Increased profitability through product diversification and improved sugar quality.

The proposed simplified Integrated Sugar Production Process (ISPP) using membrane technology would allow the sugar industry to produce new product streams and higher quality mill sugar with increased sugar extraction efficiency. Membrane filtration technology has proven to be a technically sound process to increase sugar quality. However commercial viability has been uncertain partly because the benefits to crystallisation and sugar quality have not outweighed the increased processing cost. This simplified ISPP produces additional value-added liquid streams to make the membrane fractionation process more financially viable and improve the profitability of sugar manufacture. An experimental study used pilot scale membrane fractionation of clarified mill juice confirmed the technical feasibility of separating inorganic salt and antioxidant rich fractions from cane juice. The paper presents details on the compositions of the liquid streams along with their potential uses, values and challenges in getting these products out to market.

Increased profitability through product diversification and improved sugar quality.

The proposed simplified Integrated Sugar Production Process (ISPP) using membrane technology would allow the sugar industry to produce new product streams and higher quality mill sugar with increased sugar extraction efficiency. Membrane filtration technology has proven to be a technically sound process to increase sugar quality. However commercial viability has been uncertain partly because the benefits to crystallisation and sugar quality have not outweighed the increased processing cost. This simplified ISPP produces additional value-added liquid streams to make the membrane fractionation process more financially viable and improve the profitability of sugar manufacture. An experimental study used pilot scale membrane fractionation of clarified mill juice confirmed the technical feasibility of separating inorganic salt and antioxidant rich fractions from cane juice. The paper presents details on the compositions of the liquid streams along with their potential uses, values and challenges in getting these products out to market. This paper was presented at the 2010 Australian Society of Sugar Cane Technologists annual conference.

Increased attractiveness of honeybee hive product volatiles to adult small hive beetle, Aethina tumida, resulting from small hive beetle larval infestation

The small hive beetle, Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), is a recent but significant pest of honeybee Apis mellifera L. (Hymenoptera: Apidae) hives in various regions throughout the world, including Eastern Australia. The larval stage of this beetle damages hives when they feed on brood, pollen, and honeycomb, leaving behind fermented wastes. In cases of extreme damage, hives collapse and are turned to an odorous mass of larvae in fermenting hive products. The yeast Kodamaea ohmeri (Etchells & Bell) Yamada et al. (Ascomycota) has been consistently isolated from the fermenting material as well as each life stage of this beetle. Various studies have noted that the small hive beetle is attracted to volatiles from hive products and those of the yeast K. ohmeri, although earlier studies have not used naturally occurring hive products as their source of fermentation. This study investigated changes through time in the attractiveness of natural honeybee hive products to the small hive beetle as the hive products were altered by the action of beetle larvae and fermentation by K. ohmeri. We used gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and choice-test behavioural assays to investigate these changes using products sampled from three apiaries. Attractiveness of the fermenting hive products (‘slime’) increased as fermentation progressed, and volatile profiles became more complex. Fermenting hive products remained extremely attractive for more than 30 days, significantly longer than previous reports. These results have strong implications for the development of an external attractant trap to assist in the management of this invasive pest.