H I S T O R Y
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Sugar Processing Research Institute, Inc. (S.P.R.I.)
Sugar Processing Research Institute, Inc. is a research institute run by and for the international sugar manufacturing and processing industries for the purposes of developing, monitoring and understanding new processes and products, maintaining and developing analytical methodology for the sugar industry, solving problems and serving as an information data base for sponsoring companies.
S.P.R.I., as the Institute is generally known, is a non-profit corporation maintained through annual contributions of the sponsoring member companies of the corporation. S.P.R.I. exists primarily for the needs of its sponsoring member companies. Member companies include beet and cane sugar producers and refiners, suppliers to the industry and major sugar users. S.P.R.I. is based in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, in laboratory and office space at the Southern Regional Research Center, through a special agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (Southern Regional Research Center is part of U.S.D.A.'s Agricultural Research Service) although S.P.R.I., Inc. is not part of U.S.D.A. The Board of Directors of S.P.R.I. (one Director from each sponsoring member) elects the corporate officers and Executive Committee every two years. The Managing Director is responsible for the research program, personnel and financial operations of the group. The group is small: four to five research scientists (chemists, biochemists), several full time support scientists and/or engineers, technicians and office staff, but benefits from its location in a major research center with access to high technology, equipment and cooperating scientists in many fields.
ORIGINS
The Sugar Processing Research Institute, Inc. has developed from two
preceding research organizations. In the late 1930's there was concern on the part
of some cane sugar refiners in the U.S. that their refining process depended on
bone char, a substance about which little was known. A group of sugar refiners
was brought together by John W. Lowe of Revere Sugar to support research on
bone char at the National Bureau of Standards,
In 1963, the National Bureau of Standards changed policy and stopped housing
industry-sponsored research. Industrial sponsors wanted the work to continue
and instituted a cooperative research effort with the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Southern Regional Research Center in
In the late 1970's, the work of CSRRPI moved toward raw cane sugar quality from both refiners' and producers' viewpoints. As the 1980's began, beet sugar producers showed interest in membership. In 1981, the research group was reorganized to S.P.R.I. (then Sugar Processing Research, Inc. - the term "Institute" was added a few years later), with Dr. Margaret A. Clarke as Managing Director. Dr. Michael C. Bennett, who had been President of CSRRPI, became the first President of S.P.R.I.
S.P.R.I. TODAY
The goals of S.P.R.I. today are:
1. To examine the fundamentals of sugar production and refining processes to gain understanding of the chemical and physical bases of these processes in order to improve the operation of current processes and to develop new processes and products.
2. To study the chemical nature of sugars, sweeteners, non-sugars and sugar-producing plants in order to explain processing problems and product quality problems, and to coordinate new developments and problems in agricultural and production practices.
3. To develop new analytical methods for the sugar industry, as such needs are identified, and to improve and expand methods in current use, to apply rapid, practical methods to industrial needs.
4. To apply information on the chemical nature of sugars, non-sugars and sugar producing plants to uses of sugar, and of molasses and other byproducts of sugar manufacture, including bagasse and beet pulp.
5. To serve as an information resource and data base on sugar production, process problems, sugar manufacturing byproducts, sweeteners, and associated areas for sponsoring companies of S.P.R.I., Inc.
6. To assist in problem solving in research-related areas for sponsoring companies of S.P.R.I., Inc.
In addition to operating its research program, S.P.R.I. holds the Conference on Sugar Processing Research every second year, for technical leaders in the sugar industry. Proceedings of these Conferences form a written record of advances in processing, new products and analytical methodology in the cane and beet sugar industries. Workshops, on selected topics of interest to the sugar industry, are usually held in conjunction with the Conferences. Proceedings are also published from Workshops, and are for sale to the public as working tools.
The S.P.R.I. Science Award has been presented at each Conference since 1986 to a scientist selected by a Judging Committee for significant contributions to the science of sucrose processing and production. A new award, the S.P.R.I. Industrial Technology Award, was presented for the first time at the 1998 S.P.R.I. Conference to a nominee who has made outstanding contributions to the technology of sugar production.
For 14 years S.P.R.I. hosted annually the New Orleans Carbohydrate Symposium
-NOCS, a small symposium on the frontiers of carbohydrate chemistry that
achieved a significant international reputation. After the death of Dr.
Margaret Clarke in June 1998 the meetings were discontinued. SPRI has revived
the NOCS with its first meeting since April 1998 on April 10-12, 2008 at the
Dauphine Orleans Hotel in
S.P.R.I.'s accomplishments emphasize the non-sugars in sugar crops, and their effects on process. Examples include: application of colorant classification in cane and beet sugars to factory and refinery processing and removal of colorant types in process; identification of dextran problems in cane and beet processing, and development of both an official (AOAC) test for dextran in raw sugars as well as a rapid assay; assessment of filter impeding factors and identification of fine field soil particles as a major hazard; identification of both vegetative and microbial polysaccharides in sugarcane and sugarbeet and their process and product related problems, and, most recently, finding the causes of acid beverage floc in beet sugars. S.P.R.I. has been in the forefront of research on the sensory characteristics of sugar products, bringing in Near Infrared methodology since 1990, and HPLC/IC systems in the 1980's. The cooperation from USDA, particularly from the Sugarcane Field Station now led by Dr. Ben Legendre until 2000, has been of great assistance.
S.P.R.I.'s current major areas of research, are in sugar colorant and polysaccharides, sucrose loss, membrane filtration, Near Infrared (NIR) and other analytical methodology and product quality studies, are described in the papers presented by S.P.R.I. personnel at the Conference on Sugar Processing Research.
SPRI celebrates 69 years of research for the
sugar industry with hosting its SPRI 2008 Conference on Sugar Processing
Research with the theme: Diversifying Research in Sugar Processing. The
conference was held at the Delray Beach Marriott in
Keynote Presentations:
“The
Development and Commercialization of Dedicated Energy Crops for Biofuels and Power,” WALTER NELSON,
Ceres, Inc.,
“The Challenges & Opportunities Facing Florida’s Sugar
Industry,” BARBARA MIEDEMA, Sugarcane Growers Coop. of Florida, Belle
Glade, FL, USA.
“Upgrading Sugarmills
to Biorefineries,” GEORGE
PHILIPPIDIS,
Ms. Mary An Godshall (the first woman ever to win)
winner of the SPRI Science and Technology Award presented her paper entitled:
Recurring Themes in Sugar Research,” during the Award Session.
Recurring Themes in Sugar Research, AWARD WINNER PRESENTATION, Mary An Godshall, Sugar Processing Research
Institute, Inc., 1100 Robert E. Lee Blvd., New Orleans, LA 70124, Tel: 504-286-4329, Fax: 504-282-5387,
E-mail: ma.godshall@ars.usda.gov
There
is a charming saying that “the more things change, the more they stay the
same.” There is also the adage in
scientific circles that things are re-invented about every twenty years. In actuality, things are revisited about
every fifteen to twenty years because technology improves and new inventions create
new opportunities within the old paradigms.
In the last fifty years, we have seen mind-boggling advances in some
fields – communication, medicine, analytical methodology, molecular
biology, genomics.
In other fields, such as transportation, agriculture, food chemistry and
textile sciences, we have had, not huge advances, but rather, incremental
changes and improvements, which have resulted in better products, more
efficient production and economies of scale.
As with the production of almost all foodstuffs, the manufacture of
sugar, both cane and beet, falls into the second category, where we have seen
the steady advance of knowledge applied to new processes and products. As a starting point for this presentation on
recurring research themes, and what we have learned from them,
Mr. Bjarne Chr. Nielsen was the winner of the Best Paper Award
presented at the Award Banquet on his presentation entitled: Indirect Real-Time
Color Measurement, presented during the Processing Issues Session.
Indirect Real-Time Colour Measurement, Bjarne Chr.
Nielsen, Neltec
Abstract: ICUMSA has
official and accepted methods for measurement of colour
in solution. These methods are in
general use around the globe for quality control. For process control the
methods are too slow. Neltec has development an indirect method for real-time
determination of solution colour based on its ColourQ instrument.
The instrument does not work by measurement of absorption. Instead it measures reflection from the
surface of the sugar. This should imply
that inner crystal colour is not measured. However, Neltec has
developed special and proprietary calibration techniques to include inner
crystal colour in the measurement. Tests by many users of the instrument show
that the differences between the results from the ColourQ
instrument and the laboratory results by the ICUMSA solution colour method are insignificant. Still, it is not correct to characterize the ColourQ results as ICUMSA Solution Colour. The results are practically identical, but
the ColourQ does not use the ICUMSA Solution
method. Procedures for calibration and
testing are described. A set of
properties necessary for a well-functioning real-time colorimeter is listed. Comparative tests with other instruments for
indirect colour measurement are mentioned
You may view the
abstracts from the meeting using this link at http://www.spriinc.org/abstracts0908.html and
view the complete technical program using the link www.spriinc.org/2008technicalprogram.html. SPRI wishes to take this time to thank all
the presenters for their fine presentations that will be a great asset to the
completed proceedings of the SPRI 2008 Conference to be published by May 2009.
Join us in 2010 for the S.P.R.I. Conference in
