Can You Beet This?

Today, our friends in the Midwest are digging out from the snow and ice that recently blanketed the region. Of course, as part of that process, the snow plows are out clearing the roads, but did you know that many are loaded with a new tool against the frozen stuff?

Beet juice.

Yup, you read that right.

Turns out this beet extract, technically desugared sugar beet molasses, is a byproduct of sugar production, so it's readily available. Even better, it helps the salt work at lower temperatures and for longer periods of time, all while reducing its corrosive properties.

My quick trip around the Web shows that municipalities in Ohio, Missouri, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Maine and even D.C. are among those using it this year. (And I might even have missed a few.)

Unfortunately, USDA's Agricultural Research Service can't take credit for this agricultural innovation, but scientists there have got myriad success stories under their collective belt, things now considered commonplace, from tastier frozen orange juice to soy ink and DEET.

Another one, Super Slurper, has found its way into so many uses that it's hard to list them all. Among the biggies: disposable diapers, wound dressings, automobile fuel filters, and most recently, book drying sheets. (And I've got to give credit to NAL's own Kate Hayes, now retired, for the last one.)

This whole process of moving agency-funded inventions out to private industry for development and commercialization is called technology transfer. It pushes the research into the hands of those who can put it to practical use, ultimately benefiting the nation.

Sound like something you want to know more about?

Then head on over to the Library's Technology Transfer Information Center. You'll discover there a variety of resources and links to help innovators and developers find new research and identify funding and partnership opportunities for new products and innovations. Ya' can't beat that.

Posted by Mary Ann Leonard

Added to Technology Transfer on December 12, 2007 EST | Permalink

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