• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.7-17
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• 2012

The aim of this study is to empirically explore micro and macroeconomic factors affecting the Pakistani sugar industries and searching the energy potential of this industry, through the survey of literature. The empirical part has been explored by employing Vector Autoregression (VAR), Granger Causality tests and simultaneous equation models through quarterly data for the period of 1991q2-2008q4. The study also aims to devise policies for the development of sugar industries and identify its growing importance for the energy sector of Pakistan. Empirical tests applied on the domestic prices of sugar, domestic interest rates, and exchange rate, productive capacities of sugar mills, per capita income, world sugar prices on cultivable area and sugar production reveal very useful results. Results reveal an improvement of productive capacity of the sugar mills of Pakistan on account of increasing crushing capacity of this sector. Negative effect of rising wholesale prices on the harvesting area was also observed. Profit earnings of the sugar mills significantly increase with the rise of sugar prices but the system does not exist for the farming community to share the rising prices of sugar. The models indicate positive and significant effect of local prices of sugar on its volume of import. Another of the findings of this study positively relates the local sugar markets with the international prices of sugar. Additionally, the causality tests results reveal exchange rate, harvesting area and overall output of sugarcane to have significant effects on the local prices of sugar. Similarly, import of sugar, interest rate, per capita consumption of sugar, per capita national income and the international prices of sugar also significantly affect currency exchange rate of Pakistani rupee in terms of US$. The study also finds sugar as an essential and basic necessity of the Pakistani consumers. That is why there are no significant income and price effects on the per capita consumption of sugar in Pakistan. All the empirical methods reiterate the relationship of variables. Economic policy makers are recommended to improve governance and management in the production, stock taking, internal and external trading and distribution of sugar in Pakistan using bumper crop policies. Macroeconomic variables such as interest rate, exchange rate per capita income and consumption are closely connected with the production and distribution of sugar in Pakistan. The cartelized role of the sugar industries should also be examined by further studies. There is need to further explore sugar sector of Pakistan with the perspective of energy generation through this sector; cartelized sugar markets in Pakistan and many more other dimensions of this sector. Exact appraisal of sugar industries for energy generation can be done appropriately by the experts from applied sciences.

• Proceedings of the IEEK Conference
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• 2001.10a
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• pp.122-131
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• 2001

Pakistan being the 6$^{th}$ largest sugar producer has over 75 sugar mills with annual production capacity of about 2.4 million tons during 1996-97. The contribution of Sindh with 27 sugar mills is recorded over 50% of the total sugar production. The majority of the mills in Pakistan use the Defecation-Remelt-Phosphitation (DRP; 24 mills), Defecation-Remelt-Carbonation (DRC; 21 mills) and Defecation-Remelt Carbonation and Sulphitation (DRCS; 11 mills) process. Seven of the 75 sugar mills in Pakistan also produce industrial alcohol from molasses, a by- product of sugar manufacturing process. These sugar industries also produce fly ash, which have been found to contain unburned carbon and reach as far as four-kilo meter area with the wind direction, threatening the community health of people living around, besides posing other aesthetic problems. The untreated wastewater, in many cases, finds its way to open surface drains causing serious threat to livestock, flora and fauna. One study showed that fly ash emitted from the chimneys contain particle size ranging from 38 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ to 1000 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. About 50 per cent of each fly ash samples were above 300 ${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$ in size and were mostly unburned Carbon particles, which produced 85% weight loss on burning in air atmosphere at 1000${\mu}{\textrm}{m}$. This fly ash (mostly carbon) was the main cause of many health and aesthetic problems in the sugar mill vicinity. The environmental challenge for the local sugar mills is associated with liquid waste gaseous emission and solid waste. This paper discusses various waste recycling technologies and practices in sugar industries of Pakistan. The application of EM technology and Biogas technology has proved very successful in reusing the sugar industry wastewater and mud, which otherwise were going waste.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1258-1258
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• 2001

Estimation of sugar and reducing sugar content in molasses is very important task in sugar refineries. Conventional methods of determination of sugar content in molasses samples are highly time consuming and employ hazardous chemicals. Due to the physical properties of molasses, probability of error in conventional analytical techniques is high. These methods have proven to be inefficient for a process control in any sugar industry. Hence development of a rapid, inexpensive, physical and also accurate method for sugar determination in molasses will be highly useful. Near Infrared spectroscopy is being widely used worldwide as an analytical technique in food industry. The technique offers the advantage of being non-destructive and rapid. The present paper highlights the potential of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy as a rapid and automated analytical technique for determination of sugar and reducing sugar content in molasses. A number of molasses samples were collected during and after the sugar season from Havana Sugar Industry, Havana. The samples were chosen so as to obtain a wide range of concentration of sugar and reducing sugars. This was done in order to achieve a good calibration curve with widely spread data points. These samples were scanned in the region of 1100 - 2500 nm in diffuse reflectance mode. An indigenous ELICO NIR spectrophotometer, modified according to the requirements of sugar industry was used for this purpose. Each sample was also analyzed simultaneously by standard chemical methods. Chemical values were taken as reference for near infrared analysis. In order to obtain the most accurate calibration for the set of samples, various mathematical treatments were employed. Partial Least Square method was found to be most suitable for the analysis. A comparison is made between the actual values (chemical values) and the predicted values (NIR values). The actual values agree very well with the predicted values showing the accuracy of the technique. The validity of the technique is checked by predicting the concentration of sugar in unknown molasses samples using the calibration curve. The present investigation assesses the feasibility of the technique for on-line monitoring of sugars present in molasses in sugar industries.

• Carbon letters
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.192-200
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• 2010

Common reed (Fragmites australis), a local invasive grass, was investigated as a possible feedstock for the production of activated carbon. Dried crushed stems were subjected to impregnation with phosphoric acid (30, 40 and 50%) followed by pyrolysis at $400{\sim}500^{\circ}C$ with final washing and drying. Obtained carbons were characterized by determining: carbon yield, ash content, slurry pH, textural properties and capacity to remove color bodies from factory-grade sugar liquor. Produced carbons possessed surface area up to 700 $m^2/g$, total pore volumes up to 0.37 $cm^3/g$, and proved to be microporous in nature. Decolorization of hot sugar liquor at $80^{\circ}C$ showed degrees of color removal of 60 up to 77% from initial color of 1100~1300 ICU, at a carbon dose of 1.0 g/100 ml liquor. No correlation seems to hold between synthesis conditions and % R but depends on the degree of microporosity. A commercial activated carbon N showed a comparative better color removal capacity of 91%. Common reed proved to be a viable carbon precursor for production of good adsorbing carbon suitable for decolorization in the sugar industry, as well as in other environmental remediation processes.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.7
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• pp.219-229
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• 2022

This study aims to analyze the economies of scale of the cottage industry for coconut sugar production in Banyumas, Indonesia. This study applies a survey method to coconut sugar craftsmen. Data analysis was performed by regression analysis based on the Cobb-Douglas production function approach. The findings indicated that decreasing returns to scale was a problem for the domestic production of coconut sugar. These findings show that the production of coconut sugar is not very productive. Labor and financial capital inputs have a significant positive share but the resulting increase in output is less proportional than the increase in the two inputs. Social capital, experience, and education do not affect industrial performance. To increase input productivity and production efficiency, it is necessary to apply more effective production techniques and technologies to produce quality products so that the selling price can be higher. Additionally, it is required to enhance the sap's quality through its extraction methods and the regrowth of high-yielding coconut tree varieties. From the institutional aspect, the development of this industry requires stronger partnerships with related parties such as local governments, exporting companies, cooperatives, and universities through research and development.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Near Infrared Spectroscopy Conference
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.1133-1133
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• 2001

Fruit sweetness, as indexed by total soluble solids (TSS), and fruit acidity are key factors in the description of the fruit eating quality. Our group has been using short wave NIR spectroscopy (SW-NIR; 700-1100 nm) in combination with chemometric methods (PLS and MLR) for the non-invasive determination of the fruit eating quality (1,2). In order to further improve calibration performance, we have investigated SW-NIR spectra of sucrose and D-glucose. In previous reports on the band assignment for these sugars in the 1100-2500 nm spectral region (3-7), it has been established that change in concentration, temperature and physical state of sugars reflects on the shape and position of the spectral bands in the whole NIR region(5-7). The effect of change in concentration and temperature of individual sugar solutions and sugar spiked Juice samples was analysed using combined spectroscopic (derivative, difference, 2D spectroscopy) and linear regression chemometric (PLS, MLR) techniques. The results have been compared with the spectral data of a range of fruit types, varying in TSS content and temperature. In the 800-950 nm spectral region, the B-coefficients for apples, peaches and nectarines resemble those generated in a calibration of pure sucrose in water (Fig. 1). As expected, these fruits exhibit better calibration and prediction results than those in which the B-coefficients were poorly related to those for sugar.(Figure omitted).

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.629-637
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• 2017

Severe dust explosions occurred frequently in food processing industries and explosion damage increase by flame propagation in pipes or plants. However there are few fire explosion data available due to various powder characteristics. We investigated the characteristics of ignition and explosion on sugar, cornstarch and flour dust with high frequency accidents and high social demand. The measurements showed the median diameter of 27.56, 14.76, $138.5{\mu}m$ and ignition temperature has been investigated using by thermo-gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential scanning calorimeter (DSC). The maximum explosion pressure ($P_m$) and dust explosion index ($K_{st}$) of sugar, cornstarch and flour are 7.6, 7.6, 6.1 bar and 153, 133, 61 [$m{\cdot}bar/s$], respectively. The flame propagation time in duct was calculated in order to evaluate the damage increase due to flame propagation during dust explosion. The explosion hazard increase due to flame propagation was higher in the order of sugar, flour and cornstarch dust.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.177-183
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• 2014

Recently, many biofuels and chemicals converted from renewable resources have been introduced into chemical industries. Sargassum fulvellum is a brown macro-algae, which is found on the seashores of Korea and Japan. In this work, the production of total reducing sugar and levulinic acid from S. fulvellum, using dilute-acid catalyzed hydrothermal hydrolysis and statistical methodology, was investigated. As a result, 15.28 g/l total reducing sugar was obtained under the optimized conditions of $160.1^{\circ}C$, 1.0% sulfuric acid, in 20.2 min. Furthermore, 2.65 g/l levulinic acid was obtained at $189.5^{\circ}C$, 2.93% sulfuric acid, in 48.8 min.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Food Science and Nutrition
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• v.44 no.12
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• pp.1865-1872
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• 2015

This study attempted to investigate consumer perceptions and attitudes towards reducing sugar intake by providing data to develop guidelines for the government and food-related industries to encourage Korean consumers to maintain appropriate levels of sugar intake. A survey was conducted on 238 adult consumers regarding their purchasing power for products with high sugar content in Seoul and Bundang, Gyeonggi area from September 1~30, 2013. Nutritional information on sugary products had a greater impact than media and others' recommendations on consumer awareness regarding need to reduce sugar intake. External factors such as health and weight control were stronger reasons for consuming reduced amounts of sugar or sugar-free products than internal factors such as sweetness. However, internal factors-such as taste-did not have a greater effect on consuming reduced amounts of sugar or sugar-free products than environmental factors-such as absence of purchase channels. Consumers indicated higher acceptance for 50% reduction in sweetness of existing commercial products. Regarding methods of lowering sugar intake, sugar replacement and reducing sugar consumption both generally and at home were preferred. In addition, consumers were likely to pay 10~14% more for sugar-reduced products than for existing products. Overall, consumers expressed positive attitudes towards reducing sugar intake in the future, although those in their twenties tended to be more passive than other age groups.

• Food Science and Biotechnology
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.939-947
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• 2009

In order to produce vinegar using onions, 12 acetic acid bacteria were screened from the juice of fallen peaches, and a strain showing the highest acetic acid productivity among them was selected and identified as Acetobacter tropicalis No. 22. The culture broth containing 2.5%(w/v) of initial sugar concentration showed maximum acetic production after 10 days of cultivation, and the acetic acid was produced at the highest rate and reached the maximum acidity after 2 to 6 days of cultivation when the residual sugar and the ethanol concentration were in the range of 1.6 to 2%(w/v) and 0.6 to 1.8%(v/v), respectively. Also optimum conditions for acetic acid production by response surface method using the fractional factorial design with 3 variables and 5 levels were involved with initial ethanol content of 4.67%(v/v), initial acidity of 0.03%, and initial glucose concentration of 2.35%(w/v) and predicted level of acetic acid production at these conditions was 3.77%.