THE OPEN PAN SUGAR OPTION IN SUDAN

Abstract

The objective of this study is to investigate the technical and application aspects of the open pan sugar OPS in the Sudan. Therefore, pilot scale experimental plant has been installed to manufacture OPS sugar and OP syrup from indigenous sugar cane. The pilot plant consisted of small roll mills driven by mechanical engines and open boiling pans to concentrate the juice using bagasse as thermal energy source. OPS confectionery products were made and quality control as well as, sensory evaluation tests was conducted for the produced products .As quality references two Indian OPS samples were analyzed, while local made commercial syrup samples were also analyzed as quality reference for OP syrup. The results showed that, the sensory evaluation of the OPS sugar varied between fair and good at (p=0.05). The comparison results revealed that,, the main quality parameters of the OPS and the Indian samples one and two consequently showed sucrose 72.8% ,invert sugars 10.2 %,dry solids 93 %, color 15000 ICUMCA and microbial count moulds and yeast M&Y 103 ,while the Indian sample one showed 72.8% ,10.2%,93.1% ,15000 ICUMCA,103 and Indian sample two showed78.5% 5,5.2%,97.1%, 14500, 103 . By comparing the results the dry solids of the Indian sample two showed higher significant difference at (p=0.05).On the other hand, the OP syrup represented sucrose 65%, invt. Sugars 9.75%, dry solids 74.7%, color 11100 ICUMCA, M&Y 10 3 . The comparison between the OP syrup and the tested commercial syrups revealed significant difference. The sensory evaluation of the OPS made confectionery products, showed that, at (p=0.05) excellent results were given by the dry sweet, fair results by pasta and cake and poor results by jam. Regarding the shelf life of those OPS products after 48 h it appeared that the moulds and yeast M&Y growth showed 10 of the hard sweet, 106 of the jam, pasta and cake, while the permitted count of those products is less than 105 -106 .This attributed to the fact that the shelf life of those products is proportional to the moisture contents.