Rapid Estimation of pol content in sugarcane juice using FTIR-ATR spectroscopy

Determination of “Pol” value in sugar cane and sugar beet products are important task for the sugarcane and beet industries. Polarimetry is one of the most popular method used for the determination of Pol value but the technique is time consuming and prone to underestimation. A rapid method for accurate determination of Pol value in sugar cane juice by Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy is proposed. Sugarcane juice samples were collected from the sugarcane industry during the season and the samples were scanned in the mid-infrared region between 400- 4000 cm-1 and simultaneously analyzed by polarimetric method to obtain the reference Pol value for FTIR analysis. Using Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis the developed calibration model was able to predict the pol content in unknown raw sugarcane juice samples statisfactorily (R2 = 0.998). The present investigation demonstrates the feasibility of the FTIR as a potential method for rapid and cost effective assessment of pol control in raw sugarcane juice.