PSMA official bats for gradual transformation of sugar industry
June 6, 2004 | 12:00am
More and more countries are converting their traditional sugar mills into cane milling factories and changing technology to produce three primary products – white sugar, ethanol, and electric power.
During the 10th annual Asia International Sugar Conference held recently in Malaysia, Philippine Sugar Millers Association (PSMA) executive director Jose Maria Zabaleta said countries like Brazil have totally redesigned their mills to produce these three products on which they anchor the sector’s competitiveness and vigor, making full use of installed facilities whole year round.
While some countries may find it difficult to do the same as they may not have the necessary economies of scale or financial resources, Zabaleta noted that others have found novel solutions and have begun to move forward. For instance, Thailand, Australia, US, India, and Guatemala have adopted or are adopting the same strategy and are now installing or have installed integrated cogeneration and distillery plants in their cane milling facilities.
He said certain countries produce sugar at half the price of others, not because they have adopted new technologies but because they changed technology. For instance, new sugar/ethanol plants can produce sugar from primary juice at half the cost of a traditional mill while continuous production of molasses from the rest of the juice lowers cost of producing alcohol to half that of an old distillery.
New boiler technology can now produce so much energy that large power plants generate a new revenue stream subsidizing sugar and ethanol. "If we add to these three products, produced at half the cost of the ‘old way,’ the advances in automation and electronics, the advances in cane supply logistics with IT and GIS systems, and a few etceteras, no wonder some people produce sugar at half the price of others," Zabaleta pointed out.
He said independent modern cogeneration plants are either on stream or under construction in Florida, Australia, Thailand, India, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil.
Where the economics justify, cogen plants are now being designed to run year round, allowing them to save on off-season energy costs, to refine sugar year round, and operate distilleries continuously, thus lowering capital costs in oversize refineries and distilleries. This is done by introducing other fuel like wood residue in Australia, bamboo in Mexico, and coal in India, as an economical off-season fuel or as a fuel mix that creates additional revenue and lowers overhead costs, Zabaleta said.
The cane milling factory, as opposed to the century-old sugar mill, is where Brazil and Guatemala are today and where Thailand dares to go, he noted. It is also the next step to be taken by the advanced sugar mills of Australia and South Africa.
"The traditional sugar mills will now have to play a catch-up game, but with assets in place and huge capital outlays required, they will not find it easy. Can sugar mills metamorphose to cane mills slowly or will they just have to shut down like the old ‘trapiches’ they replaced a century ago? I believe sugar mills as we know them have spread too far and too wide globally for them to just die by the wayside of new technology," Zabaleta said.
He added that too many lives are dependent on their continued existence. "It behooves us as leaders and perhaps the most outspoken in the industry to see to it that a gradual transformation occurs and not a replacement of one industry for another," he said.
During the 10th annual Asia International Sugar Conference held recently in Malaysia, Philippine Sugar Millers Association (PSMA) executive director Jose Maria Zabaleta said countries like Brazil have totally redesigned their mills to produce these three products on which they anchor the sector’s competitiveness and vigor, making full use of installed facilities whole year round.
While some countries may find it difficult to do the same as they may not have the necessary economies of scale or financial resources, Zabaleta noted that others have found novel solutions and have begun to move forward. For instance, Thailand, Australia, US, India, and Guatemala have adopted or are adopting the same strategy and are now installing or have installed integrated cogeneration and distillery plants in their cane milling facilities.
He said certain countries produce sugar at half the price of others, not because they have adopted new technologies but because they changed technology. For instance, new sugar/ethanol plants can produce sugar from primary juice at half the cost of a traditional mill while continuous production of molasses from the rest of the juice lowers cost of producing alcohol to half that of an old distillery.
New boiler technology can now produce so much energy that large power plants generate a new revenue stream subsidizing sugar and ethanol. "If we add to these three products, produced at half the cost of the ‘old way,’ the advances in automation and electronics, the advances in cane supply logistics with IT and GIS systems, and a few etceteras, no wonder some people produce sugar at half the price of others," Zabaleta pointed out.
He said independent modern cogeneration plants are either on stream or under construction in Florida, Australia, Thailand, India, Guatemala, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil.
Where the economics justify, cogen plants are now being designed to run year round, allowing them to save on off-season energy costs, to refine sugar year round, and operate distilleries continuously, thus lowering capital costs in oversize refineries and distilleries. This is done by introducing other fuel like wood residue in Australia, bamboo in Mexico, and coal in India, as an economical off-season fuel or as a fuel mix that creates additional revenue and lowers overhead costs, Zabaleta said.
The cane milling factory, as opposed to the century-old sugar mill, is where Brazil and Guatemala are today and where Thailand dares to go, he noted. It is also the next step to be taken by the advanced sugar mills of Australia and South Africa.
"The traditional sugar mills will now have to play a catch-up game, but with assets in place and huge capital outlays required, they will not find it easy. Can sugar mills metamorphose to cane mills slowly or will they just have to shut down like the old ‘trapiches’ they replaced a century ago? I believe sugar mills as we know them have spread too far and too wide globally for them to just die by the wayside of new technology," Zabaleta said.
He added that too many lives are dependent on their continued existence. "It behooves us as leaders and perhaps the most outspoken in the industry to see to it that a gradual transformation occurs and not a replacement of one industry for another," he said.
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