Ali Farahmandi; Mojtaba Naderi-Boldaji; Maral Ajamian; Mahdi Ghasemi-Varnamkhasti; Saman Abdanan
Abstract
Sugarcane is an important crop in sugar production in the country widely produced in Khuzestan province. After harvesting the sugarcane in the field and when delivered to the sugar factory, the cane is shredded. In this study, the dielectric spectroscopy technique in the frequency range of 0-100 MHz ...
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Sugarcane is an important crop in sugar production in the country widely produced in Khuzestan province. After harvesting the sugarcane in the field and when delivered to the sugar factory, the cane is shredded. In this study, the dielectric spectroscopy technique in the frequency range of 0-100 MHz was evaluated for measurement of sucrose concentration in shredded cane using a cylindrical parallel-plate sensor with compaction of the shredded cane. Fifty five samples of shredded cane were taken from the sugar production line of Salman Farsi factory during the harvesting season of 2021-2022 and their reference properties including sugar concentration with three indicators of Brix using refractometry method, Pol using simple polarimetry method and the sucrose measured using double polarimetry were measured. The samples were subjected to dielectric spectroscopy using the capacitance sensor and the dielectric spectra were analyzed for sugar concentration prediction. Multivariate regression analyses of partial least-sugare regresseion (PLSR), principal component regression (PCR) and support vector regression were applied for development of prediction models of sugar concentration variables. Validation of the prediction model of PLSR showed a stronger prediction of sucrose (R2= 0.79, RMSE= 0.89, RPD= 2.22) measured using the double-polarimetry as compared to Pol (R2= 0.76, RMSE= 0.8, RPD= 2.07) and Brix (R2= 0.77, RMSE= 0.89, RPD= 2). This result was explained with higher number of OH groups of sucrose molecule as compared to the other sugars existing in the sugarcane juice and the dominant effect of sucrose on the dielectric characteristics of the juice.
Azam Asadi; Mojtaba Naderi; Amin Lotfalian; Mahdi Ghasemi-Varnamkhasti; Saman Abdanan
Abstract
Determination of sugar concentration of sugar beet in sugar factories is of great importance and is a basis for valuation of the sugar beet as well as assessment of the sugar production process in the factory. In this study with the aim of development of a non-destructive method for measurement of the ...
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Determination of sugar concentration of sugar beet in sugar factories is of great importance and is a basis for valuation of the sugar beet as well as assessment of the sugar production process in the factory. In this study with the aim of development of a non-destructive method for measurement of the sugar concentration of sugar beet in terms of Brix, a proximal dielectric sensor was developed and evaluated. This sensor is an open-end coaxial probe consisting of two metallic concentric ring electrodes which is connected to function generator and spectrum analyzer through coaxial cables. One hundred random samples of sugar beet were selected and measured by the dielectric sensor. Dielectric spectra i.e. amplitude as a function of frequency were obtained in the frequency range of 0-150 MHz. The reference Brix was measured with extracting juice from the points of dielectric measurement using a refractometer. The results showed that in the ranges of 30-50 and 120-140 MHz, the dielectric spectra varied noticeably in relation with variations in sugar beet Brix so that the amplitude decreased with increasing the Brix. The partial least square regression (PLSR) method could model the Brix as a function of the dielectric spectra variables with R2= 0.81 and RMSE of 0.72 Brix. The results of the study indicated that the dielectric sensor and measurement method was a simple and reliable method for non-destructive measuring of sugar beet Brix.
Asghar Zourabadi; Mojtaba Naderi; asghar abedi; Amin Lotfalian-Dehkordi; Ehsan Shahbazi
Abstract
In this study, three harvesting methods of sugar beet, including semi-mechanized, multi-stage mechanized and single-stage mechanized (by combine) in Khorasan Razavi province (Jovein town) were compared from the view of some technical factors. The total losses of sugar beet, including the weight of cut ...
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In this study, three harvesting methods of sugar beet, including semi-mechanized, multi-stage mechanized and single-stage mechanized (by combine) in Khorasan Razavi province (Jovein town) were compared from the view of some technical factors. The total losses of sugar beet, including the weight of cut crown beets, damaged beets and unharvested healthy beets were 1944 kg ha-1 (i.e. 3% of yield), for for multi-stage method; for single-stage and semi-mechanized methods this figure reduced to 542 and 454 kg ha-1 respectively. The highest increase in soil compaction in terms of cone index was measured for the single-stage method followed by the multi-stage method. The fuel consumption in the single-stage and semi-mechanized methods were 25% and 33% of the fuel consumption in multi-stage mechanized method. Energy consumption in single-stage and semi-mechanized methods was less than what had been consumed in multi-stage method, 24% and 34% respectively. Results also showed that single-stage mechanized (combine) harvesting method, compareing with two other methods, had relative advantages, except in soil compaction, for which some technical optimizations would be needed.
Zahra Saedi; Mojtaba Maderi-Boldaji; Bahram Hosseinzadeh
Abstract
To manage the traffic-induced soil compaction in a field, the applied stress on soil with machinery traffic needs to be controlled below the soil bearing capacity (i.e. precompression stress, σpc) to prevent increase in soil compaction. Precompresson stress is primarily a function of soil moisture ...
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To manage the traffic-induced soil compaction in a field, the applied stress on soil with machinery traffic needs to be controlled below the soil bearing capacity (i.e. precompression stress, σpc) to prevent increase in soil compaction. Precompresson stress is primarily a function of soil moisture and secondarily soil texture. This study aimed at developing an empirical -analytical algorithm for daily prediction of soil precompression stress in a selected field at Shahrekord University. Statistical analyses showed that using the meteorology variables of each year including the precipitation of the target day and its previous day, temperature, radiation and wind velocity, daily changes in soil moisture could be well predicted (R2 = 0.85, RMSE= 3.3%). To determine the relationship between the soil moisture and precompression stress, remolded soil samples were prepared at three bulk densities of 1.15, 1.22 and 1.3 Mg m-3 and four moisture levels of 10, 15, 20 and 25% and subjected to stepwise confined compressive stress. Precompression stress was estimated at the point of maximum curvature on the void ratio- log stress curves with fitting Gompertz function. In addition, the analytical model of Elbanna & Witney (1987) was tested for extending the results to different soil textures using an empirical relation between cone index and precompression stress. The results showed that the model predicts well the variations in precompression stress as affected by soil moisture. The algorithm developed in this study can be implemented in managing the machinery traffic and predicting the trafficable days of each year.