The sugar factory at Santa Adélia Mill’s Pereira Barreto Unit was inaugurated on April 4.
With an investment of approximately BRL 200 million, Santa Adélia Mill launched its VHP sugar factory and warehouse at the Pereira Barreto Unit on April 4.
The new factory has already entered the testing phase. Once fully operational, it will have the capacity to produce 18,000 bags of VHP sugar per day, or 170,000 tons per harvest.
VHP sugar is used as a base for refined sugar, representing an investment of BRL 200 million.
The Gino Bellodi Administrative Center was also inaugurated.
The sugar warehouse, with a storage capacity of 110,000 tons and a high degree of automation, will operate remotely from a control room, reducing the need for intensive human labor.
The project integrated the logistical and commercial plans for sugar required by the Copersucar System. The new facilities will allow Santa Adélia Mill, established in 2007 and previously focused exclusively on ethanol production, to produce sugar at the unit.
Sugar will now account for 50% of the product mix, reducing the company’s dependence on ethanol, which currently represents 75% of its revenue.
These inaugurations mark a significant milestone in the company’s trajectory. Expanding production to sugar is a strategic step for Santa Adélia Mill, considering the growing demand for the product both domestically and internationally.
The investment was approved by the company’s Board of Directors in 2023, and since then, engineers and technicians have worked intensively to turn this vision into reality.
“This project has long been awaited and aligns with our plans. Today, we are realizing an old dream,” stated Helton Carlos de Oliveira, Industrial Director of Santa Adélia Mill.
The project required alignment across health, safety, environment, administration, logistics, supply, cost management, legal, and various engineering departments.
Approximately 350 outsourced professionals worked on the construction site, representing a significant contingent relative to the company’s total workforce.
The crushing capacity of the Pereira Barreto plant has already been increased by 3.4 million tons this harvest, requiring greater availability of raw material.
To meet this demand, Santa Adélia Mill implemented the Igaraí Hub at the Pereira Barreto Unit, covering 4,000 hectares of drip-irrigated sugarcane, continuing its Irrigation Master Plan, which manages the supply of the primary production factor: water.
Adequate water supply ensures the longevity of the sugarcane fields, postponing the need for new investments in crop renewal, while maximizing the genetic potential of the sugarcane.
With an initial investment of BRL 45 million, partly financed by Finep – the Brazilian Innovation Agency – a set of farms totaling 1,076 hectares is already in operation.
This harvest, the unit will collect the fourth cut of sugarcane irrigated by pivots, achieving water-use efficiency and reducing waste due to slow, targeted water application that preserves the soil.
The water capture and pumping system is powered by electricity generated by the industrial unit itself from sugarcane biomass.
Founded in 1937, Santa Adélia Mill operates two units located in the cities of Jaboticabal and Pereira Barreto, in the state of São Paulo.
The organization employs approximately 3,000 people and is part of the Copersucar System.
It produces sugar, anhydrous ethanol, hydrated ethanol, and electricity from sugarcane bagasse, sufficient to fully meet the units’ energy consumption.
Excess electricity generated is exported to the National Interconnected System.
Source: jornalcana.com.br
