Project Name Brazil-Sucorrico

Region South America

Sector Agribusiness

Project No. 007727


1. The project involves the greenfield development of a frozen concentrated orange juice (FCOJ) production plant. The plant will be built in Araras in the northeastern part of the State of Sao Paulo, a large orange growing area. It will have capacity to process up to 12 million boxes of oranges per six month growing season, producing 50,000 tpa of 66º brix FCOJ.

2. This is a category B project according to IFC’s environmental review procedure because specific impacts may result which can be avoided or mitigated by adhering to generally recognized performance standards, guidelines or design criteria. The review of this project consisted of appraising technical and environmental information submitted by the project sponsor, and the technical appraisal and site review completed by IFC’s Agribusiness Department staff. The following potential environmental, health and safety impacts of the project were analyzed:

- air emissions;
- liquid effluents;
- solid wastes;
- pesticide handling and application;
- fire prevention and emergency response; and
- workers safety.

The sponsor has presented plans to address these issues and demonstrate that the proposed project will comply with applicable governmental and World Bank requirements. The information provided about how these potential impacts are addressed in the development of the project is summarized in the paragraphs that follow.

3. The new facility will be located in the Industrial District III in the city of Araras. All plants in the district are surrounded by a 45 m green belt planted with ficus and eucalyptus citrodorum.

4. The FCOJ plant will include a dual type boiler. The boiler will in the beginning burn fuel oil. In the future, when natural gas becomes available in the area, the boiler will be converted to use natural gas. The sponsor will install a venturi scrubber to prevent SO2 condensation in the boilers and will install the appropriate controls so that the boiler stack gases will comply with local government and World Bank guidelines.

5. The emissions generated during the drying of the citrus pellets will be controlled with scrubbers ensuring that the particulate matter and SO2 emissions will be minimized and meet local government and World Bank dust and SO2 emissions limits.

6. Sucorrico’s facility will comply with government standards and World Bank guidelines for process liquid effluents including BDO which is not a local regulated parameter. The industrial liquid effluents will be chemically and biologically treated. After treatment, the liquid effluents will be discharged into a collector of the municipal wastewater system. The wastewater treatment plant has allocated additional space to accommodate for effluent increase to be treated. Domestic sewage will be properly treated following local requirements.

7. The facility will recycle process water. The water generated during the evaporation process will be used in several ways, including boiler feeding, equipment cleaning, fruit washing, and concentration corrections. All solid residues will be collected and sent to the citrus pellets plant where they will be recycled in the production.

8. The sponsor will have a safety program in place to minimize the risk of fires and explosions. Fire detection and fire fighting will be installed and include fire extinguishers, fire hoses and water sprinklers. The plant will establish a well-trained and equipped fire brigade. The chemicals and fuel storage tanks will have secondary containment to prevent spills in case of accidents.

9. Sucorrico will establish Fire Safety and Occupational Health and Safety programs which comply with governmental standards and World Bank guidelines. The responsible of Safety and Industrial Hygiene of the facility will be in charge of overseeing all safety and environmental matters involved in the operation of the project. Employees will be trained with regard to plant safety rules, accident prevention, hazards of the workplace, spill prevention, fire safety and emergency response and use of Personnel Protective Equipment (PPE). The workplace will be monitored for employee exposure to noise and low/high temperatures. Employees will be provided with and required to use appropriate PPE when noise and temperatures are exceeding the standards. Sucorrico will have a work safety technician, an occupational physician, and a nurse employed. The facility will clearly signal restricted areas where only authorized personnel is permitted.

10. Based on its review of available information regarding potential environmental impacts and proposed mitigation measures, IFC concludes that the proposed project is being designed to meet Government of Brazil requirements, and World Bank policies, and environmental, health and safety guidelines.

11. IFC will monitor Sucorrico’s compliance with World Bank policies and guidelines during the life of the project by evaluating environmental performance reports submitted annually to IFC by the sponsor and by conducting periodic site reviews during project supervision.