China’s Tiger Ethanol Company Uses Sugar Beet to Produce Ethanol

The Tiger Ethanol Company has recently signed an agreement with the local government of Fujian Province in China, to grow sugar beet which can be processed to produce both ethanol and refined sugar in “flex factories”. The plan is seen to provide additional income to Chinese farmers. The choice of sugar beet was chosen over corn, because it can produce more diverse products like refined sugar from pressing and processing of the sugar beet, or ethanol from refined sugar processing, and fertilizer from the spent biomass. A 121,000 hectare sugar beet plantation is expected by the end of the implementation cycle of the plan. A yield 1.5 million tons is estimated, with a production capacity of 100,000 tons of ethanol and 100,000 tons of refined sugar.