Yokogawa Electric Corp. announced that its subsidiary, Yokogawa América do Sul Ltda., has received an order to supply the control system and field instruments for the São Miguel dos Campos second-generation ethanol plant.
This plant will have a production capacity of 82 million liters (21.66 million gallons) per year and is being constructed by GranBio in São Miguel dos Campos, a town in Alagoas state (northeast Brazil). As opposed to first-generation facilities that produce bioethanol from food products such as corn and sugarcane, this plant will rely on second-generation non-food sources such as woodchips and straw. São Miguel dos Campos is the first plant of its type to be constructed in the southern hemisphere, and it will be one of the world’s largest such facilities, in terms of production capacity. It is scheduled to start commercial operation in early 2014.
As the main automation contractor (MAC), Yokogawa América do Sul has been involved in this project from the FEED stage, performing the basic design for a control system and field instrumentation solution that will reduce costs and improve production efficiency throughout the lifecycle of the plant. Yokogawa will supply the CENTUM VP integrated production control system to control plant facilities such as reaction tanks and distillation units, and a variety of field instrumentation and equipment including FOUNDATION fieldbus enabled ADMAG AXF magnetic flowmeters, DPharp EJA series pressure/differential pressure transmitters, and control valves. Yokogawa América do Sul will be responsible for delivery, engineering, and operator training.