Progress 09/01/18 to 04/30/20
Outputs Target Audience:The targeted audience for this project is sugar mills. This project was in collaboration with a Louisiana sugar mill. Changes/Problems:There was a personnel change from the original proposal submitted on 10/5/2017. Michael Lugo was originally going to be hired by Dr. Chou Technologies, inc. as the engineer on the SBIR project. However, he was pursuing other opportunities by the time the project was accepted in March 2018. Dr. Jeff LeBlanc and Thevu Vu, a Ph.D. student of Dr. William Chirdon at University of Louisiana, jointly filled the position originally assigned to Micheal. We have requested a no-cost extension on 2/11/2019. The no-cost extension was granted until 4/30/2020. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A Ph.D. student specializing in chemical engineering at the University of Louisiana was trained on the product. The student worked side-by-side with Drs. Chou and LeBlanc on each step (i.e. goal) of the project. He was trained on industry standard characterization methods for sugar and sugar juice, including on the Internation Commission for Uniform Method of Sugar Analysis (ICUMSA). He was trained on operating equipment including a carbonation reactor, ultrafiltration membrane system, bench-scale evaporation, bench-scale crystallization, and bench-scale centrifuge. Dr. Chou also sponsored his attendance to the 2019 American Sugar Cane Technologist (ASSCT) Meeting. Dr. LeBlanc gained experience in managing a federally-funded research project. This SBIR project was his first federally-fundedresearch project. Furthermore, he fully participated in the Larta Institute Commercialization Acceleration Program and gained valuable experience in business planning. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A brief project summary has been sent to two Louisiana sugar mills. One of the mills has agreed to host a pilot-trial one-step processin the 2019-2020 crop season. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
On goal 1, we experimentally measured the color of 30 different commercial sugar products. We measured 20 different white sugars and 10 brown sugars. The products included organic and conventional sugars. In summary, the white sugars were 33- 100 ICU, organic sugars were 120-450 ICU, and brown sugars were 1,000-4,000 ICU. On goal 2, the one-step process via an ultrafiltration membrane system was verified. The color occlusion index of sugarcane juice was lowered by the one-step process, as evidenced by a 98.6% color removal through crystallization. The color removal through crystallization of the control tests were at best 96.7%. The granular sugar product from the one-step process was food-grade with a color between 117 and 270 ICU. The yeast and mold content of the sugar product was 80 cfu/gram. The heavy metal concentration of the treated juice was 37.8 ppm. Goal 3 was omitted from the plan. Crossflow ultrafiltration membranes effectively removed turbidity from the juice, which ultimately led to the intended color removal. With crossflow ultrafiltration, we tried 0.1 and 0.02 micron pore size membranes. The 0.02 micron pore size was much more effective on turbidity removal (95.5 vs 99.8% turbidity removal). Such as a small pore size (0.02 micron) is not typically used in press filters. Therefore, crossflow ultrafiltration was deemed more appropriate. Press filtration was not further evaluated. On goal 4, we designed and specified a pilot-scale system to be implemented at a Louisiana sugar mill. The pilot site will include a carbonation unit, ultrafiltration membrane system, and falling film evaporator. The carbonation unit will be fed from the mill clarifier. The system capacity will be 100 gallons per hour of juice or 94 pounds of sugar per hour. The commercialization plan forthe one-step process was developed in collaboration with the Larta Institute. In the development of thecommercialization plan, we received five (5) letter of support from sugar producers around the world interested in building a one-step facility.
Publications
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Progress 09/01/18 to 06/02/19
Outputs Target Audience:The targeted audience for this project is sugar mills. This project was in collaboration with a Louisiana sugar mill. Changes/Problems:There was a personnel change from the original proposal submitted on 10/5/2017. Michael Lugo was originally going to be hired by Dr. Chou Technologies, inc. as the engineer on the SBIR project. However, he was pursuing other opportunities by the time the project was accepted in March 2018. Dr. Jeff LeBlanc and Thevu Vu, a Ph.D. student of Dr. William Chirdon at University of Louisiana, jointly filled the position originally assigned to Micheal. We have requested a no-cost extension on 2/11/2019. The no-cost extension was granted until 4/30/2020. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?A Ph.D. student specializing in chemical engineering at the University of Louisiana was trained on the product. The student worked side-by-side with Drs. Chou and LeBlanc on each step (i.e. goal) of the project. He was trained on industry standard characterization methods for sugar and sugar juice, including on the Internation Commission for Uniform Method of Sugar Analysis (ICUMSA). He was trained on operating equipment including a carbonation reactor, ultrafiltration membrane system, bench-scale evaporation, bench-scale crystallization, and bench-scale centrifuge. Dr. Chou also sponsored his attendance to the 2019 American Sugar Cane Technologist (ASSCT) Meeting. Dr. LeBlanc gained experience in managing a federally-funded research project. This SBIR project was his first federally-fundedresearch project. Furthermore, he fully participated in the Larta Institute Commercialization Acceleration Program and gained valuable experience in business planning. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?A brief project summary has been sent to two Louisiana sugar mills. One of the mills has agreed to host a pilot-trial one-step processin the 2019-2020 crop season. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts What was accomplished under these goals?
On goal 1, we experimentally measured the color of 30 different commercial sugar products. We measured 20 different white sugars and 10 brown sugars. The products included organic and conventional sugars. In summary, the white sugars were 33- 100 ICU, organic sugars were 120-450 ICU, and brown sugars were 1,000-4,000 ICU. On goal 2, the one-step process via an ultrafiltration membrane system was verified. The color occlusion index of sugarcane juice was lowered by the one-step process, as evidenced by a 98.6% color removal through crystallization. The color removal through crystallization of the control tests were at best 96.7%. The granular sugar product from the one-step process was food-grade with a color between 117 and 270 ICU. The yeast and mold content of the sugar product was 80 cfu/gram. The heavy metal concentration of the treated juice was 37.8 ppm. Goal 3 was omitted from the plan. Crossflow ultrafiltration membranes effectively removed turbidity from the juice, which ultimately led to the intended color removal. With crossflow ultrafiltration, we tried 0.1 and 0.02 micron pore size membranes. The 0.02 micron pore size was much more effective on turbidity removal (95.5 vs 99.8% turbidity removal). Such as a small pore size (0.02 micron) is not typically used in press filters. Therefore, crossflow ultrafiltration was deemed more appropriate. Press filtration was not further evaluated. On goal 4, we designed and specified a pilot-scale system to be implemented at a Louisiana sugar mill. The pilot site will include a carbonation unit, ultrafiltration membrane system, and falling film evaporator. The carbonation unit will be fed from the mill clarifier. The system capacity will be 100 gallons per hour of juice or 94 pounds of sugar per hour. The commercialization plan forthe one-step process was developed in collaboration with the Larta Institute. In the development of thecommercialization plan, we received five (5) letter of support from sugar producers around the world interested in building a one-step facility.
Publications
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