Flocculation and sedimentation of cane sugar juice particles with cationic homo- and copolymers

Abstract

Rapid flocculation and sedimentation of suspended particles in primary cane sugar juice is achieved using a high molecular weight anionic polymer flocculant. This work reports on efforts to enhance the performance of an anionic flocculant by the addition of cationic polymers. Homopolymers of poly(trimethylammonium ethyl methacrylate chloride) (TMAEMAC) and cationic copolymers of poly(trimethylammonium ethyl acrylate chloride) (TMAEAC) and acrylamide were synthesized and their performance, to enhance the flocculation and sedimentation of cane sugar juice particles, was evaluated by turbidity and settling rate measurements. The charge-patch mechanism best explains the performance of the homopolymers, whereas the action of the copolymers is attributed to the bridging mechanism. The results of this work indicate that the copolymers are more effective than the homopolymers to aid flocculation and sedimentation of the cane sugar juice particles, and that the best-performing polymers are those that act by the bridging mechanism. Addition of increased amounts of anionic flocculant did not confer an improvement, suggesting that the cationic bridging flocculant targets a different population of particles that is largely responsible for the residual turbidity.

Sorghum Stalk Juice Pre-treatment Method for Bioethanol Fermentation Process

“…Addition of PAC to sorghum juice reduced the turbidity to 93.12 % ± 0.50 %. The effectiveness of PAC in clarifying sorghum juice is found to be relatively similar with previous study on sugar cane juice [9,10]. This is mainly due to the similarity of insoluble impurities between sugar cane juice and sweet sorghum juice.…”

“…Clarification using liming method produces solid matrix that trap suspended solid as larger particles, which then settled by the mean of gravity. The process was conducted in slightly higher temperature than previous study [9], as it was confirmed that best juice quality was obtained when liming were conducted at temperature of 76 o C to 100 o C. This liming process reduces the turbidity of sorghum stalk juice to 82.43 % ± 0.50 %, measured by reduction of absorbance at 600 nm. The clarified sorghum juice is slightly paler in colour, while small amount suspended particle is still observable at bottom part of container.…”

“…This is mainly due to the similarity of insoluble impurities between sugar cane juice and sweet sorghum juice. In previous study involving pre-treatment of sugar cane juice, further process suggested may include filtration and carbonation [9]. In this research however, further treatment is deemed not necessary because the sweet sorghum is further treated as fermentation media, whereas in other study sugar cane juice is prepared for direct human consumption [11,12].…”

Acrylamide-Based Cationic Polyelectrolytes and Their Potential Applications: A Survey

“…These precipitated calcium phosphate microfloc particles act as a sweep flocculent in the clarifier, removing suspended matter from the juice and adsorbing dissolved molecules and ions. The settling rate and efficiency improvement of separation of the liquid-solid system can be carried out by bridging mechanism and charge-patch mechanism [22].…”

Interaction between anionic dyes and cationic flocculant P(AM-DMC) in synthetic solutions

“…Griebel et al [10,11] has characterized its solution properties and structure-property relationships. There are many reports on using this copolymer as primary flocculant or flocculant aid in clarification of industrial wastewater, separation of solid-liquid systems, dewatering of sludge, and so forth [12][13][14]. However, to our knowledge, studies on its application in decolorization of water-soluble anionic dyes were rare [9], and no report on its binding mechanism to dyes was found.…”