Exploiting Pulsed Flows for Heating Improvement: Application to Determination of Total Reducing Sugars in Molasses and Sugar-Cane Juices

Title: Exploiting Pulsed Flows for Heating Improvement: Application to Determination of Total Reducing Sugars in Molasses and Sugar-Cane Juices

Volume: 5 Issue: 1

Author(s): Evandro R. Alves, Mario A. Feres, Elias A.G. Zagatto and Jose L.F.C. Lima

Affiliation:

Keywords: Multi-pumping flow analysis, Pulsed flow, Laminar flow, Heat transference, Total reducing sugars, Sugar-cane juice and molasses, Spectrophotometry

Abstract: Laminar and pulsed flows typical of multi-commuted and multi-pumping flow systems, were evaluated in relation to analytical procedures carried out at high temperatures. As application, the spectrophotometric determination of total reducing sugars (TRS, hydrolyzed sucrose plus reducing sugars) in sugar-cane juice and molasses was selected. The method involves in-line hydrolysis of sucrose and alkaline degradation of the reducing sugars at about 98 °C. Better results were obtained with pulsed flows, due to the efficient radial mass transport inherent to the multi-pumping flow system. The proposed system presents favorable characteristics of ruggedness, analytical precision (r.s.d. < 0.013 for typical samples), stability (no measurable baseline drift during 4-h working periods), linearity of the analytical curve (r > 0.992, n = 5, 0.05 - 0.50% w/v TRS) and sampling rate (65 h-1). Results are in agreement with ion chromatography.

Cite this article as:

Alves R. Evandro, Feres A. Mario, Zagatto A.G. Elias and Lima L.F.C. Jose, Exploiting Pulsed Flows for Heating Improvement: Application to Determination of Total Reducing Sugars in Molasses and Sugar-Cane Juices, Current Analytical Chemistry 2009; 5 (1) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/157341109787047916