A method of processing raw sugar cane juice, comprising: reducing the pH of the sugar cane juice to a pH at which microbiological activity is substantially eliminated; separating chlorophyll from the sugar cane juice; separating particles having a diameter greater than 0.5 microns from the sugar cane juice; denaturing polyphenol oxidase (PPO) in the sugar cane juice by pasteurisation; separating the denatured polyphenol oxidase from the sugar cane juice.

The invention provides carbohydrate compositions and products comprising the carbohydrate compositions, such as dry products or a low-viscosity reduced-sugar syrup, methods of making the carbohydrate compositions and products, and uses thereof.

The invention provides carbohydrate compositions and products comprising the carbohydrate compositions, such as dry products or a low-viscosity reduced-sugar syrup, methods of making the carbohydrate compositions and products, and uses thereof.

A method for processing sugarcane juice from raw sugarcane stalks to produce various forms of a natural sugarcane juice product preserves policosanols naturally occurring in the raw sugarcane stalks, resulting in policosanol-rich natural sugarcane juice-based products such as a drinking beverage, a concentrated sweetening agent, and a nutraceutical product. The method may include steps of providing sugarcane stalks having high policosanol concentrations; extracting sugarcane juice from the sugarcane stalks via a series of roller mills; filtering the extracted sugarcane juice; stabilizing the pH of the juice in a non-acidic solution of calcium hydroxide; flocculating the sugarcane juice to remove undesirable impurities; optionally, evaporating the sugarcane juice to form a policosanol-rich sugarcane juice concentrate and extracting the sugarcane juice concentrate from the evaporator.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention comprise the optional application of concentrations of an aqueous permanganate solution, such as an approximately 0.01% to approximately 50% liquid permanganate solution and preferably comprising approximately 20% sodium permanganate dosed at approximately 1 ppm to approximately 100 ppm to harvested sugar crops, such as sugarcane, sugar beets, and sweet sorghum, at one or more of the sugar processing steps for the crops. The steps where the liquid sodium permanganate may optionally be applied include at a sugar crop cutting step, a sugar crop conveying step, a sugar juice extraction step, a sugar juice clarifying step, and a clarifier muds filtration step. The application of liquid sodium permanganate in the processing of sugar from sugar crops results in reduced equipment fouling, reduced loss in juice purity, reduced scale formation, decreased turbidity in clarified juices, increased sugarcane processing rates, reduced sugar crop production costs, increased sugar product yield, and increased production capacity.

The application relates to a method for producing a sugar product and a system thereof comprising receiving a first input in a control system representative of a pre-treatment sugar composition characteristic and/or an additive; receiving a second input representative of a post-treatment sugar product target specification; using the control system to determine at least one operating parameter for addition of the additive to the pre-treatment sugar and adding the additive based on the at least one determined operating parameter, wherein the at least one determined operating parameter is determined from at least: the first input, the second input, and a correlation relating at least the first input and the second input to the at least one operating parameter; and treating the pre-treatment sugar composition by addition of the additive to produce a post-treatment sugar product with a characteristic that is at or nearer to the target specification than the characteristic of the pre-treatment sugar composition. The system includes at least one spray system for addition of an additive to a pre-treatment sugar composition; at least one sensor for determining one or both of a pre-treatment sugar composition characteristic, or an additive characteristic, and a post-treatment sugar product characteristic and a control system configured to operate as mentioned above.

A concentrated sugarcane juice powder obtained by a convection current vacuum freeze drying process that includes: selecting and preparing sugarcane stalks by a predetermined quality guideline; extracting sugarcane juice by inserting the sugarcane stalks into a sugarcane juice extracting apparatus having a mesh pattern of micro ridges configured to achieve a maximum extraction efficiency; adding probiotics into the extracted sugarcane juice; freezing the sugarcane juice mixed with the probiotics in molds using an individual quick freezer (IQF) to obtain frozen sugarcane juice blocks; and vacuum freezing said frozen sugarcane juice blocks using a convection current vacuum freeze drying apparatus.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention comprise the optional application of concentrations of an aqueous permanganate solution, such as an approximately 0.01% A to approximately 50% liquid permanganate solution and preferably comprising approximately 20% sodium permanganate dosed at approximately 1 ppm to approximately 100 ppm to harvested sugar crops, such as sugarcane, sugar beets, and sweet sorghum, at one or more of the sugar processing steps for the crops. The steps where the liquid sodium permanganate may optionally be applied include at a sugar crop cutting step, a sugar crop conveying step, a sugar juice extraction step, a sugar juice clarifying step, and a clarifier muds filtration step. The application of liquid sodium permanganate in the processing of sugar from sugar crops results in reduced equipment fouling, reduced loss in juice purity, reduced scale formation, decreased turbidity in clarified juices, increased sugarcane processing rates, reduced sugar crop production costs, increased sugar product yield, and increased production capacity.

A method for processing sugarcane juice from raw sugarcane stalks to produce various forms of a natural sugarcane juice product preserves policosanols naturally occurring in the raw sugarcane stalks, resulting in policosanol-rich natural sugarcane juice-based products such as a drinking beverage, a concentrated sweetening agent, and a nutraceutical product. The method may include steps of providing sugarcane stalks having high policosanol concentrations; extracting sugarcane juice from the sugarcane stalks via a series of roller mills; filtering the extracted sugarcane juice; stabilizing the pH of the juice in a non-acidic solution of calcium hydroxide; flocculating the sugarcane juice to remove undesirable impurities; optionally, evaporating the sugarcane juice to form a policosanol-rich sugarcane juice concentrate and extracting the sugarcane juice concentrate from the evaporator.

A method of processing raw sugar cane juice, comprising: reducing the pH of the sugar cane juice to a pH at which microbiological activity is substantially eliminated; separating chlorophyll from the sugar cane juice; separating particles having a diameter greater than 0.5 microns from the sugar cane juice; denaturing polyphenol oxidase (PPO) in the sugar cane juice by pasteurisation; separating the denatured polyphenol oxidase from the sugar cane juice.