A method of processing an aqueous solution, wherein the aqueous solution comprises one or more dissolved sugar, one or more dissolved sugar alcohol, or a mixture thereof, wherein the method comprises bringing the aqueous solution into contact with a collection of resin beads, wherein the resin beads comprise functional groups of structure (S1).

A method for pre-clarification of molasses to improve the fermentation efficiency of the molasses and reduce a proportion of the cations in the molasses. The method improves fermentation performance for ethanol production using Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The pre-clarified molasses in accordance with the present invention showed a 2.64% increase in fermentation efficiency.

A method for determining the lignin or lignin by-product content of a process stream includes measuring the fluorescence parameter of a fluorescence spectra of the process stream, comparing the measured fluorescence parameter with predetermined a fluorescence parameter of lignin or lignin by-product reference samples, determining the amount of lignin or lignin by-product based on the comparison with the reference samples. Lignin or lignin by-products can then be removed from a process stream by adding a sufficient amount of a compound suitable for precipitating the lignin or lignin by-product to the process stream, and removing the precipitated lignin or lignin by-product from the process stream.

A method of processing an aqueous solution, wherein the aqueous solution comprises one or more dissolved sugar, one or more dissolved sugar alcohol, or a mixture thereof, wherein the method comprises bringing the aqueous solution into contact with a collection of resin beads, wherein the resin beads comprise functional groups of structure (S1).