Schweizer Zucker AG
Radelfingenstrasse 30
Post office box
3270 Aarberg / Switzerland
Telephone 032 391 62 00
www.zucker.ch
EBP, Zürich
www.ebp.global
Odoson, Valencia
E-mail hello@odoson.com
www.odoson.com
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The wastewater treatment processes at our refineries generate sewage sludge. The sludge is sent to an anaerobic digestion plant where microorganisms convert its organic material into biogas. We use biogas as a renewable source of fuel at our refineries and thereby reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. This practice limits the use of non-renewable sources of energy and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.
Our sugar refineries operate steam turbines to produce process heat and electricity. This generates more electricity at certain times than is needed for processing. Rather than let this surplus electricity go to waste, our refineries feed it into Switzerland’s national grid. This, in turn, reduces the need to produce electricity from primary sources and helps to protect the environment.
White beet sugar is produced from the repeated crystallization of concentrated beet juice. This process separates out molasses, that portion of beet syrup that cannot be crystallized into sugar. Owing to its high sugar content of around 50 percent, molasses can be used instead of corn silage to enrich animal feed and provide a growth substrate for the yeast industry.
Our evaporation station continues to remove water from the raw beet juice until its sugar content is around 65 percent. Our refinery in Frauenfeld separates out a small percentage of this syrup to sell to the yeast industry. The yeast industry uses it as a growth substrate for yeast cultures. The syrup is an ideal replacement for alternative sources of starch such as corn silage. Given the significant impact of corn-silage production, the use of the beet syrup is a major benefit for the environment.
Lime milk and carbonic acid are used to purify the raw sugar-beet juice. The juice then consists almost entirely of sugar and water. By using the lime as a fertilizer to improve acidic and nutrient-poor soil, we reduce our overall need for lime. This helps to conserve domestic lime reserves, limit the need for lime extraction and protect the environment from the harm that is associated with lime mining.
In order to extract the sugar from sugar beets, the beets are cleaned, sliced into thin strips, and placed in vats of water heated to around 70°C. Around 160 kilograms of de-sugared beet pulp remains as a byproduct for each ton of sugar beets. This byproduct is enriched with molasses, dried, and pressed into pellets for use as animal feed.
At Swiss Sugar, we collect the small stones that are left as a byproduct of the sugar-beet washing process. Our sugar refineries make the stones available to the cement industry, which then uses them when producing building materials such as concrete. Taking this extra step helps to conserve domestic gravel resources, protect the landscape, and lower the environmental impact of gravel mining.
A small amount of soil enters our sugar refineries with each sugar beet. We collect this soil after washing our sugar beets and send it directly to RICOTER AG in Aarberg and Frauenfeld. RICOTER combines the soil with rinds and other organic byproducts from other industries to create high quality garden soil. This conservation practice allows us to complete the material cycle and counteract the depletion of our ecologically valuable peatlands.