2008 could be described as the year of the sugar mill. Brazilian sugar mills have rapidly expanded in both size and number during this year, so much so that government authorities in the Sao Paulo region have ceased issuing any licenses to new mills pending environmental impact reports on the effect of so many new mills on the land. As international demand for sugar and sugar ethanol in particular grows, sugar mills are becoming attractive investment opportunities for both the Brazilian government and international entities. Some mills have more than doubled in size in the past three years, and many older sugar mills have not only increased their sugar production capacities, but added ethanol production capabilities to their repertoire as well.
It should be said that sugar mills in Brazil have continuously been on the forefront of sugar development for the past few decades. The processes in place at many sugar mills in Brazil are known to be some of the most efficient in the world, and sugar mills in Brazil are well known for their emphasis on innovation. This was demonstrated in 1993, when Brazil invented a new form of raw sugar called VHP or very high pol sugar. This was raw sugar which needed further refining to be made suitable for human consumption, but unlike other forms of raw sugar was 99.4% sucrose, which meant that refineries purchasing the sugar had relatively little waste product, and were able to produce more refined sugar from a single shipment of raw. The invention of this sugar revolutionized the world sugar trade.
Brazil’s sugar industry has continued to go from strength to strength, and many resources have been channeled into research and development at mills all around the country. The thrust of recent innovation has been in developing new strains of sugar cane which contain a higher amount of sucrose and which can grow in more varied climatic conditions and soils. This has allowed Brazil to produce more sugar cane, more sugar, and more sugar ethanol than any other nation in the world. The rivalry between India and Brazil has come to a head in recent years, and India has threatened Brazil’s world leader status on more than one occasion. However Brazil maintains its lead, due in large part to its higher quality sugar cane, though also to better soil and growing conditions.
Most sugar mills in Brazil are also highly efficient in their operations, recycling a great deal of the raw materials used in the production of sugar. Efficiency teams oversee every part of the process to try and find places where efficiency can be improved, and to ensure that efficiency standards are being maintained.
Efficiency starts from the very beginning of the milling process, with sugar cane quite often grown in fields close to the mill. The mills either owns or leases these fields, and when they are harvested the cane has only a short journey to the mill. Care is also often taken to ensure that no cane is lost en route, and many mills actually pay a worker to pick up any cane which falls from the trucks.
Once at the mill, the cane is washed to remove the dirt from the field. The water used to wash the cane is not allowed to go to waste, but is collected and sent back to the ponds, still carrying the dirt and silt which was washed out of the harvested cane. Even then, the dirt is not allowed to rest, but sediments at the bottom of the pond and is taken back out to the field where it is used as a fertilizer.
Meanwhile, the washed cane is carried through into the plant for processing. It is shredded and pounded to extract all the juice, and crushed in heavy rollers as well. The juice is then carried through into a tank where any small pieces of cane are skimmed off the top of the juice and put through hot rollers.
The insoluble part of the cane, known as bagasse, is also recycled. In many cases it is taken away and burned to power the sugar mill. Bagasse often provides more energy than is actually needed to power the sugar mill, and the excess energy is sold for profit on the national grid.
Depending on the function of the mill, sugar juice will either be refined into high grade sugar, or it will be processed into raw VHP sugar. Both processes involve boiling, crystallizing, and centrifuging the raw sugar juice, though extra steps are undertaken during refining processes to purify the sugar and remove contaminants, colorants, and leave it a sparkling or bright white color.
There are a great many workers involved in keeping a sugar mill running, from those who work in the fields harvesting the cane, to those who oversee its production. Most mills also have a scientific division which is dedicated to analyzing sugar production variables such as the quality of the cane, its sucrose content, the soil in which it is grown, rainfall over the growing period of the cane, the impact of insects and other biological pests, irrigation, chemical treatments, and many more factors.
Sugar mills in Brazil are leading the world in standards of production efficiency, and the eyes of the world are very much on them as other countries seek to emulate Brazil’s success, particularly in the field of bio-fuel production. 15% of energy in Brazil comes directly from sugar cane, and overall Brazil’s non petroleum based renewable energy sources account for over 45% of the power used in the country every year.
With millions upon millions of dollars flooding into sugar mills in Brazil, the coming years are sure to be exciting ones, and we can reasonably expect to see even more innovation from Brazil’s sugar mills as more is spent not just on production of various sugar cane based products, but on research and development that may see other countries being able to join Brazil in weaning themselves off fossil fuels.
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