The nonsugar and ion balances of thick juice as bases for a quality assessment of sugar beets: Part 2

The cornerstone of the new quality concept, referred to as the nonsugar value ANzw, is an estimate of the nonsugar in thick juice mN A Z,DiS from individual permanent nonsugar components of the beets: NZW = 0,92 o w ‘K + 0,75 o w ‘Na + 0,84 o w’, rs! + 2,8 g/kg beets or, where betaine and raffinose values are available: ANzw = 0,92 o W’K + 0,75 o W’Na + 0,84 o Warr + 1,15 o w ‘Be + 4,95 w ‘Ra g/kg beets or, where the value of the total nitrogen soluble in the aluminium sulfate digerate w ‘N,Dig, as a measure of the “harmful nitrogen”, is available: Avzw = 0,92 o W’K + 0,75 o W’Na + 1,23 o w’N,Dig – 1,02 o W’aN + 4,95 w ‘R. g/kg beets In the case of insufficient beet alkalinity reserves (i.e. when w’n3 < 0), the alkalinity correction term w 'AK = - 1.15 o w',3 must be added to the nonsugar value in'Nzw because of the addition of alkalizing agents to the thin juice required in these circumstances, in order to account for the additional nonsugar in the thick juice resulting from the sodium carbonate or sodium hydroxide applications. The nonsugar concept can be translated into the usual quality assessment based on the corrected sugar content by means of the conversion factor fNz = 1.2 from ANzw ton Z,DIS, and assuming a constant sugar/nonsugar ratio in the molasses of fm = 1.4 (equivalent to qm = 58%): Agz = Wz - my - (0,92 o W'K + 0,75 o W'Na + 0,84 o W'aN + 2,8) o 0,168 % on beets or, in the case of insufficient beet alkalinity reserves: ABz = wz - (0,92 o w 'K + 0,75 o w 'N. + 0,84 o w 'aN - 1,15 o w 'LB + 2,8) o 0,168 % on beets In contrast to regression coefficients, the coefficients of the equations for the ion balance and the nonsugar value can be interpreted technologically and generalized, since they are derived from the behaviour of the corresponding nonsugar substances during sugar manufacturing. The nonsugar value has been applied to various tests with sugar beets and is compared with some current assessment criteria of beet quality.