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ARS Home » Southeast Area » New Orleans, Louisiana » Southern Regional Research Center » Commodity Utilization Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #353235
Research Project: Developing Technologies that Enable Growth and Profitability in the Commercial Conversion of Sugarcane, Sweet Sorghum, and Energy Beets into Sugar, Advanced Biofuels, and Bioproducts

Location: Commodity Utilization Research

Title: Evaluation of hydrogen peroxide as a decolorizer in upstream juice products at a sugarcane factory

Author
item Eggleston, Gillian
item STEWART, DAVID - Alma Plantation, Llc
item MONTES, BELISARIO - Alma Plantation, Llc
item Triplett, Alexa
item St Cyr, Eldwin
item Boone, Stephanie

Submitted to: Meeting Proceedings
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/11/2019
Publication Date: 11/6/2019
Citation: Eggleston, G., Stewart, D., Montes, B., Triplett, A., St Cyr, E., Boone, S. 2019. Evaluation of hydrogen peroxide as a decolorizer in upstream juice products at a sugarcane factory. In: Proceedings of the Advances in Sugar Crop Processing and Conversion 2018 Conference, May 15-18, 2018, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2:194-207.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Compared to sugarcane refineries, very little studies have been undertaken on the use of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) at sugarcane factories to reduce color in upstream products. Trials were undertaken at a Louisiana sugarcane factory to determine the effectiveness of H2O2 dosing on color reduction during juice clarification. By measuring color at pH 4.0, 7.0, 8.5, and 9.0 as well as the color indicator value (color at pH 9.0/color at pH 4.0), it was observed that color formation and removal across clarification was more complicated than previously considered. The direct application of H2O2 (up to 200 ppm per ton of cane) into prelimed juice: (i) suppressed the formation of alkaline degradation processing (ADP) colorants, (ii) increased the removal of high molecular weight (HMW) colorants during settling, and (iii) greatly suppressed the formation of heat-induced, low molecular weight (LMW) colorants during settling. The action of H2O2 was directly related (polynomial trend) to the dose applied and, at a dose of 200 ppm color formation was completely suppressed and even slightly removed. The decolorizing effect of H2O2 diminished, however, between doses of 100 to 200 ppm, indicating there was less techno-economic gain at 200 ppm. Overall, no extra sucrose losses occurred with the addition of H2O2; glucose and fructose concentrations were reduced across clarification but depended on dose of H2O2 applied. H2O2 is typically available as a 50% solution at a current cost of ~US$0.30/lb, which means the cost of adding H2O2 continuously at 100 ppm is prohibitive. Nevertheless, H2O2 is still a processing tool that can be occasionally used to reduce high levels of color during sugarcane juice clarification, such as early in the processing season in Louisiana.