CORDIS

Background Pulp2Value
Royal Cosun is one of the leading companies in terms of sugar beet processing in Europe. Its primary processing revolves around the extraction of sugar from the beet. During this process a large quantity of side streams, the remaining sugar beet pulp, is produced and further valorized as low value feed and/or green gas. In order to increase the value of its side streams, Cosun developed multiple extraction techniques to isolate more valuable products from sugar beet pulp. Microcellulose fibers, arabinose and galacturonic acid can be isolated as high value products. For each of these products Cosun identified multiple product market combinations. Basic economic considerations point to the fact that the full potential of sugar beet pulp can only be fully exploited in case of developing a full scale cascade biorefinery system, producing microcellulose fibers, arabinose and galacturonic acid.

Valorization of sugar beet pulp
Sugar beet pulp is a major residual stream from the sugar beet industry, which is currently valorized as low value feed and/or green gas. In Europe sugar beet pulp accounts for a production volume of approx. 13 million tons per year. Microcellulose fibers, arabinose and galacturonic acid found in sugar beet pulp can be used for a great variety of applications such as composites, chemical building blocks, food & flavor applications as well as detergents and personal care.

Objectives and Goals
Throughout the years Cosun developed a pilot facility in which the state-of-the-art unit of operations were tested. The Pulp2Value project is aiming for the scale-up of these pilot processes to semi-industrial scale and the successful development of value chains based on the products derived from sugar beet pulp. Cosun aims to significantly increase the value of the sugar beet pulp by demonstrating applications for approximately 65% of its mass in high value markets. Demonstration of the separate and overall business case(s) is the main generic objective of the project.
The project’s two main objectives are:
1. To scale up, optimize and integrate processes for the production of microcellulose fibers, arabinose and galacturonic acid.
2. To build long lasting value chains for microcellulose fibers, arabinose and galacturonic acid.
The ultimate goal is to set up a demonstration plant which refines sugar beet pulp in an integrated and cost-effective cascading biorefinery.