FEATURE - Brazil sugar mill plugs into powerful future
Date: 03-Dec-01
Country: BRAZIL
Author: Peter Blackburn
The family-run Cia Acucareira Vale do Rosario, which manages a 75,000 hectare (187,500 acre) cane plantation, is also one of Brazil's largest sugar and ethanol producers.
The plantation was carved out of a remote area of Ribeirao Preto, Brazil's sugar cane kingdom in the northeast of Sao Paulo state which accounts for 75 percent of sugar output in the world's biggest sugar producing and exporting country.
Three generations of the Junqueira Santos Pereira family, which traces its roots to 16th century Portuguese settlers, run the integrated sugar enterprise.
It crushes up to five million tonnes of sugar cane annually into sugar and ethanol biofuel, leaving some 1.5 million tonnes of bagasse - sugar cane residue - piled up in sheds.
"We're an old family but look at new ways of doing things," said grandfather Eduardo Junqueira Santos Pereira.
Daily management of the huge sugar mill is in the hands of son-in-law Ricardo Brito Santos Pereira who seized on the energy option as a profitable way of using waste material.
CLEAN FUEL
"Bagasse provides clean, renewable energy and increased profit margins," he said.
Brazil's energy crisis, caused by drought and dependence on hydroelectric power, not only prompted energy rationing but also diversification of power supplies.
Ricardo's son, Eduardo Junior, is studying a project to more than double to 75 MW the sale of electricity to the national grid.
Vale do Rosario currently produces 45 MW from bagasse, consuming 12 MW internally and selling the balance.
It is easily the biggest Brazilian sugar mill energy producer - the next being nearby Santa Elisa with 12 MW.
Eduardo Junior, recently returned from university studies in the United States, is optimistic.
"We have lots of surplus bagasse, power is in short supply and energy sales are potentially very profitable," he said.
However, selling electricity also requires heavy infrastructure investment, notably in power transmission lines.
In a constant quest to innovate and cut costs, Vale do Rosario also processes surplus bagasse, smelling like chocolate, into cattle and fish feed.
It runs a so-called cattle "hotel" which can accommodate up to 5,000 cows and bullocks in outdoor paddocks for fattening during the drier winter season from June to September.
Another way in which it cuts costs is by mixing waste water and stillage from the sugar production process to produce fertilizer to spread on the cane fields.
Imported fertilizer, one of the most expensive inputs in the cultivation of sugar cane, has become increasingly expensive following a sharp depreciation of Brazil's real currency against the dollar.
CARBON CREDITS
As part of efforts to clean up its act and gain carbon credits, Vale do Rosario developed a clean steam production process by which the smoke is washed and the ash is filtered out into a black sludge which is compressed and used as a potash-rich fertilizer in the cane fields.
"It's a home invention," said Ricardo.
It's also part of an environmental drive to obtain the International Standards Organization's green seal which would put a premium on Vale do Rosario's sugar and ethanol products.
Looking ahead, the family is steadily mechanizing sugar cane harvesting as a government ban on burning of sugar cane fields is phased in.
About 35 percent of the cane area is now machine harvested, compared with a state average of 25 percent, and the company aims to achieve 80 percent in the next few years. The remaining area is too hilly for machines.
"We're trying to find new jobs for the cane cutters," said Ricardo, adding that some would be trained as mechanics and drivers.
Traditionally the fields are burned before harvesting to clear them of weeds and pests to make it easier and safer for farm laborers before they cut the fire-resistant cane.
However the fires produce huge clouds of black smoke that pollutes the atmosphere.
A row between cane producers an
