Debates around the energy transition, currently understood as an indisputable global need, have generated great visibility for the sugar-energy sector. This is because biofuels play a central role in this scenario, since their efficiency is more than proven in significantly reducing the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Data from the Union of the Sugarcane and Bioenergy Industry, indicate that the use of ethanol, for example, avoided the emission of 630 million carbon dioxide since 2003, when the flex technology was launched. In addition, sugarcane ethanol, combined with Bioenergy with Carbon Capture and Storage, can netly reduce carbon dioxide emissions, further contributing to global decarbonization.

To quote internal data, at BP Bunge Bioenergy, with ethanol and bioenergy produced in just one of our harvests, it was possible to contribute to avoiding the emission of 1.7 million tons of gases harmful to the environment, the equivalent of withdrawing than one million traffic vehicles.

This panorama of opportunities, and responsibility, in the face of such an important issue for the whole world, makes us face the need to expand our efforts around the development of activities in this sector that is so strategic, which begins with a homework assignment for each agent that composes it, in the sense of seeking improvements that enable more and more gains in terms of efficiency, productivity and competitiveness.

At BP Bunge, this has been a central issue since the company was founded three years ago, so much so that operational excellence is one of the 12 priority topics on our agenda.

Our 2030 Commitments, a strategic map that makes tangible the journey traced by the company towards an evolution towards ever more sustainable levels in all aspects.

Speaking specifically about our industrial operation, the search for excellence is concentrated in people, with a team of competent professionals committed to doing their best, always in a safe way, having as North in the daily practice the premises of our culture, according to which “if it is not safe, anyone can stop the operation”.

In addition, with the evolution of technology, the sugar-energy industry has become increasingly modern and integrated, which makes it possible to improve operations through so-called Industry 4.0 processes. Artificial Intelligence Systems, Internet of Things and Cloud Computing, resources that become decision-making facilitators, allowing to add more value to the business.

An important indicator for the industry is the uptime which, in practice, represents the use of industrial time. In other words, the capacity that the mills have to process sugarcane without interruptions.

For this, we have online monitoring solutions , whose objective is to guarantee that the equipment does not fail.

For this, we have an automation management system from which we have installed today around 1,300 sensors online aimed at maintaining critical points of the operation, another 2,700 will be installed in 2023, totaling 4 thousand sensors that give us important information , such as possible equipment failures, for example.

At the Frutal unit in Minas Gerais, we already had a 10% gain in electricity generation from the use of this technology, which also works at the Tropical plants in Goiás and Itumbiara in Goiás. The planning foresees the implementation of this system in all plants until 2025.

This type of investment is extremely strategic, since it increases reliability and efficiency during the harvest, avoiding unscheduled interruptions in production, and even generates more security, reducing the exposure of employees to any type of risk, a factor of vital importance to our company.

Another highlight that contributes to our good industrial indicators is that with each harvest we improve our planning and commissioning in the resumption of the off-season, a company differential.

We invest time and financial resources in this stage, as it guarantees the execution of a maintenance plan covering predictive, preventive and corrective actions for the plant equipment, with special attention to the off-season, when around 68,000 activities are carried out each year.

Another point that I consider important when we talk about the search for operational excellence is our continuous improvement program, Transform, which aims to optimize operational performance by identifying, mediating and eliminating problems.

Created from an Integrated Management System, which standardizes processes and operational guidelines in all our units, the program has already originated solutions that represented financial returns of millions for the company.

The examples of initiatives that materialize this journey towards structuring to better serve the market in the challenging energy transition scenario are countless and involve different aspects, with emphasis obviously on technological advancement.

But it is a fact that, even with all the improvements that can still be implemented, and much is being done in this regard, the sugar-energy sector is already capable of immediately meeting society's demands for the construction of a low-carbon economy, reducing emissions harmful to the environment through technologies that are already a reality, worked in a structured and proven efficient sector.