Council of Canada (NSERC)
Lethbridge College partnered with Alberta Sugar Beet Growers to investigate the potential of sugar beets as a de-icer. Sugar beets are seasonal crops, and they need to be processed before the end of winter to avoid spoilage. However, there is only one sugar beet processing factory in Alberta with limited daily processing capacity, so sugar beet growers are looking for alternative usages for their crop such as juice-based deicer to be used as freezing point depressants on snow or ice.
The objective of this project is to analyze the physicochemical properties of sugar beet juice and deicing capacity of sugar beet juice and comparison with commercially available liquid and solid deicer along with studying sugar beet juice as freezing point depressant to see the potential of optimization with commercially available deicers.
Sugar beets are a major crop in southern Alberta with significant social and economic impact. Alternative and by-product utilization commercialization will result in direct economic benefit to sugar beet growers and result in increased profitability and sustainability of Canadian farmers to remain competitive with their counterparts in other major sugar producing countries.