Ceramic membranes from waste bagasse fly ash to clarify sugarcane juice.

Clarification of sugarcane juice by micro-/ultrafiltration (MF / UF) is known to improve both sugar quality and yield. Because of their relatively low cost, polymeric (organic) MF / UF membranes have been employed in most of the reported investigations on juice clarification. Ceramic (inorganic) membranes offer better chemical and physical stability, enabling longer life and more rugged cleaning methods. Their application in the sugar industry is, however, limited because of the high membrane cost and the large juice volumes to be processed. This work presents the characteristics of ceramic membranes prepared from bagasse fly ash which is a waste generated by combustion of bagasse in sugar factories. The membranes were tested for sugarcane juice clarification. The initial results are promising with up to 88% turbidity removal and 35% color removal. This study therefore exhibits the possibility of (a) utilizing a major sugar industry waste to prepare a high value product (ceramic membranes) and (b) application of such membranes for process improvement in the sugar manufacturing scheme.