Studies on the Microbes in the Process of Producing Beet Sugar

Part III. Sugar loss in the diffuser

Abstract

The amount of lossed sugar in unknown way during the processing of beet sugar is estimated 0.29-0.38% of the weight of beet.
In this experiment, the amount of lossed sugar was calculated by measuring the amount of lactic acid possibly produced by microbes in the diffuser. Lactic acid in cossettes and diffusion juice was separated by ion exchange resins for the determination by colorimetry. The average amount of lactic acid in cossettes and diffusion juice was 34mg/kg and 376mg/kg, respectively, indicating that a fairly large amount of lactic acid was produced in the diffuser.
The ratio of the amount of consumed sugar to the amount of lactic acid produced in the diffuser was 1:3.32.
Sugar loss in the diffuser was about 0.13% of beet, indicating that about 35-45% of the unknown loss was produced my microbes in the diffuser.