Changes is Sugar Beet Growing and Processing

Abstrakt The Bachelor?s thesis deals with changes in technology of sugar beet growing and processing. Sugar beet is the only crop grown in Europe for production of sugar. It was known as a cultivated plant minimum 100 years BC. At first it was grown as fodder crops or vegetables and was imported to Sicily. Sugar was made from sugar cane as far back as the Ancient Times. The Greeks introduced sugar in Europe and called it ?sakcharon?. All the later European names were derived from this term through various sound changes; compare Russian expression ?sachar? or Czech term ?cukr?. Apart from the sugar cane, people tried to utilize the juice of other plants. In the area of the present Czech Republic, the sugar beet growing and sugar production has been a tradition for more than 200 years and they still belong to the important parts of agricultural and food production. The thesis describes the history and beginnings of sugar beet growing and its processing into sugar. It further presents the procedure of sugar beet processed into sugar and deals with establishing new sugar refineries as well. The thesis also focuses on sugar beet growing and processing in Czechoslovakia after the First World War, when sugar obtained the proud title of ?white gold?. The following part aims at the changes in sugar beet growing and sugar industry in the period before and after the Second World War. The text then records the period of changes after 1989 as well as the accession of the Czech Republic to the European Union, which brought the implementation of quota system. The thesis describes the changes of the EU Sugar Regime and impacts of such changes for CR. Next part deals with the use of sugar beet for bioalcohol production as an additive for fuel and lubricants