Other Uses
- Beverages
In a number of countries, notably the Czech Republic and Slovakia, sugar from sugar beet is used to make a rum-flavored hard liquor which is now known as tuzemák. On the Åland Islands, a similar drink is made under the brand name Kobba Libre. In some European countries, especially in the Czech Republic and Germany, sugar beet is also used to make rectified spirit and vodka.
- Sugar beet syrup
An unrefined sugary syrup can be produced directly from sugar beet. This thick, dark syrup is produced by cooking shredded sugar beet for several hours, then pressing the resulting sugar beet mash and concentrating the juice produced until it has the consistency similar to that of honey. No other ingredients are used. In Germany, particularly the Rhineland area, this sugar beet syrup (called Zuckerrüben-Sirup or Zapp in German) is used as a spread for sandwiches, as well as for sweetening sauces, cakes and desserts.
Commercially, if the syrup has a Dextrose Equivalency above 30 DE, the product has to be hydrolyzed and converted to a high-fructose syrup, much like high-fructose corn syrup, or iso-glucose syrup in the EU.
Many road authorities in North America now use de-sugared beet molases as de-icing or anti-icing products in winter control operations. The molasses can be used directly, combined with liquid chlorides and applied to road surfaces, or used to treat the salt spread on roads. Molasses can be more advantageous than road salt alone because it reduces corrosion and lowers the freezing point of the salt-brine mix, so that the de-icers remain effective at lower temperatures. The addition of the liquid to rock salt has the additional benefits that it reduces the bounce and scatter of the rock salt, keeping it where it is needed, and reduces the activation time of the salt to begin the melting process.
- Betaine
Betaine can be isolated from the by-products of sugar beet processing. Production is chiefly through chromatographic separation, using techniques such as the "simulated moving bed".
- Uridine
Uridine can be isolated from sugar beet. Uridine in combination with omega-3 fatty acids has been shown to alleviate depression in rats.
- Alternative fuel
There are plans by BP and Associated British Foods to use agricultural surpluses of sugar beet to produce biobutanol in East Anglia in the United Kingdom.
The feedstock-to-yield ratio for sugarbeet is 56:9. Therefore it takes 6.22 kg of sugarbeet to produce 1 kg of ethanol (approximately 1.27 l at room temperature).
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