Pilot Demonstration of Ceramic Membrane Ultrafiltration of Sugarcane Juice for Raw Sugar Production

A field demonstration on the ultrafiltration of sugarcane juice for raw sugar production was conducted in a raw sugar mill in Guangxi Province, China. Heated limed sugarcane juice was processed using 0.05 μm ceramic membranes in a pilot plant with a design capacity of 5.5 m3/h. Results indicated that the ceramic membrane modules were satisfactory for sugarcane juice clarification, which yielded 119.13–142.43 L/(m2 h) of average flux under the volumetric concentration factor of 10–12 and produced clarified juice of superior quality with more than 1.2 unit rise in purity, 99.96 % reduction in turbidity, and 10.42 % removal of color. The membrane cleaning period was 10–25 h. Moreover, a high-quality product with high Pol, low color, and low ash content was obtained when the permeate juice was concentrated and crystallized to form raw sugar. However, further studies are necessary to investigate the methods of processing retentate for the recovery of sucrose and handling of wastewater generated during membrane cleaning, as well as the service life of the membrane.