ׳D gF m gF + ׳D gf m gf
where ׳D dF , ׳D df , ׳D gF and ׳D gf are the dry mass fractions of dry leaf fibre, dry leaf fines,
green leaf fibre and green leaf fines, m dl and m gl are the estimated Brix-free water values of
reconstituted dry leaf and reconstituted green leaf, m lF , m df , m gF and m gf are the measured
Brix-free water values of dry leaf fibre, dry leaf fines, green leaf fibre and green leaf fines.
In a similar way, it would be possible to reconstitute cane stalk from the dry mass fraction
of cane stalk fibre, stalk pith, rind fibre and rind fines, and their observed Brix-free water
values.
Thus:
m st = ׳D sF m sF + ׳D sp m sp + ׳D rF m rF + ׳D rf m rf