Sugar cane juice concentration via CO₂ gas hydrate formation

Abstract

Sugar cane juice concentration via evaporation is the traditional method, though the downside in this technique is the product loss due to sucrose inversion. Gas hydrate separation is an emerging technology applied in desalination, carbon capture, and in this study, for concentrating fruit juice by trapping the water in the form of crystalline cages. A 750 cm 3 hydrate reactor was used for hydrate formation experiments to concentrate the sugar cane juice, with a sampling of the concentrate to determine the final solids content. Hydrate formation experiments showed the successful concentration of a 0.12 mass fraction feed to approximately 0.56 mass fraction using four batchwise concentration stages. A comparison of the energy usage between the evaporation train as used in sugar factories and a single batch hydrate formation stage, to concentrate a 0.12 mass fraction feed to 0.30 mass fraction showed an energy reduction of approximately 20% for the hydrate method.