The application of statistical quality control tools to monitoring ethanol process production.

Juliana Keiko Sagawa (UFSCAR ) Địa chỉ email này đã được bảo vệ từ spam bots, bạn cần kích hoạt Javascript để xem nó.

Ricardo Inoue Yamada (UFSCAR ) Địa chỉ email này đã được bảo vệ từ spam bots, bạn cần kích hoạt Javascript để xem nó.

(SQC – 12)

Introduction

Although in most countries the censuses have indicated a decrease in the birth rate, recent analyses published by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), foresaw a projected population growth of more than 25% by 2050. Estimates indicate that the world population will exceed 8.9 billion by that year.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the equation used to measure the increasing trend in CO2 emissions and their impacts on climate changes, such as global warming, is under direct influence of the population growth and the increase in gross domestic product per capita worldwide.

In February of 2010, the bioethanol produced in Brazil using sugarcane was recognized by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as an advanced biofuel. Tests showed a reduction in the emission of greenhouse gases by 61% compared to the emissions produced by gas. This recognition is accorded to those initiatives that reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases in at least 50%.

According to Costa et al. (2005), major changes in production management have been observed over the last 60 years, but two points are worth mentioning: the first is the advancement in technology and technological development applied to information management, which contributed to a more efficient control of operations; the second, but no less important, is related to the new concepts and methods of production management. These methods started to gain prominence in the 80s, more specifically with the spread of the concepts of quality management in the United States and Japan. Although its development has emerged in the 20’s, the Statistical Process Control (SPC) came to be applied effectively in the Western companies in the 80’s, when they were forced to improve their quality of its products to better serve the demands of their consumers.

According to Martins (2010), many Brazilian companies have not yet identified the advantages in the use of SPC to control the variations in their processes and consequently ensure greater uniformity of their products and services.

The following paper presents a case study of the application of Statistical Quality Control tools in the critical steps of the production process of ethanol from sugar cane. More specifically, the process of fermentation and treatment of yeast are approached.