Yokogawa Electric to supply technology to GranBio’s cellulosic ethanol plant

In Brazil, 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.