Barra Grande Alcohol and Sugar Mill, est 1946
As we looked down from the roadway, the mill was too large to fit into the lens of the camera. Tall chimneys towered over buildings with hundreds of different colored pipes running from one site to another. Storage tanks, ducts, steam pipes, vapor rising from various parts of the plant. A large, older chimney rose above the entire complex with the initials "U.B.G." on it, which stands for "Usina Barra Grande", or "Barra Grande Mill".
Directly in front of us in a brick building with venetian or louvered vents running vertically along the sides, was the alcohol producing plant. Ah, this was it. I found out later that no pictures were allowed because of the inflammable nature of the product. Large storage tanks to the far right, hidden by trees, held alcohol until the trucks arrived to take it away.
It's hard to see in the photograph, but there is a fence just beyond the short, leafy trees in front of us. Security is tight around Barra Grande, only because any malfunction of the equipment would lead to tremendous downtime of the mill.There is much happening on site. To name a few things, Barra Grande is a most self-sufficient sugar mill. The mill has been around for some time and it was obvious there was an ongoing evolution. The mill uses steam power and electrical power, both it generates on-site with no need for power from the nearby Lençois. As a matter of fact, Barra provides power to Lençois when there are problems with the grid at the city.
To do this, Barra Grande makes meticulous use of everything. I was surprised to find recycling was in full effect. As they take us through the mill in pictures and words, I'll tell you about how they use and reuse their resources. It's an economic neccessity for Barra Grande, and a lesson for all of us. I was happy to find it here in the interior of Brazil.
So how much sugar do they produce at a mill this size?