Bioethanol process from Pannonia Ethanol in Hungary monitored by MaxiMet

1,000,000 tons of corn annually to

produce 450 million litres of renewable ethanol 325,000 tons of Dried Distillers Grains with Solubles (DDGS), a high protein animal feed, and 10,000 tons of corn oil, a great animal feed ingredient. Pannonia Ethanol produces as much animal feed as renewable ethanol.

Bioethanol or ethanol (EtOH) is a

renewable fuel produced from sustainably grown feedstock. It is a volatile, flammable, colourless liquid. The starch content of feed corn is converted to sugars. These in turn are fermented and, through distillation, ethanol is produced.

Pannonia Ethanol’s technology is

one the most efficient processes in converting sustainable biomass into fuel, animal feed and other products.

Gill Instruments: meteorological technology

Pannonia Ethanol produces some of the most environmentally friendly ethanol in Europe. The pathway Pannonia Ethanol use achieves 65% reduction in greenhouse gas reductions compared to fossil fuels, well beyond the minimum GHG reduction threshold applicable for biofuels set out in the Renewable Energy Directive of the EU. Currently, bioethanol is the only economic alternative to petrol.

Expansion of the Facility 2015/16

Expansion of the facility by Ouncel Ltd (Republic of Ireland – http://www.ouncel.com/) has brought about the requirement to use weather data (temperature, humidity, dew point, wind speed and direction) measured directly on site for advanced control on some key process / utility equipment. This includes: • •

Cooling Towers. Dried Distillers Grain Coolers (air cooled). Site wide heat tracing systems.

Gill MaxiMet was installed approximately 20m above the ground on the steel structure of the plant to provide the weather data:

• Gill Instruments: meteorological technology

Below you will see the system set-up to the Siemens PLC S7 using MODBUS via Profibus converter:

• Gill Instruments: meteorological technology

The weather data from the MaxiMet is fed into the control system for the plant and displayed on the Cooling Tower #2 process screen:

• Why MaxiMet?

MaxiMet provides the ability to measure multiple parameters in a compact, single mounted unit (temperature, humidity, dew point, wind speed and wind direction), all combined into a single output string that can be communicated into control systems by using industry standard interfaces including MODBUS.

Originally published as a Gill application note (AN0041).