Age of the Sugarcane seed cane crop at harvest for seed purpose shall be 6 to 8 months and 8 to 10 months for the sowing in tropics and sub-tropics respectively, Sugarcane seed cane material undamaged and reasonably clean.
Each node of Sugarcane seed cane shall bear on one sound bud. The number of nodes without sound bud shall not exceed 5% ( by number) of the total number of buds per Sugarcane seed cane.
The number of buds, which have swollen up or have projected beyond one centimeter from the rind surface shall not exceed 5% (by number) of the total number of buds.
After crushing of SUGARCANE in SUGAR MILLS and extraction of juice from prepared cane by milling, discarded fibrous residual matter of cane which come to about 28% to 30% by weight of cane, called bagasse. BAGASSE is obtained as SUGARCANE residue. It contains around 50% moisture and 2% SUGAR and balance is fibrous material. Bagasse is very commonly used as fuel in boilers in the SUGAR MILLS for production of steam as well as electrical power i.e. COGENERATION. The steam is used in the Processing of SUGARCANE to SUGAR. It is used in Prime Movers and also in Steam Turbines for Production of Electrical Power for running electrical motors and other power requirements of the SUGAR MILLS and SUGAR MILLS COLONY. The surplus power from SUGAR INDUSTRY is sold to State Electricity Boards in its GRID for distribution.
Bagasse is used as Raw material by the Paper Industry for Production of Fine Quality paper. Bagasse and wood fibre are made into building particle board by a process analogous to paper making.
Molasses is a dark brown viscous liquid obtained by centrifuging the massecuite as By-product of SUGAR while processing SUGARCANE SUGAR. It contains nearly 45% uncrystallized, fermentable SUGAR and some SUGROSE. It is a valued by-product of the SUGAR INDUSTRY. It is used in the manufacture of ethyl alcohol, Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL), as a table syrup and Food Flavourant. It is also used as feed for farm animals and in the manufacture of several processed tobaccos.
Molasses can be boiled again in an attempt to crystallize out some of the rich sucrose content of this liquid. However this process is not economical.
Although – Ethanol is also made out of SUGARCANE molasses in other countries and is being mixed with Petrol to the extent 25% since long but in India, now the Government has also decided to manufacture Ethanol out of SUGARCANE MOLASSES and mix it with Petrol to the extent of 5% and save foreign exchange on one hand and save precious conventional energy source of Petrol one other hand. This will also reduce environmental pollution. Now ethanol is also being manufactured with cane juice.
The final molasses, which accounts for around 3 to 5% on quantity of SUGARCANE crushed contains following constituents.
Press mud is obtained in SUGAR factories to a tune of 2% of the weight of SUGARCANE crushed. About 5.2 million tonnes of Press mud is produced in our country every year. Press mud contains sizable quantity of macro and micro nutrients, besides 20-25% of organic carbon. Press mud is used as manure by SUGARCANE farmers.
Very recently, in order to get rid of Distillery effluent, Spent wash, which is very toxic and very high on BOD and COD contents, is being utilized by spraying and mixing it with press mud. This treatment enriches the Press mud in its nutritional values and makes one of the Best organic manure. The organic manure made out of Press mud maintains Soil health, sustains SUGARCANE and SUGAR production, improves soils physical properties, retains soil moisture and reduce the erosion hazards. Application of enriched press mud, either alone or in conjunction with Bio fertilizers recorded higher SUGARCANE yield and SUGAR recovery. This has also mitigated the need to treat the Distillery effluent and save money spent for its treatment.
Normally, in India we produce Plantation White Crystal Sugar which is tallied with Sugar Standards provided by National Sugar Institute every year. The Sugar Grades – STANDARDS are classified on the basis of size of Sugar grain (crystal) and colour as per SUGAR specification IS:5982-1970.
Processing...
