Abstract
Sugarcane molasses, by-product of sugar production, contains potassium at relatively high ratio and it has a high potential for the source of potassium fertilizer. The present study proposed a simple two-step precipitation method for the recovery of potassium-containing solid, syngenite, from sugarcane molasses. The first precipitation with water recovered more than 30% of potassium in the original molasses. The second precipitation with the mixture of calcium acetate and sulfuric acid resulted in about 40% of the original molasses. Totally, more than 70% potassium was successfully recovered. The applicability of this method was examined with eight kinds of molasses obtained from eight factories in Japan. For all the molasses, syngenite was successfully recovered without any difficulties in processing, and the recovery ratio was more than 70%. Thus, the method will satisfy the growing demand of potassium fertilizer and also to enhance the sustainability of sugarcane sugar production.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bakr, M.Y., A.A. Zatout, and M.A. Zayed. 1977. Potassium fertilizer from molasses waste liqours-1. Literature and short discussion. Chemical Age of India 28: 773–776.
Hisaba, M. 2011. Reduction of fertilizer in sugarcane cultivation. Tokusan Syubyou 12: 107–112 (in Japanese).
Iqbal, K. 1992. Recovery of sugars from cane molasses by continuous simulate moving bed ion-exclusion chromatography. Ph.D Dissertation to Louisiana State University.
Kagoshima Prefectural Agricultural Administration Department Agriculture and Horticulture Division. 2022. Production status of sugar cane (in Japanese).
Kanno, S., S. Meguro, and R. Kanda. 1980. Desugaring process of molasses at Kitami factory. Proceedings of the Research Society of Japan Sugar Refineries’ Technologists 29: 79–87 (in Japanese).
Kearney, M., and V. Kochergin. 2002. Chromatographic applications in the cane sugar industry. International Sugar Journal 104: 94–203.
Kloprogge, J.T., Z. Ding, W.N. Martens, R.D. Schuiling, L.V. Duong, and R.L. Frost. 2004. Thermal decomposition of syngenite, K2Ca(SO4)2·H2O. Thermochimica Acta. 417: 143–155.
Lameloise, M.-L., and R. Lewandowski. 1994. Purification of beet molasses by ion-exclusion chromatography: Fixed-bed modelling. Journal of Chromatography A 685: 45–52.
Lanzerstorfer, C. 2019. Potential of industrial de-dusting residues as a source of potassium for fertilizer production—A mini review. Resources, Conservation and Recycling 143: 68–76.
Luo, J., S. Guo, Y. Wu, and Y. Wan. 2018. Separation of sucrose and reducing sugar in cane molasses by nanofiltration. Food Bioprocess Technology 11: 913–925.
Mananda, A.B., H. Harada, Imran A. Halem, Y. Mitoma, and K. Fujita. 2021. Study of potassium recovery from biomass ash using tartaric acid and syngenite method. Journal of Material Science and Chemical Engineering 9: 39–52.
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. 2022. Matters such as establishing official standards for ordinary fertilizers based on the act on ensuring the quality of fertilizers (in Japanese).
Ohara, S., Y. Terajima, and Y. Kikuchi. 2018. Pilot scale demonstration of technologies for enhancing production of sugar and ethanol from sugarcane. Kagaku Kogaku Ronbunshu 44: 260–270 (in Japanese).
Puspita, R. 2021. Separation of potassium from the model solution. IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering 1143: 012058–012063.
**, J.Z., G.Z. Zhen, J.Y. Shu, G.G. Yong, L. Dan, and H. **ang. 2012. Using strong acid-cation exchange resin to reduce potassium level in molasses vinasses. Desalination 286: 210–216.
Wang, L., S.H. Nam, and M. Lee. 2014. Removal of potassium from molasses by solvent extraction and ion exchange. Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society 35: 2711–2716.
Wynne, A.T., and J.H. Meyer. 2002. An economic assessment of using molasses and condensed molasses solids as a fertilizer in the south African sugar industry. Proceedings South African Sugar Technologists Association 76: 71–78.
Wee, Y.J., J.N. Kim, J.S. Yun, and H.W. Ryu. 2004. Utilization of sugar molasses for economical L(+)-lactic acid production by batch fermentation of Enterococcus faecalis. Enzyme and Microbial Technology 35: 568–573.
Acknowledgements
Sample molasses was kindly provided from sugar companies in Kagoshima and Okinawa prefecture. Furthermore, this research was supported by the NEDO Grant, 20160000000369.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
TO contributed to conceptualization, investigation, data curation, and writing—original draft. HA contributed to conceptualization, methodology, and discussion. TG contributed to investigation. KM contributed to investigation. SNII contributed to writing—review and editing and supervision.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
We certify that all our affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or financial conflict with the subject matter discussed in the manuscript are completely disclosed in the acknowledgement section of the manuscript.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Otani, T., Ando, H., Goshima, T. et al. Enhanced Recovery of Potassium from Sugarcane Molasses for Fertilizer. Sugar Tech 25, 820–826 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-023-01248-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12355-023-01248-1