Sugar beet pulp with improved water holding capacity

Abstract

The present invention concerns sugar beet pulp which is capable of absorbing and/or holding an amount of water that is at least 14 times the dry weight of the sugar beet pulp. The present invention further concerns a method for improving the water absorption capacity and/or water holding capacity of sugar beet pulp, comprising the steps of: (a) providing sugar beet material; (b) optionally extracting mono- and disaccharides from the sugar beet material provided in step (a) at a temperature below 75° C. to provide spent sugar beet pulp; (c) subjecting the sugar beet material provided in step (a) or the spent sugar beet pulp provided in step (b) to a heating step at a temperature of at least 85° C. to obtain sugar beet pulp with improved water absorption capacity and/or water holding capacity; (d) optionally removing mono- and disaccharides from the sugar beet pulp obtained in step (c).

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.