Sweet sorghum was already of interest to the sugarcane industry in 1932. Breeders in North India used POJ 2725 for crosses with various cereals; hybrids were obtained only with sorghum. […]

In 1967 three bagasse diffusers were commissioned in Southern Africa. Their performances had not been consistently good due to adjustments to gain experience with the new equipment. However extractions were […]

In 1962 JH Payne in Hawaii noted that diffusion was universal for processing sugar beets, whereas juice in sugar cane was expressed by pressure rolls. Hawaiian factories used batch diffusion, […]

Principles New analytical techniques such as gas or high pressure liquid chromatography and near infrared spectroscopy have been used in the cane sugar industry after their developments elsewhere. Here we look […]

Some basic principles In an excellent article Davies (2018) noted that when one holds one’s hand out to a burning fire one “feels” heat being emitted.  The fire gives out […]

A number of cane payment systems involving cane quality have been developed and are used in industry (Saranin, 1975). The same comments apply to parameters used for assessing factory performance. […]

The concept of sending clarifier muds to the extraction plant for disposal with bagasse is not new.   van Hengel and van der Waal (1999) note that it was applied in […]

A definition of “cold” or “coldness” is “a relative absence of heat” (Chambers, 1941). Basically the word cold indicates a lack of heat energy; it does not represent an entity […]

In 1942 Wheeler noted that new varieties to replace Uba were available: the grower was interested in sugar and cane yields, ratooning and the value of each new variety. The […]