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Sugar is an allround talent, and will always be: its white crystals are sweet and give taste to almost everything that we eat and drink, it supplies energy and conserves without additional chemical additives. Sugar is a fixed and pure natural component in nutrition.
Text: Andreas Breyer
Sugar also grows steadily on our home acres and therefore is a secure supply module. Sugar beets support soil fertility and produce more oxygen than any other plant: from the amount of beets covering a football ground, about 50 people have enough oxygen to breathe for one year.
With its headquarters based in Braunschweig, five German factories in Clauen, Nordstemmen, Klein Wanzleben, Schladen and Uelzen, and seven sugar plants in other European countries, Nordzucker AG is the second largest producer in the sugar business in Europe. In the 2007/2008 financial year, with a sugar production of around 1.9 million tons, Nordzucker AG generated sales of around 1.3 billion EUR. The company has approximately 2,900 employees. In order to meet the future challenges of the European market, Nordzucker plans a steady growth in its core business.
Constant Innovations Improve Cultivation and Sugar Extraction
Due to technical advancement, the output of beet and sugar continuously rises on the fields and in the sugar factories. During the past 15 years, the sugar output has been increased by 1.5 per cent on average per annum. Major contributions to this success were on the one hand new cultures, which are more resistant against diseases and pest. Plus, the development of the highly efficient and at the same time soil-conserving mulch seeding process was another major contribution. With this procedure, the leftovers of the previous plants are being mixed with the soil and help for a better ventilation and infiltration. This stimulates the growth of the plants and protects the soil from erosion. On the other hand, the well targeted use of utilities such as pesticides and fertilizers, combined with a steadily improved mentoring of the farmers, had as well a positive effect on the output. Thanks to the close relationship between Nordzucker and the beet farmers, innovative products are being developed together. One example for this is the strip till seeding that enables to loosen up the soil.
Energy Efficiency in the Focus
Sugar production is optimized permanently as well, with a special focus on energy utilization. Heat, which is needed for multiple purposes, is being used not only once, but several times, with a clever interconnection. With the use of power-heat coupling, the heat serves in a first run to generate energy. The rejected heat is in the end being used for heating. Additional energy is being generated by a block heat and power plant, which is run by biogas, generated from the sewage treatment works.
www.nordzucker.de
Innovative Niedersachsen | Issue 2 | October 2008
| 03.12.2008 (Niedersachsen Global) |
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Niedersachsen Global GmbH
Osterstraße 60, D-30159 Hannover
Telefon +49 511 897039 - 0
Fax +49 511 89 70 39 - 69
info@nglobal.de
http://www.nglobal.de
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