Monitoring water quality is fundamental to identifying the condition of water bodies and defining the appropriate treatment for effluents, so that there is no damage to the health of the environment and people. That's why Grupo BBF (Brasil BioFuels), a palm oil producer in Latin America, carries out rigorous water resource management programs in the five states of the Amazon region in which it operates. In all, the company monitors 89 surface points and 65 underground points in rivers and streams in Pará, Roraima, Rondônia, Acre and Amazonas.
More than 50 physical, chemical and biological parameters are covered by the Grupo BBF monitoring network. To give an idea of the importance of the number of surface and underground points evaluated by the company, theNational Water and Basic Sanitation Agency (ANA) has 215 surface monitoring points in the five states of the northern region where the company operates and the Brazilian Geological Service (SGB) network has around 90 underground monitoring points.
"The ANA and the SGB have an integrated system, which involves the participation of various public bodies and universities, for example. Ours is a private monitoring system, bringing information from all the states we operate in in the northern region of Brazil. The monitoring we carry out is carried out by independent companies and consists of analytical procedures aimed at periodically evaluating water resources, since they measure the physical, chemical or biological properties of water," says Carolina Casado, Sustainability Superintendent at Grupo BBF.
Among the main activities of Grupo BBF 's water resource management program are collections from surface and underground water courses; physical and chemical laboratory analysis of samples with technical interpretation; application of control measures; evaluation and monitoring of the effectiveness and cleanliness of effluent treatment systems; employee training; preparation of technical specifications and evaluation of proposals from water monitoring suppliers; and implementation of water and effluent control and treatment systems, for reporting to user areas and the competent environmental agency, enabling preventive and corrective actions to be taken. "We are in five states in the Amazon region and concentrate our sustainable oil palm cultivation in Pará and Roraima. We are aware of our environmental responsibility, especially as we are in a region that is so important for the planet's biodiversity," explains Milton Steagall, CEO of Grupo BBF.
Effluent treatment and composting with palm waste
As well as complying with the National Water Resources Policy by managing and monitoring water sources and encouraging conscientious consumption, respecting the limits granted for water abstraction, Grupo BBF treats the effluents from its operations. The company maintains 44 effluent points in the five Amazonian states in which it operates.
"After undergoing a physical treatment process, our industrial effluents are used as an efficient source of nutrients in the fields. We use a mechanized system that has already been applied in various agricultural markets to ensure that the effluents from our three extraction plants, located in Roraima and Pará, are applied evenly by sprinkling on the plantations, meeting the criteria and procedures established in the authorizations issued by the competent environmental agencies, avoiding pollution of the soil and watercourses," says Carolina.
Grupo BBF also uses industrial by-products economically on a large scale, transforming natural waste from the palm oil extraction process into organic compost for use in its agricultural areas.
The company's composting process allows for a reduction in the volume of effluent sent directly to the field - the fertigation process - as well as better disposal of organic waste in the company's palm cultivation areas. Composting is a technique widely used in various agro-industrial systems, maximizing the carbon footprint by reducing the use of petrochemical fertilizers (nitrogen) and other nutrients that are extracted with high fossil energy consumption. The aim of Grupo BBF is to strengthen the concept of carbon neutrality in its operations over the next few years.
In addition, Grupo BBF continuously invests in improvements to the communities around its operations, contributing to environmental preservation, socio-economic development and the generation of jobs and income in the northern region.
About Grupo BBF
Grupo BBF (Brasil BioFuels), a Brazilian company founded in 2008, is a palm oil producer in Latin America, with a cultivated area of over 75,000 hectares and a production capacity of 200,000 tons of oil per year. The company works to create sustainable solutions for generating renewable energy in isolated systems, with thermoelectric plants powered by biofuels produced in the region. Its agricultural activity seeks to recover areas that were degraded until 2007 in the Amazon, following the Agroecological Zoning of Oil Palm (ZAE), approved by Decree 7.172 of the Federal Government, of May 7, 2010.
Grupo BBF has created an integrated business model in which it operates from the beginning to the end of the value chain - from sustainable oil palm cultivation, crude oil extraction, biofuel production, biotechnology and renewable energy generation. Grupo BBF 's operations are located in the states of Acre, Amazonas, Rondônia, Roraima and Pará, comprising 38 thermoelectric plants (25 in operation and 13 under implementation), 3 oil palm crushing units, a soybean extruder and a biodiesel industry.
