Abengoa to build ethanol plant in Uruguay

Renewable energy company Abengoa is to open a bioethanol plant in Paysandú, Uruguay, after signing a contract with Alcoholes de Uruguay.

The bioethanol plant will produce about 70 million litres of ethanol a year and 50,000 tonnes of distillers grains.

For feedstocks, the plant will use sorghum, maize, barley and wheat; and will process the materials using dry milling and batch fermentation technology.

Abengoa will also build an adjoining cogeneration power plant, worth about $120 million (€87 million) which will have an installed capacity of 8MW. The power plant will use biomass to produce electricity and heat (steam) which will be needed in the bioethanol facility.

The two facilities are expected to take just under two years to build and the companies will maintain and operate the plant as a part of a joint venture, with Alcoholes de Uruguay in charge of selling the end products and supplying the feedstocks.