‘Beeting’ a Path to Advanced Biofuels

Ethanol Producer Magazine March 2010
By Anna Austin

A three-way partnership in North Dakota aims to utilize one of the state’s top crops for the development of sugar beet-to-biofuel plants in five regions.

The brisk air that seeps into North Dakota in the fall is a precursor to what is usually a long, snowy winter. For many it also indicates time to begin an event comparable to a modern-day gold rush—sugar beet harvest.

In roughly one month’s time, North Dakota growers harvest close to 5 million tons of sugar beets. North Dakota and Minnesota combined produce about 55 percent of the nation’s sugar beets every year. With the exception of a few northern counties, beets are grown throughout the Red River Valley and along the Minnesota River in west central Minnesota. Researchers at North Dakota State University in Fargo are aiming to change that as part of a much larger project—one that they hope will result in a statewide sugar beet-to-biofuel industry.

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