Ethanol Plant (Central Energetica de Atoyac)

It is the first Ethanol Plant with cane diffusion in all of Mexico, which allows us to achieve the highest levels of extraction of cane juice with the capacity to grind up to 2,500 tons per year.

After cutting and harvesting the sugarcane during the harvest, the sugarcane is taken in trucks to our plant to be weighed on the scale.

Later it is unloaded from the trucks with a radial crane or through a special platform turner to a sugarcane table which is delivered so it can be crushed by two sets of blades and a shredder, obtaining at least 92% of broken cells to facilitate the extraction of sugars or sucrose, which is carried out through an advanced process of diffusion, which allows an extraction of 98% of the sugars contained in the cane.

The mixed juice between 12 and 13 ° Bx. obtained from the diffusion system goes to the evaporation system where it is concentrated between 25 and 26 ° Bx.

The pH and the nutrients of the concentrated juice are adjusted and then the juice is sent to the distillery’s bio-reactors for fermentation, producing a wine with an alcoholic content between 9 and 11%.

Subsequently it goes to the distillation process, where high quality neutral ethanol is obtained by fractional distillation, or if it is preferred simultaneously, anhydrous ethanol and demethylated ethanol are also produced. All the above is possible because our distillation columns have advanced technology that gives them great versatility and that allows us to produce different qualities of alcohols required for different uses.

Electricity Co-generation

With the cane bagasse we produce water vapor, and with it, we generate our own electrical energy, which makes us self-sufficient in energy.

We use a high-efficiency counter-pressure turbine, which allows us to generate the electric power necessary to supply both industrial plants (2.4 MW / HR) and the surplus electricity is sold to the CFE (1 MW / HR), The electrical energy generated is enough to supply the needs of the city of Orizaba, Veracruz and its surroundings.

In this way we eliminate the use of fossil fuels, thus helping to preserve the ecological environment, drastically reducing the emission of CO2 in our manufacturing processes.

Additionally, our furnace is equipped with a gas scrubber, which emits only water vapor that dissolves when it comes into contact with the atmosphere.

The ash resulting from this process is used as a soil improver in cane crops and as a clinker or pozzolan cement in the construction industry.