Research on rum production from ROC16 sugarcane variety: Application of Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast and optimization of distillation process
Sugarcane is a key crop that plays an important role in economic development in many localities. However, the Vietnamese sugar industry is currently under great pressure from competition from imported and smuggled sugar, causing sugar prices to plummet and sugarcane growing areas to increasingly shrink.

Before this situation, research and development of value-added products from sugarcane, such as distilled alcohol, is a potential direction to diversify products and increase the economic value of sugarcane. In Vietnam, ROC16 sugarcane is widely grown in Khanh Hoa due to its high yield and sugar content, and is often used to squeeze soft drinks. Notably, frozen sugarcane juice from ROC16 sugarcane has been exported by JTV to Belgium to produce rum and is highly appreciated for its flavor quality.
On that basis, the research team investigated the methods of processing ROC16 sugarcane juice combined with fermentation with commercial yeast S. cerevisiae and distillation to obtain a rum product with high alcohol content and characteristic aroma.
Initial results show great potential for developing rum production technology from sugarcane in Vietnam, contributing to increasing the value of sugarcane and opening up a new direction for the sugarcane industry in the current context.
The study investigated the fermentation process of ROC16 sugarcane juice and distillation of sugarcane wine using commercial yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to obtain a rum product with high alcohol concentration and characteristic aroma. The results determined a number of physical and chemical parameters of ROC16 sugarcane juice including: Brix 22°Bx, density 1.090 g/cm³, pH 5.1. Fermentation of sugarcane juice samples with yeast S. cerevisiae (Spirit Ferm) for 7 days was suitable. The wine obtained from sugarcane juice supplemented with tartaric acid had a characteristic rum aroma and reached the highest alcohol concentration of 65% for the total of two distillations.
Journal of Analytical Chemistry, Physics and Biology - Volume 29, No. 02/2023