The Testing of Molasses: A Comparative Survey of the Methods of Analysis Used in the Sugar Industry

Lever, David (1937) The Testing of Molasses: A Comparative Survey of the Methods of Analysis Used in the Sugar Industry. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow.

Abstract

Molasses is a by-product of Sugar Factories and Refineries. In some sugar-producing countries where its disposal is a matter of great difficulty, it is literally a waste product. Where distilleries, however, are in close proximity to the factory, or where facilities for cheap transport to manufacturing centres are available, it is a material of considerable value. Molasses is the main source of industrial alcohol, and it is also used extensively in the preparation of cattle foods. The weight of molasses obtained as a result of the manufacture of sugar from cane is about 24%, of that of the sugar produced: in beet sugar manufacture, the corresponding quantity is about 20 per cent. On the basis of a world production in 1934 of 16 million tons of cane sugar and about 9 million tons of beet sugar, the total quantity of molasses available for industrial purposes is in the region of 5 1/2 million tons per annum. The molasses represents a loss of sucrose sustained in concentrating the juice, whether it be cane or beet, to the finished crystalline product, and therefore it is essential in order to draw up the factory balance sheet or "Sucrose Recovery and Loss Account", to know the exact amounts present of certain of its constituents. If the molasses is to be sold, or purchased, for manufacturing purposes at a price based on analytical tests, these tests become of paramount importance. No standard methods for the analysis of molasses have been universally adopted as yet. The determination of the water content in particular, is a problem that remains unsolved.

• Item Type: Thesis (PhD)
• Qualification Level: Doctoral
• Keywords: Food science
• Date of Award: 1937
• Depositing User: Enlighten Team
• Unique ID: glathesis:1937-80093
• Copyright: Copyright of this thesis is held by the author.
• Date Deposited: 03 Mar 2020 09:17
• Last Modified: 03 Mar 2020 09:17
• URI: https://theses.gla.ac.uk/id/eprint/80093