At least twice a week, suction equipment travels the warehouses of Copersucar, at the port of Santos (SP), in a special cleaning operation. Instead of going to landfills, exacerbating an important environmental issue, the waste is collected and transported by truck to Nova Odessa, in São Paulo’s countryside, where it is transformed into eco-alcohol. The technology used is the same as that used to produce ethanol. Upon arriving at the factory in the interior of São Paulo, the waste undergoes a process of dilution in water, hydrolysis, fermentation, and distillation. Alcohol of 46% or 70% purity is obtained. This year, production is expected to reach 13,000 liters, compared to ten thousand last year. For now, Copersucar’s terminal is the only one with such initiative.
Sources: Olhar Digital/Datamar News