BetaBeet: distributed processing and citric acid production from locally farmed Sugar Beet

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Title
BetaBeet: distributed processing and citric acid production from locally farmed Sugar Beet

CoPED ID
afa0b8e5-cbea-4255-848a-c2e751c00d00

Status
Closed


Value
£119,514

Start Date
Sept. 30, 2020

End Date
Dec. 31, 2020

Description

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The Betabeet project aims to develop new distributed sugar beet processing technology with lower costs, lower carbon emissions and a better environmental footprint. It will achieve this through cold-pressing of sugar beet using technology developed for root vegetable processing, such as for potatoes, together with fermentation of the pulp for manufacture of the widely used preservative and cleaning product, citric acid. By-products from the process will be used for other uses, such as animal feed. We will take particular care to reduce the impact of soil erosion during sugar beet cultivation. The development of a beet processing industry in the North of England will deliver good jobs in areas hard hit by COVID. The project will help businesses in the UK recover from the COVID 19 pandemic through development of local sources of both citric acid and sugar for the North of England's food, drink and personal care manufacturers. Importantly, the project will build the technology and supply principles for the manufacture of a range of bulk and high value bio-based chemicals needed of address supply challenges emerging from both political and environmental changes. The principal of more distributed processing offers greater flexibility in the UK to add value to UK farming without the need for expensive centralised investment and high transport costs. Betabeet will also contribute to the UK's net zero and other environmental commitments: cold pressing reduces the carbon emissions for sugar beet processing by around two thirds. The scale of operations will reduce the transport costs and emissions significantly. Cultivation of sugar beet will offer a new break crop for farmers in the North of England, reducing agricultural inputs, improving soil quality and enhancing biodiversity.

University of York LEAD_ORG
University of York PARTICIPANT_ORG

Andrew Wood PM_PER
Andrew Wood PM_PER

Subjects by relevance
  1. Emissions
  2. Sugar beet
  3. Environmental effects
  4. Costs
  5. Environmental technology
  6. Preservation with sugar
  7. Processing
  8. Agriculture
  9. Root crops

Extracted key phrases
  1. Sugar beet processing technology
  2. Beet processing industry
  3. Citric acid production
  4. Sugar beet cultivation
  5. Root vegetable processing
  6. BetaBeet
  7. Low carbon emission
  8. Betabeet project
  9. High transport cost
  10. Well environmental footprint
  11. Low cost
  12. Sugar Beet
  13. Cold pressing
  14. Environmental commitment
  15. Environmental change

Related Pages

UKRI project entry

UK Project Locations