STNMTZ_20210626_5679.TIF | George Steinmetz

São Paulo, Brazil
Harvesting and processing sugarcane into raw sugar, ethanol, and electricity at one of the largest sugar factories in Brazil. The plantation covers some 50,000 hectares and is machine-harvested whole before being crushed: half is refined into raw sugar and the rest is turned into ethanol for automotive fuel. Sugarcane growers here are forbidden to burn the fields. The left-over leaves and cane pulp can be burned by power plants which put electricity back into the national grid, and the organic residue returns to the fields for fertilizer.

Filename: STNMTZ_20210626_5679.TIF
Copyright: ©2021 George Steinmetz
Image Size: 6008x4000 / 68.8MB; www.georgesteinmetz.com; Sugarcane sugar sugar factory sugar processing
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São Paulo, Brazil<br />
Harvesting and processing sugarcane into raw sugar, ethanol, and electricity at one of the largest sugar factories in Brazil. The plantation covers some 50,000 hectares and is machine-harvested whole before being crushed: half is refined into raw sugar and the rest is turned into ethanol for automotive fuel. Sugarcane growers here are forbidden to burn the fields. The left-over leaves and cane pulp can be burned by power plants which put electricity back into the national grid, and the organic residue returns to the fields for fertilizer.