The sugarcane juice is a relatively low-cost agricultural resource, abundant in South Asia, Central America and Brazil, with vast applications in producing ethanol biofuel. In that way, a good knowledge of the rheological properties of this raw material is of crucial importance when designing and optimizing unit operations involved in its processing.
In thiswork, the rheological behavior of untreated (USCJ, 17.9 ◦Brix)clarified (CSCJ, 18.2 ◦Brix) and mixed (MSCJ, 18.0 ◦
Brix) sugarcane juices was studied at the temperature range from 277K to 373K, using a cone-and-plate viscometer. These fluids were found to present a Newtonian behavior and their flow curves were well-fitted by the viscosity Newtonian model. Viscosity values liedwithin the range 5.0×10−3 Pa s to 0.04×10−3 Pa s in the considered temperature interval. The dependence of the viscosity on the temperature was also successfully modeled through an Arrhenius type equation. In addition to the dynamic viscosity, experimental values of pressure loss in tube flow
were used to calculate friction factors. The good agreement between predicted and measured values confirmed the reliability of the proposed equations for describing the flow behavior of the clarified and untreated sugarcane juices.