LAUSR

In three weekly tests in 2018, samples of raw sugar, refinery liquor and refined sugar were collected from a Tucuman sugar factory/back-end refinery and analyzed for starch, polysaccharides, proteins and silicates. The standard 10-day acid floc behavior, which is a sample being either floc positive or floc negative, was correlated against the levels of the four impurities. Of these impurities, starch had statistically the most significant effect on floc formation, both in the refined sugar set as well as in the raw sugar/refinery liquor set of samples. Despite the use of some α-amylase at the mill, the starch levels in refined sugar were relatively high. The effects of polysaccharides, proteins and silicates on floc formation were statistically less significant, although the proteins were on average higher in floc-positive than in floc-negative sugars.