Off-season Maintenance in Sugar and Ethanol Plants

Perform preventive maintenance on your ethanol and sugar plant, during the off-season, on steam turbines, gearboxes, parts, accessories, components, thermoelectric plants at Wortice.

Brazil is a major global player in agribusiness is already a statement known to all. Thanks also to technology solutions, our rural producers have been able to reach ever higher levels of income, together with the reductions in operating costs resulting from a good execution of preventive maintenance in the off-season in steam turbines, gearboxes, parts, components, accessories and thermoelectric plants.

The entire year is favorable for the cultivation of the most different crops. But for ethanol and sugar mills, there is an essential period for the maintenance, conservation and ensure of operation of the equipment: maintenance in the sugarcane off-season

It’s through preventive maintenance in the sugarcane off-season, which is the ensure of the correct operation of steam turbines, gearboxes, parts, accessories, thermoelectric plants and components throughout the harvest.

Wortice specializes in off-season preventive maintenance in ethanol and sugar plants and predictive off-season maintenance in the sugar-energy sector, performing maintenance on steam turbines, gearboxes, thermoelectric plants, parts, accessories and components.

Wortice has a team of professionals with experience and know-how for over 45 years in the field of steam turbines, gearboxes, parts, accessories, components and general maintenance in thermoelectric plants.

Harvest and off-season periods in ethanol and sugar mills

In Ethanol and Sugar mills, it’s quite common for the harvest to begin in May, and lasts until November. After this period, another so-called off-season begins, which in ethanol and sugar mills usually takes place between December, and can last until April.

The off-season is in the period before the harvest, and it’s at this stage that a series of maintenance is carried out at the ethanol and sugar plants, including preventive maintenance in:

• Steam turbine
• Gearbox
• Thermoelectric plants
• Parts
• Accessories
• Components

In this content you will learn more about this topic.

Predictive maintenance in the off-season can be understood as:

• Monitoring the activities of steam turbines, gearboxes, thermoelectric plants, parts, accessories, components, through frequently collected data, through technical visits, in order to define the operational situation of each of them, and what may occur negatively with each equipment.

In order to carry out preventive maintenance in the off-season in ethanol and sugar plants, some parameters are used, such as:

• Fluid analysis;
• Vibration analysis;
• Thermography;
• Process parameters.

The combination of these parameters can indicate scenarios of possible problems, still in the initial stages, which can lead to production losses and high costs in ethanol and sugar plants. Thus, early detection, the correction becomes easier, faster and cheaper.

Predictive maintenance goals during the off-season

• Anticipate the need for maintenance services;
• Eliminate the chance of unnecessary disassembly or repairs;
• Increase equipment availability time;
• Reduce forced stops;
• Increase the lifespan of equipment;
• Increase the reliability of equipment performance;
• Pre-determine manufacturing interruption failures.

Wortice team is also specialized in predictive off-season maintenance on steam turbines, gearboxes, thermoelectric plants, parts, accessories and components in ethanol and sugar plants. In order to do it, it employs the most modern techniques, combined with the knowledge of its professionals to ensure accuracy, credibility and excellence.

Maintenance in Wortice off-season is safety!

As we have seen, performing off-season maintenance on steam turbines, gearboxes, thermoelectric plants, parts, accessories and components in ethanol and sugar plants is essential to reduce the losses that can occur over time and also to reduce costs with procedures for emergency maintenance and corrective maintenance in ethanol and sugar plants. With the increasingly competitive market, the time lost in a production process can be a very big problem for any industry.

Therefore, in ethanol and sugar plants, monitoring steam turbines, gearboxes, thermoelectric plants, parts, components and accessories, is the initial step for all strategic maintenance planning, during the off-season in ethanol plants and sugar. It’s possible to create a schedule for the replacement of parts, components and accessories in steam turbines, gearboxes and thermoelectric plants, knowing that failures may occur due to the excessive use of equipment and machinery in ethanol and sugar plants.On the other hand, the monitoring carried out by periodic inspections allows mapping possible future failures.