Abstract
Invert sugar has several disadvantage properties that play an important role in many food applications. It has a high affinity
for water and is the cause of making products retain moisture.Invert sugar also affects the caramelization process , producing
a browning effect. In this study, the possibility of minimization of sucrose inversion during the industrial production of
sugar cane was investigated by the variation of the important parameters, i.e. temperature and pH of sugar cane juice for
each of samples. The amounts of sucrose and reducing sugar alerting during the sucrose inversion process were determined
by the values of % Pol and % reducing sugar (% RS), respectively. Starting with the study of temperature and pH effects of
the sucrose solution with the concentration of 16 Brix, used as a sample model, it was found that no change in amounts of
reducing sugar and sucrose was observed at room temperature (34oC) in the pH range of 5-11.
At pH 3, the amounts of reducing sugar increased and the amount of sucrose decreased as the time increased. These
indicated that the process of sucrose inversion should better occur in more acidic solutions. Compared to the room
temperature, it was found that the increment of temperature led to enhance the process of sucrose inversion. This was
depicted by higher values of %RS and lower value of % Pol as the temperatures were elevated. The experiments were also
done with real sugar cane juice, i.e. first, last, and mixed juice. The tendency of changes of the amounts of reducing sugar
and sucrose in sugar cane samples by varying temperature and pH were found to resemble to those for the sample model.
The increment of temperatures have also affected on a reduction of amounts of sucrose in each sugar cane juice. In addition,
it could be concluded that the acidity of the solution affects sucrose easier to be broken down to glucose and fructose
molecules.