Plant to Re-Use Minnesota Sugar Beet Waste as Packaging Material
A Scottish company is working with Minnesota farmers to create biodegradable, fiber-based packaging made out of sugar beet pulp.
CelluComp is expanding its operations to the US, creating its first commercial-scale facility. It's opening this month in Renville, Minnesota, east of Granite Falls.
REPURPOSING WASTE
CelluComp will be making a patented product called Curran at the a 15,000 square-foot facility starting in May.
Curran is made by taking cellulose from root vegetable residual pulp -- like from sugar beets. That cellulose is one of the ingredients in making fiber-based packaging as an alternative to plastics and PFAS "forever" chemicals.
JOINT EFFORT
The company's been working with state and city leaders, the University of Minnesota and the Agricultural Utilization and Research Institute, the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development, Beaver Creek Transport and the city of Renville for their expertise and help.
Renville is a great location for CelluComp. The company's partnering with the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative, located less than a mile away.
REDUCING THE WASTESTREAM AND CREATING JOBS
The Cooperative will supply CelluComp's new plant with to 7,000 tons of sugar beet pulp to produce 800 tons of Curran to start, and scaling up to 24,000 tons -- equaling 2,800 dry tons of Curran -- next year.
The company's hiring three full-time and two part-time positions now and has plans to hire up to 24 new jobs in the region in the future as the business grows.
“Having a global business like CelluComp expand in Renville is a huge win for our community,” said David Van Hove, Jr., mayor of Renville, Minn. “We welcome creative businesses like this that see the potential of what rural Minnesota can provide and we celebrate the infusion of jobs and productivity they deliver while making a positive environmental impact.”
OTHER RE-USES
And CelluComp has other plans for the by-products in the Curran-making process. They'll use those by-products in the Renville area for all-natural animal feed, fertilizer and biogas energy.
CelluComp believes it will divert around 80,000 tons of sugar beet waste each years "from low value use for more circularity applications."
CelluComp is a Scottish-based company in Fife, near Edinburgh. The company develops and commercializes sustainable materials from plant sources.
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Gallery Credit: Stephen Lenz
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