Measurement Of Sucrose And Ethanol Concentrations In Process Streams And Effluents Of Sugarcane Bioethanol Industry By Optical Fiber Sensor

The measurement of process streams and effluents from sugar-ethanol industry by using optical fiber sensor based on Fresnel reflection principle is reported. Firstly, binary sucrose-water and ethanol-water solutions were measured in order to determine the calibration curves. Secondly, the co-products from various processing stages were analyzed in order to identify the sucrose or ethanol concentration. The absolute error was calculated by comparison between the nominal concentration values obtained by plant laboratory analysis and the sensor response, yielding errors ≤ 5 wt% and ≤ 5 vol% for sucrose and ethanol content, respectively. The fiber sensor provided reliable results even for samples with more complex compositions than pure sucrose or ethanol solutions, with perspectives of application on the several stages of the plant facility. © 2011 Copyright Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).7753Oz Optics,Simbol Test Systems, Inc.,FISO Technologies, Inc.,CMC Microsystems Corporation,Innovative Economy: National Strategic Reference FrameworkCortez, L.A.B., Lora, E.E.S., Gómez, E.O., (2008) Biomass for Energy (Biomassa para Energia), pp. 435-472. , Editora da Unicamp, CampinasPaiva, R.P.O., Morabito, R., Na optimization model for the aggregate production planning of a Brazilian sugar and ethanol milling company (2009) Ann. Oper. Res., 169 (1), pp. 117-130Fujiwara, E., Takeishi, R.T., Hase, A., Ono, E., Santos, J.S., Suzuki, C.K., Real-time optical fibre sensor for hydro-alcoholic solutions (2010) Meas. Sci. Technol., 21 (9), pp. 094035+1-5Kim, C.-B., Su, C.B., Measurement of the refractive index of liquids at 1.3 and 1.5 micron using a fibre optic Fresnel ratio meter (2004) Meas. Sci. Tecnol., 15 (9), pp. 1683-1686Su, H., Huang, X.G., Fresnel-reflection-based fiber sensor for on-line measurement of solute concentration in solutions (2007) Sensor. Actuat. B-Chem., 126 (2), pp. 579-582Zhao, J.R., Huang, X.G., Chen, J.H., A Fresnel-reflection-based fiber sensor for simultaneous measurement of liquid concentration and temperature (2009) J. Appl. Phys., 106 (8), pp. 1-5Longtin, J.P., Fan, C.-H., Precision laser-based concentration and refractive index measurement of liquids (1998) Nanosc. Microsc. Thermophys. Eng., 2 (4), pp. 261-272Herráez, J.V., Belda, R., Refractive indices, densities and excess molar volumes of monoalcohols+water (2006) J. Solut. Chem., 35 (9), pp. 1315-1328Chen, J.C.P., Chou, C.C., (1993) Cane Sugar Handbook: A Manual for Cane Sugar Manufactures and Their Chemists, pp. 779-970. , John Willey & Sons, New Yor