Act 693 of 2001 created a series of tax incentives for alcohol production in Colombia. The objective of this measure was to guarantee a minimum of 10% of ethanol in the composition of the gasoline used in vehicles.
Colombia uses sugarcane as a raw material for ethanol, as does Brazil. One of the most suitable places for planting sugarcane in Colombia is the Rio Cauca Valley, in the southwest of the country, an extraordinarily fertile area that guarantees high production per hectare. The Incauca plant is located there, with a production of 300,000 liters of alcohol per day.
The supply was carried out by Automatización Ltda., Rotork's representative in Colombia, and comprises 75 Rotork actuators and a Pakscan Master Station for automating ball, globe and butterfly valves and the plant's redundant control system. Master's information was made available on the corporate network and is accessible from any computer, using a password. Luis Javier Marin, project manager for the Incauca plant, coordinated the valve automation process for all parts of the plant, including the tank park, pump room and truck loading system.
With the actuator network linked to the Master Station, all commands are carried out directly from the control room, and operators no longer need to remain in the area. According to Javier: “the plant needed equipment with recognized reliability, added to a safe local support, which would free us from worries with the operators”, he says.
In Brazil, most distilleries still use pneumatic actuators, instead of electric ones. With the increasing automation of plants, the Brazilian trend will be to follow what is happening worldwide: the gradual replacement of pneumatic actuators for electric ones, which can be controlled by the supervisory system of the distillery, bringing together up to 240 valves through a pair of wires. Fluxo, which introduced this system to Brazilian refineries, relies on a team of 15 specialists for full after-sales support.