The influence of individual sugar beet non sugars on the colour and turbidity of white sugar

The study was conducted to comprehensively assess the effect of soluble non-sugars of sugar beet, transformation products of reducing substances (RS) and high-molecular weight compounds (HMC), as well as the composition of processing aids (defoaming agent, decolouriser and antiscale agent) on the colour and turbidity of a white sugar solution. The work was carried out in 2026 using a numerical experiment with regression analysis algorithms for numerical data. The experiment simulated the following: the content of soluble non-sugars (factor A) – 7.9, 9.9, 11.9, 13.9 and 15.9% of dry weight; the total dose of the composition of processing aids (defoaming agent, decolouriser and antiscale agent) (factor B) – 21.9, 45.2, 68.5, 91.8 g/t. A high positive correlation was found between sugar colour and the content of RS (r = 0.95), RS transformation products (r = 0.97) and HMC (r = 0.98) in the syrup; sugar turbidity with the content of HMC (r = 0.89), RS transformation products (r = 0.95) and HMC (r = 0.94). A reliable influence of the interaction of the studied factors on the parameters of the process of boiling down the first crystallization massecuite and white sugar was established only at their average levels. An increase in the content of soluble non-sugars of sugar beet from 7.9 to 15.9 % led to a decrease in the number of crystals in the massecuite and the effect of sucrose crystallization by 7.49 and 3.45 %, and an increase in sugar colour and turbidity by 98.00 and 90.25 %; the influence of the total dose of the composition of the agents on the values of these parameters is insignificant. Predictions of changes in sugar turbidity and colour depending on the studied factors were characterised by a high level of adequacy (R 2 = 0.966 and 0.992). Minimal sugar colour and turbidity were achieved by processing freshly dug, healthy root crops with low soluble non-sugar content and using defoamers, decolourisers, and scale removers in minimal doses.