Methods for analyzing plant material, for determining plant material components and for detecting plant diseases in plant material

1 . A method for determining components in industrial processing of sugar beets in a production facility, the method comprising:

providing a plurality of sugar beets including a production portion of sugar beets for production and an analysis portion of sugar beets for component analysis and for production;

analysing the analysis portion, wherein analysing comprises:

emitting electromagnetic waves towards the analysis portion,

receiving electromagnetic waves, and

converting the received electromagnetic waves into a spectral signal;

processing the spectral signal to determine components in the analysis portion;

adjusting one or more production parameters based on the determined components in the analysis portion; and

responsive to adjusting the one or more production parameters, producing a product from the production portion and from the analysis portion.

2 . The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein analysing is performed as a continuous process comprising converting the received electromagnetic waves into the spectral signal in intervals less than 100 ms.

3 . The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the mass fraction of the analysis portion is at least 0.001% of the plurality of sugar beets.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

generating calibration data, including one or more of the following:

taking a sample of sugar beets and moving the sample along a sensor that is adapted to receive electromagnetic waves,

producing a sugar beet pulp from the sample and extracting the sugar beet pulp by one or more of Aluminium sulfate, lead acetate, a water solution, or a combination thereof,

performing reference analysis of the extracted sugar beet pulp by conducting measurements comprising one or more of polarimetry, flame photometry, fluorometric o-phthalaldehyde (OPA) method, copper method, immobilized enzyme biosensor method, oven method, or a combination thereof,

pre-processing the spectral signal for correcting and/or eliminating overlaying effects, wherein pre-processing is conducted using one or more of multiplicative scatter correction (MSC), inverse MSC, extended MSC, smoothing, standard normal variate (SNV), normalization, or a combination thereof,

removing one or more first spectral signals that are not converted from electromagnetic waves that are reflected from or emitted through the sugar beets, by differentiating the one or more first spectral signals using one or more of classification, filtering, mathematical filtering methods, or a combination thereof,

averaging spectral signals to one spectral signal, and

carrying out multiple and/or multivariate analysis for generating the calibration data, wherein the calibration data is derived using one or more of principle component analysis (PCA), partial least squares (PLS) regression, machine learning, neuronal networks, or a combination thereof.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:

comparing the spectral signal with the calibration data and dependent on the comparison determine the components in the analysis portion.

6 . The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the wavelength of the electromagnetic waves lies in one or more of the infrared spectrum, the near-infrared spectrum, the microwave region, the visible spectrum, the ultraviolet spectrum, or a combination thereof, and wherein the spectral signal is converted by using one or more of spectroscopy, in particular near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), mid-infrared-spectroscopy, far-infrared spectroscopy, terahertz-spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Raman spectroscopy, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), fluorescence spectroscopy, hyperspectral imaging, nuclear magnetic resonance, or a combination thereof.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein adjusting the one or more production parameters comprises one or more of the following:

changing one or more of electric field pulses, pulse numbers, a process temperature, a conveying speed, a duration of the production portion in reactor, application of milk of lime and CO2 in raw juice purification, adjustment of processes of liming, carbonation, sludge separation and sulphitation in juice purification, or a combination thereof, and

changing at least one drying process parameter for drying pressed pulp.

8 . The method according to claim 1 ,

wherein emitting the electromagnetic waves towards the analysis portion is conducted while the analysis portion is conveyed using a transport device.

9 . A method for generating calibration data for the determination of components in sugar beets for sugar production, the method comprising:

taking a sample of sugar beets and moving the sample along a sensor that is adapted to receive electromagnetic waves;

performing spectroscopic analysis of the sample by continuously emitting electromagnetic waves towards the sample, receiving electromagnetic waves, and converting the received electromagnetic waves into a spectral signal;

producing a sugar beet pulp from the sample and extracting the sugar beet pulp by one or more of Aluminium sulfate, lead acetate solution, water, or a combination thereof;

performing reference analysis of the extracted sugar beet pulp by conducting measurements comprising one or more of polarimetry, flame photometry, fluorometric o-phthalaldehyde (OPA) method, copper method, immobilized enzyme biosensor method, oven method, or a combination thereof; and

comparing the results of the spectroscopic analysis with the results of the reference analysis.

10 . An arrangement for determining components in sugar beets for sugar production, the arrangement comprising:

a receiving section configured to receive a plurality of sugar beets including a production portion of sugar beets for sugar production and an analysis portion of sugar beets for component analysis and for sugar production;

a chopping device configured to cut the analysis portion into substantially equal sized sugar beet pieces;

a transport device configured to convey the analysis portion and the production portion;

an analysis assembly configured to emit electromagnetic waves towards the analysis portion that is arranged on the transport device, and to convert the received electromagnetic waves into a spectral signal;

a production device configured to produce a product from the analysis portion and from the production portion; and

a control unit configured to:

receive the spectral signal from the analysis assembly;

process the received spectral signal to determine components in the analysis portion; and

adjust in real-time at least one sugar production parameter based on the determined components in the analysis portion,

wherein the at least one sugar production parameter comprises one or more of electric field pulses, pulse numbers, a process temperature, a conveying speed, a duration of the production portion in reactor, application of milk of lime and CO2 in raw juice purification, and/or adjustment of processes of liming, carbonation, sludge separation and sulphitation in juice purification, a drying time, a drying temperature, or a combination thereof.

11 . The arrangement according to claim 10 , wherein the production device is configured to produce the product based on the at least one adjusted sugar production parameter.