by Helena Tavares Kennedy (Biofuels Digest) It’s barely December yet but some are already having visions of sugar beets, not sugar plums, dancing in their heads, thanks to a new Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC) and Scottish Enterprise working on proposals to re-introduce sugar beet as a more sustainable alternative to fossil fuels used for bioethanol in Scotland. Their data shows the domestic bioethanol supply from sugar beets could reduce carbon emissions by more than 280,000 tons annually, it could create hundreds of jobs, and can support Scotland’s net zero goals.
In today’s Digest, how sugar beets could play an important role in sustainable fuel generation, how a Scottish sugar beet refinery – as the research project explores – could help both Scotland and the UK to meet sustainability and decarbonization targets, and more.
New vision of sugar beets in their heads
It’s a new vision for a bioeconomy in Scotland set out in the IBioIC report by Scottish Enterprise, with at least 815 jobs could be created and thousands more supported through the supply chain. Plus domestic bioethanol supply could reduce carbon emissions by more than 280,000 tons annually, making a significant contribution to the country’s net zero ambitions.
Such a project would also safeguard many of the 11,000 jobs in Scotland’s chemicals industry, which is increasingly moving towards alternatives to fossil fuels, and create new roles in the burgeoning biotechnology sector – many of which would likely be in rural and deprived areas.
On top of that good news, switching to a local supply of bioethanol, rather than relying on importing it from Europe as Scotland currently does, could significantly reduce the country’s carbon footprint by more than 280,000 tonnes of CO2 – the equivalent of taking nearly 61,000 cars off the road per year.
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Many Scottish farmers already grow sugar beet for feed and biogas production. Sugar beet is grown as a break crop in the rotation, and this means it provides a break or a rest from the more intensively farmed cereal crops that dominate most arable rotations.
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A break crop is sown to provide diversity to help reduce disease, pest and weed levels and improve soil health. As a break crop, sugar beet ‘breaks’ the cycle of many pests, weeds and diseases, and without this, these threats could increase and ultimately could mean the land is unsuitable for growing some crops. Sugar beet as break crop also reduces the need for pesticides. READ MORE
Sugar beet re-introduction could create hundreds of jobs and support Scotland’s net zero goals, new report (Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC))