Classifying impurity ranges in raw sugarcane using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and sum fusion across a tuning parameter window

Abstract

The presence in raw sugarcane of low levels of solid impurities from soil particles and green and dry/brown sugarcane leaves is relevant to improving sugar mill production performance. Two ranges of impurities for raw sugar manufacturing processes need to be characterized from 0 to 5 wt% (desired material) and 8 to 10 wt% (undesired material); these ranges are denoted as 1 and 2, respectively. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) combined with chemometrics is used to detect chemical elements and different impurity ranges in leached raw sugarcane solutions. The potential use of LIBS based on leached solutions immobilized in a polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer requires approximately 2 h sample preparation time. LIBS data are assigned to the above two impurity ranges using fusion of multiple classifiers. Most classifiers require a training set and optimization of a tuning parameter to select the best model; however, the sum fusion across a tuning parameter window used for classifying the samples in this study is a process that does not require either. The classification results are 97% accuracy for both ranges; 94% and 100% specificity for ranges 1 and 2, respectively; and 100% and 94% sensitivity for ranges 1 and 2, respectively. The classification results indicate potential for future applications in sugarcane refineries.

Reframing the wicked problem of pre-harvest burning: A case study of Thailand's sugarcane

“…The harvested product was regarded as unclean (containing impurities above 7%). Without good practices, impurities from trash and soil in general can account for 10–20% of harvested sugarcane [ 109 ]. Financial penalties for this harvested sugarcane was at 0.6 USD/ton of sugarcane.…”

Bromatological, analytical and chemometric assessment of animal and plant foods based on mineral composition

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Artificial intelligence method developed for classifying raw sugarcane in the presence of the solid impurity

“…Our research group has developed analytical methods to evaluate raw sugarcane to help the mills or biorefineries manufacturing process of this material routinely monitored as a consignment for payment purposes. The quality of raw sugarcane influences the manufacturing process, directly compromising two essential commoditiessugar and ethanol (Andrade et al, 2018;Guedes and Pereira, 2018;2019;Guedes et al, 2020;Romera et al, 2016).…”