Biopalma da Amazônia S.A., a Vale company in partnership
with the MSP Group, today opens its first palm oil
extraction plant, located in the municipality of Moju,150
km from Belém, in the Brazilian state of Pará. The plant is
the first of two units to be built to extract oil from the
fruit. An industrial plant will also be built to transform
the oil into biodiesel starting 2015. Total investment is
US$ 500 million.
The project aims to meet Vale's demand for B20 (a blend
of 20% biodiesel and 80% regular diesel) to power its fleet
of locomotives, machines and equipment in Brazil. Today,
Brazilian legislation requires the use of a blend with a
minimum of 5% biodiesel (B5). It is estimated that using
B20 will reduce the company's emissions of greenhouse
gases by about 20 million metric tons of CO2 over 25 years.
It is also estimated that two million metric tons of CO2
may be sequestered by planting palm oil trees.
The plant has an extraction capacity of 120 metric
tons/hour of fresh fruit bunches, which represents about 25
metric tons/hour of oil. The unit has two distinctive
factors: it is the first oil extraction plant designed with
an unprecedented degree of automation in its processes; and
it has the largest clean power generator ever installed in
this kind of plant in Brazil. Furthermore, almost all
residues generated throughout the production chain will be
reused in the plant to generate renewable power and to
fertilize oil palm plantations.
The plant's clean electricity generating capacity is 11
MW, of which 3.5 MW will be used in the plant and the
surplus may be made available to the state power utility.
Another environmental gain is the reuse of empty bunches
and ashes from the boiler, which will return to the
agricultural area to be used as an organic fertilizer.
The Biopalma plant's elevated level of automation will
afford a high degree of safety to workers in the plant, as
well as gains from the optimization of industrial
processes. An example of this automation can be seen in the
process of sterilizing and cooking the fruit. In
conventional plants, this stage is carried out by workers
who need to accompany the whole process while subjected to
high ambient temperatures. As a result of automation, the
workers will monitor the process and measure the quality of
the final product at a distance, from inside the control
room.
The use of technology has stimulated the qualification of
specialized employees to work in the new jobs. Biopalma
invested in establishing a vocational training center in
Moju, where it trained its new employees who will operate
the extraction plant. These operators, who are from the
region itself, took electrical and mechanical engineering
courses focused on industrial maintenance.
Environmental restoration
Biopalma already has about 50,000 hectaresplanted with oil
palms. By 2013,80,000 hectareswill be planted and a further
90,000 hectare sallocated to legally mandated reserves and
permanent preservation areas. It is noteworthy that the
plantations have been established in areas previously used
as pasture and abandoned areas. Therefore, it is a project
involving 100% recovery of degraded areas.
Biopalma has five agricultural centers in the Acará Valley
and Lower Tocantins region in northeastern Pará, and will
produce 600,000 metric tons of biodiesel in 2019, when the
crop reaches maturity.
Socioeconomic development
As well as focusing on environmental rehabilitation and
preservation, the biodiesel project will promote
development in the region by generating employment and
income. In February 2010, the company launched the Family
Farming Program, which aims to involve 2,000 families in
planting oil palms by 2013.
This program is already benefiting 124 farming families and
another 500 are in the process of being registered. The
farmers are financed by credit lines from Pronaf-Eco Dendê,
a federal program administered by the Banco da Amazônia,
for the purchase of saplings, crop maintenance and
subsistence needs in the first three years of planting
until harvesting begins.
Farmers who are interested make available10 hectaresof
their family farm for planting oil palms, and Biopalma
provides them with free technical assistance and a raw
material purchase guarantee for the next 30 years of
production. At the same time, to strengthen family farming
among producers enrolled in the program, Biopalma monitors
and provides technical support for the development of
agricultural production by the families, since they also
produce other products on the same property, such as fruits
and poultry.
Pará
Pará is the largest producer of palm oil inBrazil,
accounting for 95% of national production. This oil can be
used in various sectors such as cosmetics, pharmaceuticals,
lubricants and food. To make biofuel, it has been proven
that oil palm has the highest productivity (tons per
hectare) among oilseeds. Soybean, the main raw material
used to make biodiesel in Brazil, has a yield just
one-tenth that of palm, and it also requires more intensive
land use.
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