1 INTRODUCTION. Green Week 2012

Transcription

1 1 INTRODUCTION Green Week 2012 Sugar beet and consequently sugar have been produced in Europe for the past 200 years. This long history has been marked by several challenges including environmental sustainability which has become increasingly important for sugar beet and sugar producers. Sugar factories are usually set- up in rural areas close to the fields that provide the raw material. This has promoted positive synergies between the sustainable water management and the environment around sugar factories. Sustainable management of water resources represents a success story of the modern sugar industry. Relevant investments in research and best practices have made our industry particularly efficient in reducing water use to produce sugar and avoiding water waste and contamination. CIBE and CEFS are stongly committed to promote sustainable sugar beet and sugar production, and multiply their cooperative efforts to communicate on these aspects. an example of this is the CIBE- CEFS publication «The EU Beet and Sugar Sector: A MODEL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY» that you can find at our stand! Our participation in this year s Green Week exhibition is great opportunity to focus on sustainable water management in the EU beet and sugar sector. This presentation is organized in 8 chapters taking you on the journey a drop of water follows form field to sugar production. 1

2 2 WATER MANAGEMENT IN SUGAR BEET CULTIVATION Sugar beet is currently cultivated in 18 EU countries on almost 1.6 million hectares. It is a root crop that plays a key role in breaking up the common cereal based crop rotations. Sugar beet is not a host to pests or diseases which generally affect the combined crops, thus reducing the amount of applied pesticides and chemicals. The vegetative cycle spans from April to November. Minimal water needs Sugar beet has a relatively low water requirement and, with sufficient rainfall, rarely needs irrigation. Over 90% of EU beet areas is either minimal or not at all irrigated. The water requirements of sugar beet are about 50% less than that of sugar cane. Sugar cane necessitates between 1500 to 2500 mm/growing period, whereas sugar beet only requires 550 mm to 750 mm. In moderate climates, the low water demand of sugar beet is about the same as that of maize and potato, lower than that of cereals and is usually covered by natural precipitation.!!"!#$%&#'(%)*# # +,-./# 01123# 4.51#.# /6623# # 24.2# 6921:# -/6;3# <11=1/# 24.:#>?@#8AAA# Sustainable Use of Water Irrigation of sugar beet is widespread only in Greece and Spain, representing less than 5% of EU beet area. In irrigated areas, responsible and controlled irrigation management is applied in close cooperation with local water authorities and in compliance with the relevant regulation. The crop s water requirements are determined at all stages using increasingly sophisticated software technology. Good irrigation practices coupled with technical support have limited the total amount of water applied, avoiding water waste. The sustainable water management has led to a reduction in water use by up to 50% in recent years and thus to a significantly lower quantity of water used per tonne of beet produced. This helps maintain river flow levels and ground water reserves. Keeping ground water clean Water is not only used by the crop, it is also affected by how the crop is grown. For example, indiscriminate use of mineral fertilizers can lead to ground water contamination. This is not the case of sugar beet. Fertilizer use has been reduced significantly in recent years while efficiency of mineral fertilization has increased. 2

3 3 THE «WATER FOOTPRINT» OF EU SUGAR BEET The link between agriculture and natural resources is two- fold. On one side, agriculture is a water user; on the other, it plays a central role in managing natural resources, such as soil and water, in a sustainable way. In recent years, awareness about the impact of human activity on the environment has increased. Research has provided a series of methods to analyze such impacts. The water footprint is an academic concept used to estimate the total water consumption for a certain production process. Sugar beet is a feedstock not only for sugar but also for a range of co- products, such as bioethanol, biogas, animal feed and vinasse. Separate water footprints can be calculated for each final product. A study from the UNESCO Center for Water Education shows how in comparison with the other two main feedstocks for sugar/isoglucose and biofuel production (sugar cane and maize) sugar beet consumes less water when used to produce sugar or ethanol. Variations in water footprint amongst feedstocks are mainly related to differences in water requirements of the crops and to the crop yield. Water used for processing the feedstock in the factories only accounts for 10% of the total water footprint. As shown before, sugar beet has a comparably lower water need than sugar cane and maize. In addition, the temperate climate provides enough water to almost avoid irrigation. This makes sugar beet a valuable commodity for producing renewable energy in a sustainable manner. The water footprint of sweeteners and bio- ethanol from sugar cane, sugar beet and maize Sugar / Isoglucose m3/ton Ethanol liter/liter Sugar Beet Sugar Cane Maize Gerbens- Leenes, P.W. and Hoekstra, A.Y. (2009) 'The water footprint of sweeteners and bio- ethanol from sugar cane, sugar beet and maize', Value of Water Research Report Series No.38, UNESCO- IHE. Available at WaterFootprint- sweeteners- ethanol.pdf 3

4 4 WATER USE IN SUGAR PRODUCTION (1) Water plays a major role in sugar production; factories need a considerable amount of water to wash and transport sugar beets inside the processing plant. Moreover, water is also used in the sugar extraction process. Reconciling water needs with sustainable sugar production has been a major challenge for the sector. The commitment of the industry is can be seen by the consistent reduction of fresh water use in the last decades. For example Nordzucker (a German sugar company) has reduced its consumption from 64 liters of drinking water per ton of sugar in 1996 to 25.4 l/t in 2007, which translates into more than a 50% reduction! How has this improvement been made possible? First of all sugar beet represents an important source of water; as the root itself contains 75% water. The industry has heavily invested in modernizing the extraction process in order to exploit the natural potential of sugar beet as a water source. The water cycle begins when sugar beet is transported into the factory and washed in order to remove soil, stones and other residues. The water used for washing is recycled via a decanter that separates water from solid components. The water obtained is either stocked in settling- ponds and used in irrigation or re- used in the beet washing process. Ac$ng Responsibly Securing the Future 2008 Sustainability Report - Nordzucker 4

5 5 WATER USE IN SUGAR PRODUCTION (2) The water needs of a sugar factory are not limited to sugar beet transport and washing. Sugar extraction also requires water. The sugar industry has found a sustainable way to supply plants and produce low amounts of wastewater. Sugar beet represents the principal source of water in sugar factories, «tap water» is on average only 10% of the total water usage in sugar production. %&#""$ %%#""$ %"#""$!(#""$ Thanks to the scientific advancements and investements in sustainable water use, the sugar industry has managed to significantly reduce the use of fresh water over the years. The graph below presents an example from Germany.!"#$%#$&'()*+"',-$./012-$'#$',/3#,'0+*+"'1+"'*-$'-4'./&)"'3++*'1"-,+..+5'' -4')'./&)"'4),*-"6'#$'7+"0)$6' Most of the water used in the production process is condensed after sugar extraction and then directly reused for beet transport, beet washing and sugar crystallization. Some of the water is stored in the settling- pond system and represents a valuable resource for irrigation.!'#""$!&#""$!%#""$!"#""$!))'$!))($ %"""$ %""%$ %""&$ %""'$ %""($ %"!"$ %"!%$ Source: Nordzucker 5

6 6 SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT As previously described, there are two types of process water in sugar factories: 1 - water resulting from the sugar beet washing is separated from soil particles and stones. It is then reused in the factory or stored in the settling- ponds. 2 - water resulting from sugar extraction, which is mainly derived from thick juice pressing and steam condensation. At the beginning of the last century 20 cubic meters of waste water were produced per ton of sugar beet processed, in modern plants this quantity has been reduced to 0.5 cubic meter/t. The combination between water recycled inside the factory and waste water treatment allows sugar factories to release in the environment up to 50% of the water needed in sugar production. Water Treatment facility in a sugar factory in the Netherlands After repeated cycles of evaporation- condensation, this water is highly concentrated in organic matter and needs to be treated before being released into the main watercourses. Waste water treatment has been a cornerstone of the sugar industrys commitment towards sustainable use of natural resources. R e s e a r c h a n d investments have reduced wastewater production. Considering that sugar beet is the main source of water for sugar production, sugar factories have a positive water balance. Sugar factories are net water producers! In the final chapter we will see how this aspect has a positive impact on biodiversity and on the ecosystem in general. 6

7 7 SUGAR SECTOR: CONTRIBUTION TO BIODIVERSITY The relation between agriculture and biodiversity is fairly complex. On one side specialization and concentration of agricultural activities generally appear to threaten biodiversity conservation. In reality, agriculture can greatly contribute to maintain, and in some cases enhance biodiversity. Agriculture plays a central role in maintaining special ecosystems and habitats which would disappear if farming activities were abandoned. An example of this contribution is represented by the cultivated field boundaries, and the boundary hedges and ditches which often provide shelter and sources of food to a variety of flora and fauna. Sugar industry participates in biodiversity conservation and enhancement in different ways. Sugar beet is part of a crop rotation that contributes to the safeguard of agricultural biodiversity, thus avoiding the negative effects of mono- culture. As seen, sugar industry has developed a system of settling- ponds to store and recycle water. The establishment of such water reserves are in some cases crucial to attract different species of birds and amphibians among other types of fauna. In some cases, as in Spain, the water resulting from biological treatment is used to create new wetlands that greatly contribute to prevent the loss of specific ecosystems. A rare species of frog that populates the settling ponds of a sugar factory in Germany (foto courtesy of Nordzucker) Wetland of the Guadalete sugar factory in Cadiz (Spain) combines the industrial use of the pond and the wildlife conservation (foto:courtesy of Azucarera) 7

8 CIBE, founded in 1927, represents sugar beet growers from 16 EU countries ( Austria, Belgium, The Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, H u n g a r y, I t a l y, T h e Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and the United Kingdom) plus Switzerland and Turkey. GO TO QUIZ CEFS, founded in 1953, represents all European beet sugar manufacturers and cane sugar refiners, covering sugar production in 20 EU countries (Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, The Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania,Portugal, Romania,The Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom) plus Switzerland. CIBE International Confederation of European Beet Growers Boulevard Anspachlaan 111 B Bruseels Tel: +32 (0) Fax: +32 (0) cibeoffice@cibe- europe.eu europe.eu CEFS Comité Européen de Fabricant de Sucer Av. de Tervuren 182 B Bruxelles Tel: +32 (0) Fax: +32 (0) cefs@cefs.org 8