Making sugar from beets is an energy-intensive operation. Over the past 30 years, SMBSC has reduced its emissions by increasing its energy efficiency by 60%.
SMBSC has undertaken several additional initiatives to make its operations more energy efficient, including:
One of SMBSC's most successful undertakings has been recycling steam produced by its boilers. This steam energy is captured and reused up to six times in the processing of sugar from sugarbeets. Heat from facility operations is also captured and reused, and biogas produced from waste water treatment is used to heat the waste water treatment plant.
In addition, SMBSC was the first beet sugar plant in North America to install steam beet pulp dryers with energy recovery. The steam that is driven out of the wet pulp is then reused to provide heat for other processes in the factory.
