422

International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2012, 47, 422428

Original article Assessment of variables effects on sugar cane juice clarification by carbonation process
Fabiane Hamerski,* Vtor R. da Silva, Marcos L. Corazza, Papa M. Ndiaye & Arislete D. de Aquino
Graduate Program in Food Engineering, Department of Chemical Engineering, Federal University of Parana, PO Box 19011, 81531980 Curitiba, Parana, Brazil (Received 21 May 2011; Accepted in revised form 24 September 2011)

Summary

This paper reports a study of sugar cane juice carbonation and the evaluation of variables eects such as pH, carbonation time and temperature on industrially relevant parameters for the quality of sugar cane juice. Three dierent batches of sugar cane juice were evaluated using a complete two-level factorial design with central point performed in triplicate. From results in this work, it can be seen that the higher sucrose concentrations and lower percentage of total soluble solids and reducing sugars were obtained in claried juices with the maximum values for pH, time and reaction temperature (9.5, 60 min and 80 C). The temperature favoured the removal of starch, phosphate and turbidity. Colour removal reached a maximum of 8893% among the batches. The optimum clarication condition using carbonation procedure can be achieved between 20 and 40 min, at pH values between 8.0 and 9.5 and temperature condition at 80 C.
Carbonation, clarication, sugar cane juice.

Keywords Introduction

The clarication of sugar cane juice is an important process in the sugar production because the success of the clarication is directly related to the performance of subsequent production processes and the quality of the sugar. In the clarication process, nonsugar components (proteins, polysaccharides, gums, minerals and dyes) should be totally removed without sucrose degradation or colour production (Al-Farsi, 2003; Bourzutschky, 2005a). In the sugar industry, the clarication of sugar cane juice is traditionally performed by the sulphitation method. This process consists of the addition of gaseous sulphur dioxide (SO2) into the juice until the pH condition 3.84.2 is reached. Subsequently, neutralisation (pH 7.07.2) is achieved by the addition of hydrated lime (Ca(OH)2). The alkalinisation of the sulphite juice leads to the formation of calcium sulphite, which precipitates and adsorbs undesirable compounds from the juice. Then, the juice is heated to 100105 C and sent through sedimenters to remove the precipitates (Honig, 1953; Chen & Chou, 1993). Some problems have been restricted the use of the sulphitation method, particularly those regarding food safety standards, which generally require lower residual levels of sulphur-based compounds in food (Bourzutschky, 2005b; Steindl & Doherty, 2005). Addition*Correspondent: E-mail: fabianehamerski@gmail.com

ally, sucrose is lost in the process by inversion, owing to the low pH and low solubility of SO2 in sugar cane juice (Chou et al., 2006). Moreover, the industrial use of SO2 leads to environmental problems, such as acid rain, an uncomfortable workplace environment in factories and metal corrosion in industrial installations. Thus, carbonation can be a viable option because it replaces the use of sulphur and can be used for the sequestration of CO2 excess, which is freely available in the sugar and alcohol industries (Saska et al., 2010). The carbonation process is commonly used in the renement of raw sugar and the purication of beet juice; it is rarely used in the clarication of sugar cane juice. This process consists from hydrated lime and carbon dioxide (CO2) addition into sugar cane juice under controlled conditions, which form a crystalline calcium carbonate precipitate. This precipitate adsorbs and incorporates the colloidal and insoluble matter, inorganic compounds and dye substances. Subsequently, the precipitates can be removed from the claried juice by ltration (Honig, 1953; Chen & Chou, 1993; Moodley et al., 2003). The main subject of this work was to assess the clarication of sugar cane juice by carbonation and evaluate the eect of pH, time and temperature carbonation on concentrations of total soluble solids, reducing sugars (RS), sucrose, total hardness, conductivity ashes and starch, colour, inorganic phosphate and turbidity removal, which can be considered most important parameters in the claried sugar cane juice.

doi:10.1111/j.1365-2621.2011.02857.x
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Materials and methods

Table 1 Experimental conditions of the complete factorial design (2 ) Treatments pH 6.5 9.5 6.5 9.5 6.5 9.5 6.5 9.5 8.0 8.0 8.0 Time (min) 20 20 60 60 20 20 60 60 40 40 40 Temperature (C) 40 40 40 40 80 80 80 80 60 60 60

Materials

In this study, three batches of sugar cane juice extracted in small mills from dirty sugar cane of dierent origins were used. The juices were characterised and stored in plastic containers at )10 C prior to the beginning of the experiment. Carbon dioxide of 99.995% purity was used (WHITE MARTINS). Hydrated lime (calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) was prepared from the solubilisation of 4.43% (w v) calcium oxide (CaO; 95% purity; VETEC, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) in distilled water, resulting in a solution with an apparent density of 1.036. An anionic polymer, MAGNAFLOC LT27, was used to aid precipitation.
Methods Carbonation tests

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9a 10a 11a
a

Central point.

ashes, International Commission for Uniform Methods of Sugar Analysis (ICUMSA) colour, total hardness, inorganic phosphate and total soluble solids were performed in the claried juice. A complete factorial (23) experimental design with triplicate central point was used to study the eects of pH, time and temperature on the carbonation of three batches of sugar cane juice. Table 1 shows the association between the levels ()1 and +1) of the variables that dened the experiments (Calado & Montgomery, 2003). Variables levels pH, time and temperature were dened in the preliminary tests. The lower level ()1) of the variable pH was xed 6.5, because with pH lower than 6, little precipitate was formed and sugar cane juice clarication was insucient (Hamerski et al., 2011). However, the maximum level (+1) was pH 9.5, at pH >9.5 an excessive amount of lime was necessary to maintain pH constant. Reaction times studied, correspond to a minimum of 20 min and maximum of 60 min. The eect of temperature in the carbonation reaction was evaluated at 40 C and 80 C, minimum ()1) and maximum (+1), respectively. A triplicate central point dened by intermediate conditions of each variable was conducted to evaluate the repeatability of experiments.
Statistical analysis Experimental design

The experiments were carried out in the apparatus schematically as shown in Fig. 1. Initially, 500 g of sugar cane juice was heated at dierent temperatures listed in Table 1. The temperature was kept constant throughout the process using a thermostatic bath (TECNAL TE-184, Sao Paulo, Brazil). Ca(OH)2 was added to the juice making the pH constant, in accordance with the desirable experiment condition. Then, gaseous CO2 was bubbled into the juice, through a gas disperser in the reactor bottom, at a constant ow rate of 2 L min)1 and an average pressure of 850 psi. The hydrated lime was added to the juice to keep the pH constant throughout the process. A digital pHmeter (MICRONAL, B-474, Sao Paulo, Brazil) coupled to the system was used to monitor the pH during the experiment. After the reaction, 1 mL of polyelectrolyte was added to the carbonated juice. The mixture was allocated at room temperature for 60 min for sedimentation of the precipitates formed. Then, the physicochemical analyses, RS, sucrose, starch, conductivity

V-2 V-1 4 5 6 3 1 2 7

The experimental data obtained were statistically analysed (anova) by the F test, and the averages were compared by Tukeys test using a 5% signicance level (P < 0.05). The software statistica 7.0 (Stat-Soft, Tulsa, OK, USA) was used.
Analytical determinations

Figure 1 Scheme of the carbonation laboratory system: 1-CO2;

2-Thermostatic bath; 3-Reactor; 4-Gas disperser; 5-Combined electrode for pH measure; 6-Temperature probe (PT 100); 7-pH meter; V-1Valve with ow and pressure indicator (SR 312); V-2-Needle valve.

Physical and chemical analyses were performed in triplicate and the results are expressed on total soluble solids percentage. The methods used for the analyses of acidity, starch, conductivity ashes, ICUMSA colour, total hardness, inorganic phosphate, total soluble solids

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Sugar cane juice clarication by carbonation F. Hamerski et al.

and pH in the sugar cane juice are described in Copersucar (2001) and are based on the methods recommended by the ICUMSA. The levels of RS and sucrose were determined by the colorimetric method described by Miller (1959). To determine the sucrose concentration, we quantied the concentration of total reducing sugars (TRS) from the acid hydrolysis of sugar cane juice. The sucrose concentration was obtained by the dierence between the TRS and RS values multiplied by 0.95 (conversion factor of glucose to sucrose) (Instituto
Table 2 Characteristics of the raw sugar cane juices Parameters pH Acetic acid (% mg g)1) Total soluble solids (Brix) Reducing sugars (g (100 g TSS))1) Sucrose (g (100 g TSS))1) Starch (mg (100 g TSS))1) Phosphate (mg (100 g TSS))1) Ash (g (100 g TSS))1) Colour (IU) Hardness (mg CaO (100 g TSS))1) Turbidity (NTU) Batch 1 5.52 0.02b 122.91 3.61a 17.20 0.02c 5.54 0.21a 83.04 0.74a 162.92 0.41c 430.94 3.47a 2.14 0.01a 31.367 0.01b 197.15 0.04c 86.00 0.50c Batch 2 5.56 0.02b 79.16 3.61b 19.20 0.02b 2.53 0.06c 83.87 0.64a 279.57 0.03b 257.43 1.54b 0.75 0.00b 47.233 0.02a 235.72 0.24b 92.40 0.53b Batch 3 5.69 0.02a 66.66 3.61c 21.00 0.02a 3.18 0.03b 79.20 0.19b 355.66 0.83a 110.31 0.01c 0.75 0.00b 48.333 0.01a 242.60 0.38a 330.00 2.00a

Adolfo Lutz, 2008). The turbidity was determined in a bench turbidimeter microprocessor (DEL LAB DLM2000B, Sao Paulo, Brazil).
Results and discussion

Raw juice characteristics

The three batches of sugar cane juice showed signicant dierences in the physical and chemical characteristics of the raw juices according to anova analysis (Table 2). As pointed out in the literature this result was expected because the juice composition is inuenced by several factors, including the sugar cane variety, geographical location, climatic conditions and juice extraction method (Kampen, 1997; Marques et al., 2001; Doherty & Rackemann, 2009).
Total soluble solids, reducing sugars and sucrose

IU, ICUMSA units; NTU, nephelometric turbidimeter units; TSS, total soluble solids. Different letters in the same row represent statistically different means according to the Tukeys test (P < 0.05).

Table 3 presents the mean values and standard deviations for total soluble solids (TSS) concentration, RS and sucrose of claried juices under dierent carbonation conditions. From results presented in Table 3 it can be seen that the total soluble solids concentration presented lower values in claried juices than in the respective raw juices. This is owing to the removal of soluble components and the dilution of the juice using hydrated lime. However, in Treatments 5 and 7, which were performed at higher temperature (80 C) and lower pH (6.5), the eect of the juice concentration was more observed in comparison with the eects of TSS removal and dilution. This suggests that there was less TSS removal and dilution of the juice due to the low CO2 adsorption at pH 6.5 and a lower consumption of

Table 3 TSS, RS and sucrose concentrations in claried sugar cane juices Batch 1 Treatments 1 (6.5-20-40) 2 (9.5-20-40) 3 (6.5-60-40) 4 (9.5-60-40) 5 (6.5-20-80) 6 (9.5-20-80) 7 (6.5-60-80) 8 (9.5-60-80) 9 (8.0-40-60) 10 (8.0-40-60) 11 (8.0-40-60) TSS 17.00 14.40 16.60 10.60 18.50 13.60 18.60 10.80 12.60 13.00 13.00 0.02 0.02d 0.02c 0.02h 0.02a 0.02e 0.02a 0.02h 0.02g 0.02f 0.02f
b

Batch 2 RS 4.92 4.64 5.20 4.79 4.91 3.50 5.57 3.11 4.62 4.67 4.69 0.07 0.03d 0.01b 0.06cd 0.01c 0.06e 0.07a 0.09f 0.07d 0.06d 0.07d
c

Batch 3 RS Sucrose 0.01 0.01d 0.02b 0.01e 0.02a 0.03c 0.03b 0.02f 0.03d 0.02e 0.02e
a

Sucrose 86.19 85.65 86.36 85.73 83.46 85.45 85.61 85.72 83.62 84.61 83.82 0.57 0.81ab 0.49a 0.62ab 0.93b 0.29ab 0.08ab 1.13ab 1.43b 0.94ab 0.19b
a

TSS 18.80 16.60 19.00 14.00 21.20 18.00 23.20 12.40 16.20 16.00 16.40 0.02 0.02e 0.02c 0.02g 0.02b 0.02d 0.02a 0.02h 0.02f 0.02f 0.02ef
c

TSS
c

RS 0.02 0.02e 0.02c 0.02h 0.02b 0.02d 0.02a 0.02f 0.02g 0.02g 0.02g
c

Sucrose 0.01 0.01c 0.00c 0.03c 0.02a 0.01e 0.04b 0.01f 0.05d 0.04c 0.05c
ab

2.09 1.63 1.91 1.43 2.04 1.76 1.93 1.04 1.62 1.48 1.46

84.04 84.69 84.72 84.36 85.82 81.99 84.95 88.87 84.80 84.37 84.82

0.13 0.29bc 0.32bc 0.63bc 0.06b 0.21d 1.58bc 0.07a 0.42bc 0.27bc 0.57bc

20.40 18.60 20.60 16.00 23.60 19.80 24.30 17.60 17.00 17.00 17.20

2.61 2.36 2.38 2.33 2.63 2.05 2.53 1.47 2.20 2.38 2.33

79.50 79.35 82.06 80.77 80.30 81.13 80.92 82.44 80.29 80.02 80.35

0.66de 0.20e 0.02ab 0.87bcde 0.21cde 0.08abc 0.11bcd 0.92a 0.45cde 0.64cde 0.39cde

TSS, total soluble solids. Different letters in the same column represent statistically different means according to the Tukeys test (P < 0.05). Experimental conditions: pH, time (min) and temperature (C). TSS (Brix); RS and Sucrose (g (100 g TSS))1).

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hydrated lime, this can also be seen in Table 4 from de quantity of lime used in the treatments. The reactions at maximum pH, temperature and time consumed greater amount of lime in all batches studied. It can be explained because the CO2 addition into a highly alkaline medium demanding greater amount of lime to maintain the pH reaction at a constant value. The results of this study revealed that the RS concentration decreased in the claried juices, which is similar to the results obtained by Aoki (1987) and Moodley et al. (2003) in their study of sugar cane juice carbonation. These components need attention because they can be converted into colourless compounds (organic acids) or generate products that can polymerise (Maillard reaction) and form coloured compounds of high molecular mass, which are detrimental to the quality of sugar (Eggleston & Vercellotti, 2000; Bourzutschky, 2005b). We found that higher pH values, longer reaction times and higher temperatures of carbonation (Treatment 8) led to lower percentages of RS in claried juices for the three batches evaluated in this work (Table 3). Although the highest level of RS was observed in dierent treatment conditions among the batches, all of the treatments were at pH 6.5. This trend is owing to the degradation of monosaccharides, which is favoured under high temperature and alkaline conditions (Eggleston & Vercellotti, 2000; Farine et al., 2000). Moreover, Coca et al. (2004) have reported that the presence of divalent cations, such as calcium and magnesium, accelerate the decomposition of monosaccharides, which emphasises the importance of the carbonation pH for this variable; these results indicate that higher pH values require greater additions of lime to the medium. It is noteworthy that sucrose losses were not detected, because the sucrose concentrations in the claried juices were higher than those in the raw juices. This is owing to the removal of impurities from the juice and reduction in the RS percentage. Higher percentages of sucrose indicate that the claried juice had higher purity. In batches 2 and 3, the highest pH, longest reaction time
Table 4 Quantity of lime used in the treatments (L (100 kg juice) ) Treatments

and highest temperature conditions produced the highest levels of sucrose; however, in batch 1, the percentages of sucrose were very similar among all treatments.
Starch and phosphate removal

Figure 2 shows the percentage of the starch removed. The minimum values varied among the batches from approximately 66% to 72% and corresponded to treatments with the lowest temperature in this study (40 C). On the other hand, the maximum percentages of removal of approximately 99% were reached in dierent treatments of each batch with higher temperatures (60 or 80 C). It was observed that temperature had a signicant eect on the removal of starch, where higher temperatures lead to higher percentages of starch removal, which were almost independent of the pH and time of carbonation. According to Eggleston et al. (2002), heating of the juice allows the starch to gelatinise, and the gelatinised starch is incorporated into the akes of calcium carbonate along with denatured proteins. These compounds should preferentially be precipitated and totally removed from the juice because the presence of starch in the claried juice slows crystallisation in cookers and decreases the ltration rates at reneries. The maximum percentages of phosphate removal, shown in Fig. 3, corresponded to the highest temperature treatments (80 C) and varied from 80% to 93% among the batches. On the other hand, the lowest percentages of phosphate (63 at 74%) were removed in the treatments with the lowest temperature (40 C) and pH (6.5). Among all of the batches, the lowest percentages of phosphate removal were obtained in batch 3 because the concentration of phosphate in the raw juice was also the lowest among the batches. According to Jourani et al. (1995), the precipitation of phosphate

100
)1

Batches: 1 2

Batch 1 3.80 19.60 4.60 43.40 2.20 35.60 4.20 80.20 36.20 39.00 38.20

Batch 2 2.80 11.80 2.80 33.40 2.00 20.00 2.00 76.00 23.00 21.20 21.40

Batch 3 2.40 12.80 2.40 29.80 1.40 19.80 1.80 62.20 26.60 28.00 24.20

90 Starch (% removed)

1 (6.5-20-40) 2 (9.5-20-40) 3 (6.5-60-40) 4 (9.5-60-40) 5 (6.5-20-80) 6 (9.5-20-80) 7 (6.5-60-80) 8 (9.5-60-80) 9 (8.0-40-60) 10 (8.0-40-60) 11 (8.0-40-60)

80

70

60

50 0

5 6 7 Treatments

10

11

12

Experimental conditions: pH, time (min) and temperature (C). Figure 2 Starch removal.

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100

Batches: 1 2

100
3

Batches: 1 2

90 Phosphate (% removed) Colour (% removed) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Treatments 8 9 10 11 12

90

80

80

70

70

60

60

50 0

50 0

5 6 7 Treatments

10

11

12

Figure 3 Phosphate removal.

Figure 4 Colour removal.

depends on its initial concentration, and low initial percentages lead to less precipitation. We observed that temperature had a greater eect on the removal of phosphate and may be related to its precipitation mechanism. According to Grenwood et al. (2007), the removal of phosphate occurs by precipitation in the form of hydroxyapatite, Ca5(PO4)3OH. However, during spontaneous precipitation, an amorphous calcium phosphate is formed rst, which turns into hydroxyapatite through an autocatalytic mechanism. Higher temperatures favour this conversion by increasing the solubility of amorphous calcium phosphate, which accelerates the conversion into hydroxyapatite and phosphate removal.
Colour removal

removal of colour, exemplies this phenomenon. Because this batch of raw sugar cane juice had a higher concentration of RS, carbonation induced greater degradation and formation of coloured compounds and, consequently, removed a lower percentage of colour compared with the dierent batches. However, in batches 2 and 3, which had lower concentrations of RS in the raw juice, this treatment had the two highest percentages of colour removal, which highlights the importance of the characteristics of the raw juice for process performance.
Turbidity removal

The colour removal is one of the most important parameters in the clarication of sugar cane juice and aects both the process control and the quality and price of sugar. According to the data presented in Fig. 4, in batches 2 and 3, the highest percentages of colour removal (9193%) were obtained in treatments with higher pH and temperature levels and shorter reaction times. The treatments with the lowest levels of these variables removed the lowest percentages of colour. However, in the juice of batch 1, carbonation removed the maximum and minimum percentages (88% and 63%, respectively) of colour with the intermediate and maximum levels, respectively, of carbonation conditions. Higher alkaline conditions (pH 9.5) associated with the highest temperature (80 C) favoured the removal of colour and depended on the reaction time and the concentration of RS in the raw juice. When the juice was reacted in these conditions for a long period, the degradation of RS was favoured, which creates coloured compounds. Consequently, a lower percentage of coloured compounds was removed. Treatment 8 in the rst batch, which had the worst performance for the

Turbidity is one of the main parameters used to assess the performance of the clarication process because it is related to the presence of nonsugars and suspended materials (gums, starch and proteins) in the juice. The removal of turbidity is indicative of the removal of these components (Eggleston, 2000). The data on the turbidity removal, presented in Fig. 5, indicated that carbonation is eective for the removal of suspended materials, given that the minimum reduction in the turbidity indices varied among the batches from 90% to 95%. Among the three batches, the maximum turbidity removal was 99%. Moodley et al. (2003) also obtained excellent turbidity removal percentages (95%), conrming that the clarication process of sugar cane juice by carbonation has great potential. We observed that treatments with the maximum temperature (80 C) removed the highest percentages of turbidity and that the pH and reaction time had little eect on this variable.
Hardness and ashes

The data on total hardness, expressed in terms of the calcium oxide (CaO) concentration (Table 5), revealed

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100 98 Turbidity (% removed) 96 94 92 90 88

Batches: 1 2

5 6 7 Treatments

10

11

12

Figure 5 Turbidity removal.

that the association between the pH and temperature also inuenced the level of hardness. Among the three batches, the lowest total hardness levels were observed in claried juices at pH 9.5 and a temperature of 80 C. The highest values were obtained at pH 6.5, with a temperature of 40 C and a reaction time of 60 min. The hardness of the claried juice is owing to the presence of calcium ions, which mainly originate from the addition of lime. At basic pH values, the solubility of CO2 is favoured, which releases carbonic acid to react with calcium hydroxide. A precipitate of calcium carbonate is formed, which removes the hardness of the juice. At lower pH values, calcium ions become available in the juice owing to the low solubility of CO2 and contribute to higher levels of hardness. Low levels of hardness are preferred in the claried juice because high levels of hardness in the juice can lead
Table 5 Hardness and ash in claried sugar cane juice Batch 1 Treatments 1 (6.5-20-40) 2 (9.5-20-40) 3 (6.5-60-40) 4 (9.5-60-40) 5 (6.5-20-80) 6 (9.5-20-80) 7 (6.5-60-80) 8 (9.5-60-80) 9 (8.0-40-60) 10 (8.0-40-60) 11 (8.0-40-60) Hardness 532.71 117.80 681.21 106.70 399.99 83.24 487.05 52.43 134.71 130.64 130.55 0.76b 0.17g 0.94a 0.20h 0.86d 0.14i 0.57c 0.11j 0.07e 0.24f 0.27f Ash 2.55 2.17 2.59 2.12 2.53 2.31 2.53 2.02 2.09 1.99 2.09 0.01b 0.01e 0.01a 0.01f 0.01c 0.01d 0.01c 0.01h 0.01g 0.01i 0.00g Batch 2 Hardness 572.14 238.63 685.26 121.13 347.19 31.41 366.12 45.70 69.90 70.78 68.99

to build-up in the evaporators, which consequently decreases the capacity of heat transfer, increases the wear of the equipments and increases the requirement for maintenance. In relation to the ash concentration (Table 5), treatments with the intermediate levels of pH, time and temperature (8.0, 40 min and 60 C, respectively) led to the lowest percentages of ash in the claried juices, while the highest values among all batches were obtained in Treatment 3. We observed that clarication at pH 6.5 is not recommended because the sugar cane juices produced at low pH contained the highest concentrations of ash, indicating that there was a low eciency of salt removal. Eggleston (2000) stated that the presence of high concentrations of ash in claried juices has a negative impact on the quality and price of sugar because it is a characteristic of lower purity and consequently a lower market value. The eects of the pH, time and temperature of carbonation on the quality parameters of claried sugar cane juice indicated that this clarication process could be eective between pH 8.0 and 9.5, a reaction time of 2040 min and at a minimum temperature of 80 C. Honig (1953) describes that for better performance of carbonation, the process should be conducted at pH above 8 and higher temperature. At this pH levels, carbonation resulted in claried juices with higher percentages of sucrose, lower concentrations of RS, lower values of hardness and lower amounts of ashes. Moreover, the highest temperature resulted in greater removal of starch, phosphate and turbidity without requiring the maximum reaction time used in the study. The association between these variables and these conditions also favoured the removal of colour and limited the

Batch 3 Ash 1.33 0.79 1.51 0.66 1.13 0.75 1.00 0.88 0.63 0.65 0.66 0.01b 0.01f 0.01a 0.01h 0.01c 0.01g 0.01d 0.01e 0.01j 0.01i 0.01h Hardness 609.60 182.34 631.96 35.43 431.97 57.23 468.01 32.23 133.04 132.88 131.69 0.51b 0.33e 0.83a 0.10i 0.58d 0.02h 0.27c 0.08j 0.24f 0.06f 0.12g Ash 1.40 0.80 1.60 0.67 1.12 0.94 1.16 0.86 0.67 0.70 0.67 0.01b 0.01g 0.01a 0.01i 0.01d 0.01e 0.01c 0.01f 0.01i 0.01h 0.01i

1.35b 0.36e 1.25a 0.18f 0.26d 0.05j 0.33c 0.14i 0.08hg 0.16g 0.15h

TSS, total soluble solids. Different letters in the same column represent statistically different means according to the Tukeys test (P < 0.05). Experimental conditions: pH, time (min) and temperature (C). Hardness (mg CaO (100 g TSS))1); Ash (g (100 g TSS))1).

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formation of coloured compounds, owing to the shorter reaction time between the RS of the juice and the alkaline medium. These eects depended on the characteristics of the raw juice and were enhanced in juice with higher concentrations of RS. Thus, our results highlight the importance of the control of process variables and evaluation of the raw material and reveal the complexity of the control and standardisation of sugar cane juice clarication.
Conclusions

From experimental results obtained in this work, it can be seen that the clarication of sugar cane juice by carbonation removed starch, phosphate, colour, turbidity and degraded RS. The maximum levels of pH (9.5), time (60 min) and temperature (80 C) of carbonation resulted in claried juices with higher percentages of sucrose and lower concentrations of total soluble solids, RS, hardness and ashes. Higher temperatures increased the percentage of starch and turbidity removal. Carbonation at 60 and 80 C removed 99% of the starch and turbidity, regardless of the pH and reaction time. The maximum percentages of phosphate (80-93%) were removed in the carbonation experiments with the minimum pH (6.5) and maximum temperature (80 C). Carbonation removed the maximum colour percentages of 8893%. The carbonation reaction at pH 9.5 with a temperature of 80 C and for 20 min favoured the removal of colour from raw juices with lower concentrations of RS. The best results for the evaluated quality parameters for the clarication of sugar cane juice by carbonation varied in relation to the pH, time and temperature. We found that clarication by the carbonation reaction had some tendency to the best performance, highlighting the pH values between 8.0 and 9.5, reaction durations between 20 and 40 min and a minimum temperature of 80 C.
Acknowledgments

We are thankful for nancial support provided by FINEP SEBRAE and for a scholarship provided by CAPES and CNPQ.
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International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2012

2011 The Authors International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2011 Institute of Food Science and Technology