Sugar beet could fuel greener future
Growing sugar beet in Scotland and processing the crop at a purpose-built facility to produce an eco-friendly alternative to petroleumbased chemicals could support thousands of jobs and accelerate the nation’s netzero ambitions, according to a new report.
A study funded by Scottish Enterprise and produced by the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBIOIC) has shone a spotlight on how sugar extracted from sugar beet can be used to produce ethanol as a natural and sustainable substitute for chemicals used in a range of household goods, as well as antibiotics, therapeutic proteins, and for transport.
The study has found that at least 815 jobs could be directly created by moving towards domestically produced bioethanol as a sustainable feedstock for manufacturing, and support hundreds more through associated supply-chain and logistics services.
The report also claimed that suchaprojectwouldsafeguard many of the 11,000 jobs in Scotland’s chemicals industry, which is moving towards alternativestofossilfuels,andgeneratenewrolesintheburgeoning biotechnology sector – many of which would likely be in rural and deprived areas.
“Switchingtoalocalsupplyof 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 [carbon dioxide] – the equivalent of taking nearly 61,000 cars off the road per year,” according to the document.
The latter sets an initial target of growing a million tonnes of sugar beet annually, which could in turn produce 110 million litres of bioethanol a year – expected to be around 75 per centofscotland’scurrentneeds for transport.
Identified as optimal locations for a bioethanol plant are Dundee, for its proximity to suitable agricultural land, or Grangemouth, because of its access to power generation, water treatment, a major port, and existing presence of chemicals firms.
Ibioicbossmarkbustardsaid: “Thereportunderlinesthescale andsignificanceoftheopportunityforscotlandthroughthereintroduction of sugar beet and the creation of an associated bioethanol plant.”
He also cited a new mandate that “effectively doubles our need for sustainably sourced ethanol overnight”, adding: “However, it is merely a precursor to much bigger changesaheadandsustainableindigenous sugar supply from biomass is a key component in growing a significant new cluster in Scotland.
“Bio-based production is the future of manufacturing in a net-zero Scotland and sugar beet is at the core of Scotland’s opportunity to develop a sustainable
feedstock.” Scottish Enterprise MD Linda Hanna said:“hotontheheelsofcop26 in Glasgow, publishing this report now is no coincidence and gives a strong message of how to take action on climate change.notonlycansugarbeet provide a credible, sustainable, low-carbon alternative to fossil carbon for manufacturing, itcanalsoacceleratethegrowth ofscotland’sbiotechnologysector.”