Introduction

Losses in sugar recovery doesnt take place only in the sugar milling process but it already starts at the moment the cane stalk was cut. The post-harvest part of the sugar industry which is often neglected have a large effect on the quality of the cane stalks being processed and then also to the sugar quality and over-all recovery. The sugarcane plant once severed to the ground already start losing the capacity to hold its stored sucrose due to intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The rate of the deterioration of sugarcanes accelerates due to high ambient temperature, kill-to-mill delays, pre-harvest burning and microbial infestations (Solomon, 2000). Also the increased amount of extraneous matter such as tops, trash and mud also have a large impact on the sugar recovery loss. The cutting system and the sugarcane variety increases the amount of these unwanted materials which in turn increasing the amount of fiber causing decreased mill capacity, factory performance and over-all recovery. Just after 8 days in the field, 11% of cane weight is lost due to evaporation and after 14 days, as high as 48% of sugar may be lost. Post-harvest sugar loss is one of the major factors for low sugar recoveries in many countries and it causes serious economic consequences affecting the players in the sugar industry. Therefore, knowledge on the effects of sugarcane deterioration and amount of extraneous materials provides valuable information for the assessment of strategies for minimization of sucrose losses.

Sugarcane deterioration is caused by enzymatic, chemical and microbial agents and their effects continue to increase as time passes. There are two types of processes concerning the bio-deterioration of the harvested cane(Lionet, 1986). The first process is an intrinsic factor and caused by inversion of sucrose by the enzyme invertase which occurs naturally in the cane which is activated after harvesting especially when the ambient temperature is high (Solomon, et.al., 1986). The invertase converts sucrose in to invert sugars like glucose and fructose which cannot be crystallized, thus lowering the purity. Chemical inversion contributes to 13% of the total sucrose loss. The enzyme-catalyzed chemical reaction of the inversion of sugar is shown below:

The second process, which predominates in wet and warm weather and can cause serious sucrose losses involves the infection of polysaccharide producing bacteria from the field such as Leuconostoc mesenteroides. These microorganisms enter through the cut ends of the cane and has the ability to synthesize alpha glucan polysaccharides or dextran from sucrose through an extracellular enzyme called dextransucrase (Solomon, et.al., 1986). These microorganisms are always present in the green cane and can be re-infestation can happen due to rain, wind, insect carriers and direct soil contamination. Cellfree enzymes including both the natural and cellular microbial invertases contributes 25 % on the total sucrose loss and 62% is caused by further microbial growth during the milling process. Burning of canes also causes the splitting of the stalk and seeping of the juice thereby facillitating infection of these microorganisms (Lionet, 1986). The gradual loss of sucrose due to burning ranges from 3.5 % to 20.5%. The two reactions below show the Mechanism for the cleavage of sucrose and the formation of an (1,6)-glycosidic bond by dextransucrase.

The polysaccharide dextran not just affects the sugar recovery but also affects the filtration, evaporation, and crystallization during the sugar manufacturing (Bhatia, et. al.). The extent of these synthesis reaction is affected by geographic location, climate, cane variety, quality of cane, cut-to-crush delays, climate and method of harvest.

To minimize capital cost, sometimes, the installation of trash separation equipments or further laborious manual removal of extraneous materials in cane is being avoided. Although this can minimize capital cost, these measures also increases the amount of fiber being brought into the mill which in turn will make the cost of factory operations higher in terms of reduced payloads, mill capacity and factory performance (Reid, et. al., 1989). Studies conducted in Louisiana, USA have found out that for every 10% of extraneous matter on the harvested cane, there is an increase of 1.8% of fiber in cane, are reduction of 3.7% in juice extraction and a decrease of 0.9% in juice sucrose (Larrahondo, et. al., 2009). The extraneous materials causes greater pol losses in molases, bagasse and mud thus reducing the sugar recovery. Higher trash levels increases the loading of soluble impurities entering the cane supply which causes increased molasses production and thereby also increasing the pol losses in molasses. Higher C molasses purities also occurred and these are mainly attributed to a worsening of exhaustion in the high grade massecuites and a subsequent increase in C massecuite purity. Higher pol loss in bagasse also happens because of the greater quantity of bagasse and this pol loss can be minimized by adding the required imbibition water at satisfactory levels (Kent et. al., 2010). This exercise aims to calculate the sugar loss caused by sugarcane deterioration and trash in terms of over-all recovery and its peso equivalence and also highlight the importance of timely delivery and processing of clean, mature and fresh canes on overall recovery.

References: LARRAHONDO, J.E., CASTILLO E.F., PERALTA Y., JARAMILLO, A., PALMA A., BRICENO C., GIRALDO F. (2009). Impact of extraneous matter on post-harvest sucrose losses and quality parameters in sugarcane. Sugar Tech, 11(2), 171-175. SOLOMON S. (2000). Post-harvest cane deterioration and its milling consequences. Sugar Tech, 2(1&2), 1-18. SOLOMON S., BANERJI R., SHRIVASTAVA A.K., SINGH P., SINGH I., VERMA M., PRAJAPATI C.P., SAWNANI A. (2006). Post-harvest deterioration of sugarcane and chemical methods to minimize sucrose losses. Sugar Tech, 8(1), 74-78.

BHATIA S., JYOTI, UPPAL S.K., THIND K.S., BATTA S.K. (2009). Sugar Tech, 11(2), 154-160. WOOD R.A., DU TOIT J.L., BRUIJN J. (1972). Deterioration losses in whole stalk sugarcane. Proceedings of the South African Sugar Technologists Association, 151-157. LIONNET G.R.E. (1986). Post-harvest deterioration of whole stalk sugarcane. Proceedings of the South African Sugar Technologists Association, 52-57. REID M.J., LIONNET G.R.E. (1989) The effect of tops and trash on cane milling based on trials at maidstone, 3-6. KENT G.A., MOLLER D.J., SCROOPE P.D., BROADFOOT R., (2010). The effect of whole crop processing on sugar recovery and sugar quality. Proceedings of the Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, 32, 559-572.