Siemens will provide Robicon variable frequency drives (VFD) for a US$450 million cellulosic ethanol plant

Siemens will provide Robicon variable frequency drives (VFD) for a US$450 million cellulosic ethanol plant.

VFD will help Kansas' hybrid biorefinery project

The fourth-generation compact air-cooled Siemens Robicon Perfect Harmony medium voltage inverter covers a power spectrum of 150 to 3,000 kW at an output voltage of 2.3 to 7.2 kV. It controls the line voltage between 2.3 and 13.8 KV at 50/60 Hz.

Siemens Robicon Drive Technology will provide variable frequency drives (VFD) for a US$450 million cellulosic ethanol plant under construction by Abengoa's US subsidiary Abengoa, a developer of renewable energy solutions in Seville, Spain.

The energy self-sufficient plant is located in Hugoton, Kansas, and will be one of the world's first commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plants. The facility is already under construction and will be able to produce 22 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol annually from agricultural residues, prairie grass and other similar plant material waste. It is planned to start commissioning at the end of 2013.

Siemens will provide five Robicon Perfect Harmony drives, including one IV 2500 hp, one IV 1,250 hp and three 600 hp GenIII medium voltage drives. These drives will support the factory's induced draft fans, forced induced draft fans and digester feed screws.

Each Siemens Robicon VFD uses a series of low-voltage units, which are linked together and precisely scaled for a certain range of voltage and output power. The battery bypass ensures that the failed battery is automatically bypassed in less than 500 milliseconds. The process-tolerant protection system provides a hierarchical warning system instead of shutting down the entire drive.