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    FancyEnglish            Power of Sugar              百科知识

       November 17, 2011

　

(CNN Student News) -- November 17, 2011 Power of Sugar AZUZ: Next month, South Africa is hosting the United Nations Convention on Climate Change. It`s all about finding ways to be environmentally friendly. The country is already home to factories that practice conservation. They`re designed to process sugar, but Nkepile Mabuse looks at how part of that production is providing a powerful byproduct. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) NKEPILE MABUSE, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Under the blazing Durban sun, these canes sway to the rhythms of their work: converting sunlight into sugar. This plant is one of nature`s most efficient photosynthesizers, producing the component (ph) sucrose that brings sweetness to our lives. Yet besides giving us energy through their juices, these canes have other previously undiscovered ways of putting power back into our lives. This sugar mill (ph) is just one of 11 Illovo factories in operation across Africa. Together, they create around 2 million tons of sugar every year, making it the continent`s largest producer of one of the world`s most valued commodities. Energy is required, not only for the crushing and extracting but for the heating of the juice to produce syrup and sugar crystals. Now the stems, once seen as waste, can be used to power the process. DAVE HOWELLS, MANAGING DIRECTOR, ILLOVO SUGAR: Once we squeeze the sucrose, which is the juice, from the sugar -- from the stick of sugar cane, that fiber, we -- which we lift with is called bagasse. That bagasse is used in our process to create electricity and create steam. MABUSE (voice-over): Bagasse is burnt to heat water that generates the steam needed to power the electricity-producing turbines. Every hour, nine megawatts are generated, enough to maintain 90 percent of all the factory`s operations. JOHAN VAN RENSBURG, FACTORY MANAGER, SEZELA: The cost of energy and electricity is becoming so expensive that electricity become more profitable than sugar. So that`s why sugar will end up being the byproduct. MABUSE (voice-over): Currently, the plant has prevented 40,000 tons of carbon emissions from being released into the atmosphere. As the winds of change blow through South Africa, it could be that the humble sugar cane will one day be pepping up the country`s power as well as the people`s palates. (END VIDEO CLIP)