An online visible and near-infrared spectroscopic technique for the real-time evaluation of the soluble solids content of sugarcane billets on an elevator conveyor

Abstract The aim of this research study is to propose a prototype online detection system based on the visible and near-infrared spectroscopic (vis/SW-NIR) technique for the real-time evaluation of the soluble solids content (SSC) of sugarcane billets on an elevator conveyor. The system consisted of two main parts, a cane billet elevator and a spectral acquisition device. An elevator speed of 2 m/s was used for the transfer of sugarcane billets. Spectra acquisition was performed using four 50 W tungsten halogen lamps as a light source in conjunction with vis/SW-NIR spectrometer in reflectance mode. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was subsequently used to correlate the spectra with the experimentally determined SSC values. The model performance was then assessed using an independent prediction set. The model was found to display a coefficient of determination of prediction (R2) of 0.785, a root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) of 0.30 and a residual predictive deviation (RPD) of 2.16. The result on the prediction set confirm that the proposed system is suitable for the online SSC measurement of the sugarcane billets on an elevator conveyor.

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