Royal COSUN Bio-based Products’ has introduced 100% bio-based rheology modifier - Betafib®.
Exceptional Rheological Properties
Betafib
® is a 100% natural product based on sugar beet pulp with exceptional rheological properties. In various water-based applications where formulation stability and flow behavior are of importance Betafib
® could be applied, such as paints, detergents, shampoos, food products and many more.
Sugar beet pulp accounts for approx. 13 million tonnes in Europe and is a major residual stream from the sugar industry.
Royal COSUN has been working on this innovative product for many years now. Its primary processing revolves around the extraction of sugar from the beet. During this process, a large side stream volume of the remaining sugar beet pulp is normally further valorized as low value feed and/or biogas. In 2015, the company received funding from the public-private partnership Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) for the demonstration project ‘PULP2VALUE’. Within the framework of this project, Royal COSUN designed and constructed the first sugar beet pulp bio-refinery to create more valuable products from this side-stream.
Cost-effective Bio-refinery System
BBI JU demonstration project: ‘Processing Underutilized Low value sugar beet Pulp into VALUE added products’ (PULP2VALUE).
The PULP2VALUE approach intends to demonstrate an integrated and cost-effective cascading bio-refinery system to refine sugar beet pulp and isolate high value products for detergents, personal care, oil and gas, paints and coatings as well as composites. After four years of intensive research, the first commercial successes have been achieved. In 2018, several liquid cleaning products with Betafib
® as rheology modifier/structurant have been successfully introduced to the market.
Source: Royal COSUN