NATURAL RADIONUCLIDES AS DIRT TRACERS IN SUGAR-CANE CONSIGNMENTS

Soil is usually carried to the mills, as an impurity in sugar cane, le ading to economic drawbacks for the industry. The quantification of th is dirt is important to identify its causes and for routine quality co ntrol. Several methods have been used for this purpose, however, no si ngle one has been pointed out as an industrial standard. The use of a gamma-ray emitting radionuclide of natural occurence was investigated and, after several soil and cane radioactivity analyses, Pb-212 was ch osen as the best tracer. Calibration curves developed with the additio n of soil in clean cane, from 0 to 10% (dry mass), demonstrated the li nearity of the method. Analyses of eleven samples taken from consignme nts showed that the procedure was consistent and reliable when compare d to the traditional ash method.