Akuo Energy to build Uruguay ethanol plant
Paris-based Akuo Energy plans to build a 30 million gallon a year sweet-sorghum-based ethanol plant in Uruguay. It will be Akuo's first international ethanol plant.
With Akuo Energy supplying the equity investment, financing arrangements are currently being negotiated, Alain Castro, president of Akuo Energy South America, explains.
The last of the necessary governmental permits is expected to be approved this month.
A long-term contract on 11 hectares (27 acres) is in place within a free trade zone at the port city of Nueva Palmira, Uruguay. Construction is scheduled to begin in April.
The plant will use sweet sorghum as its feedstock for five months out of the year, with grain sorghum used initially to fill out the remainder of the yearâ??s production.
The facility is being designed to handle both dry milling of grain, plus diffusion preparation for the sweet sorghum.
â??Grain sorghum is actually a stepping-stone for us,â?? Castro adds. â??We aim to complete the full-year cycle with other sugar-based feedstocks such as beetroot and energy-cane, and are actively performing annual agricultural trials on both of these feedstocks.â??
The company is experimenting with different varieties of sweet sorghum to see if some can be left in the field beyond the normal harvest window without sugar content losses in the stalk.
In addition, Uruguayan grain producers will benefit from having a rotational crop to diversify their mono-cropped soybean fields.
The plant will be designed to be 100% self-sufficient, using methanisation to produce biogas from the vinasses (thin stillage) and the bagasse (solid waste) from the sorghum, to provide process heat and electricity.
The company expects to generate enough electricity for its own needs, plus an excess to sell into the national grid.
The plant will compost the remaining effluents after the methanisation process to sell as fertiliser, and, in the months that grain sorghum is used as the feedstock, the company will supply distillers grain to the countryâ??s cattle feedlots.
With Akuo Energy supplying the equity investment, financing arrangements are currently being negotiated, Alain Castro, president of Akuo Energy South America, explains.
The last of the necessary governmental permits is expected to be approved this month.
A long-term contract on 11 hectares (27 acres) is in place within a free trade zone at the port city of Nueva Palmira, Uruguay. Construction is scheduled to begin in April.
The plant will use sweet sorghum as its feedstock for five months out of the year, with grain sorghum used initially to fill out the remainder of the yearâ??s production.
The facility is being designed to handle both dry milling of grain, plus diffusion preparation for the sweet sorghum.
â??Grain sorghum is actually a stepping-stone for us,â?? Castro adds. â??We aim to complete the full-year cycle with other sugar-based feedstocks such as beetroot and energy-cane, and are actively performing annual agricultural trials on both of these feedstocks.â??
The company is experimenting with different varieties of sweet sorghum to see if some can be left in the field beyond the normal harvest window without sugar content losses in the stalk.
In addition, Uruguayan grain producers will benefit from having a rotational crop to diversify their mono-cropped soybean fields.
The plant will be designed to be 100% self-sufficient, using methanisation to produce biogas from the vinasses (thin stillage) and the bagasse (solid waste) from the sorghum, to provide process heat and electricity.
The company expects to generate enough electricity for its own needs, plus an excess to sell into the national grid.
The plant will compost the remaining effluents after the methanisation process to sell as fertiliser, and, in the months that grain sorghum is used as the feedstock, the company will supply distillers grain to the countryâ??s cattle feedlots.
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