Destiladora automatizada para el proceso de alcohol de caña

Abstract

Technological progress in industrial sectors has driven the need for new analytical approaches that benefit society, especially in small and medium industry, by accelerating production and generating more opportunities. Automated manufacturing, resulting from the interaction between economic forces and technical innovations such as mechanization and food systems, has transformed global production chains. However, in the field of industrial distillers, small enterprises and artisans are excluded due to high equipment costs, dominated by multinationals. In Ecuador, despite the existence of ethyl alcohol producing companies, their global presence is limited compared to countries such as Brazil, Colombia and Peru. In the Pangua canton (Cotopaxi), small entrepreneurs face a lack of adequate equipment and resources, limiting the production of distillates and hindering exports. The growing importance of ethyl alcohol production from native plants, such as sugarcane, faces challenges due to low-capacity distiller designs, affecting the productivity and quality of the artisanal liquor. The project seeks to design an automated distiller focused on supporting entrepreneurs, improving the capacity and efficiency of the distillation process. This design will be developed at the School of Systems, Electronics and Industrial Engineering of the Technical University of Ambato, taking advantage of workstations that will promote innovation in process automation. This project is expected to boost the regional productive matrix, offering micro-enterprises a solution to compete and expand in the global market.