THE COMPANY
PROCKNOR ENGENHARIA is a company dedicated to the development and implementation of industrial projects, and the development of equipment and processes for the sugar cane industry, be it to produce sugar, ethanol or to generate electricity from biomass.
It is an innovative company that has been working more than 30 years to develop renewable energies through a constant search for technological innovations in Brazil and abroad. This all made from PROCKNOR ENGENHARIA a preferred partner to the industry’s largest companies.
MISSION
To add competitive value, generating efficiency and productivity to clients through consultancy and management of engineering projects in the agribusiness and the renewable energy markets
VISION
To be recognized as the best consulting and engineering company in the agribusiness and the renewable energy markets.
VALUES
- Ethics
- Excellence
- Commitment
VISUAL IDENTITY
The visual identity of PROCKNOR is the essence of a national leader in consulting and engineering projects of the sugarcane industry, with credibility and competence to act internationally.
The symbol consisting of two arrows, refers to fast forward icon (FFW) and is an agile, efficient and current enterprise. The geometry and the colors refer to the national flag, showing the pride of PROCKNOR to be Brazilian.
And so, with a true visual identity to our values, we continue our journey, knowing that we can always overcome us and beyond.
BRAZILIAN COMPANY
AGILITY / EFFICIENCY
HISTORY
Founded in July 1993, the company had about 10 employees during its first years of life. The small team however, was no obstacle for the company’s vision and it signed in 1995, with the Fives Group, the first of a series of international technological partnerships.
The first years on the market served to strengthen the image and develop the excellent reputation the company has with its customers today. It was an era of growth that culminated in the need for a new headquarters. In 2001 PROCKNOR ENGENHARIA inaugurated its headquarters at Rua Teodoro Sampaio in the city of São Paulo - SP - Brazil.
The year 2004 marked a new phase in the sugar industry. That year many car producers launched the flex-fuel vehicles and with them came a strong demand for ethanol fuel. Ethanol could now be mixed with gasoline in any proportion. This spurred the ethanol industry which in turn began demanding more and more engineering projects.
In 2006 the market saw the emergence of numerous projects in energy cogeneration from biomass and PROCKNOR ENGENHARIA was also a pioneer in this field, developing solutions to its customers for the sale of surplus electricity.
The market continued to change rapidly and to meet the new demands the company created, in 2008, the Planning and Construction Management Team, which aims to provide technical support during the construction phase and services for planning and control the project implementation. Also from 2008, PROCKNOR ENGENHARIA has adapted all of its services to the best practices recommended by PMI (Project Management Institute).
OUR NUMBERS
+17
SERVED COUNTRIES
+1600
EXECUTED PROJECTS
25
GREENFIELD PROJECT
30
ETHANOL PLANTS
45
SUGAR FACTORIES
50
THERMOELECTRIC
FOUNDER'S BIOGRAPHY
Celso Procknor, founder of PROCKNOR ENGENHARIA LTDA., is a mechanical engineer graduated from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo and has over 38 years of experience in the sugar and ethanol market. Throughout his career he worked in some of the most important plants in the industry and today has accumulated more than two decades as an independent consultant. Since 1993 he is the technical and commercial director of the company that carries his name, Procknor Engenharia.
In 1977, Celso Procknor obtained the Postgraduate Diploma in Sugar Technology from the University of Mauritius in Reduit, Mauritius, where he also interacted with the renowned specialist Emile Hugot, the great inspirer of young engineers at the time.
In 1985 he was Chief Engineer of Usina da Barra and participated in the project of expanding the plant, which at that time was the largest in Brazil and one of the largest in the world. In 1986 he began his career as a consulting engineer as partner in the company VEP, where he worked until 1992 when he decided to face the challenge of building his own business.
Celso Procknor has been also a columnist of the Journal of STAB (Brazilian´s Society of Sugar Technicians) since 1995. His column is a placeholder for the discussion of some of the most controversial technical issues of sugar and ethanol industry. Celso is frequently invited to give technical lectures and classes on postgraduate courses specific to the sugarcane sector, activities that he exercises with great pleasure and that helped to build his reputation as one of the most recognized industry´s expert worldwide.
THE MARKET
In recent years the market for sugar and ethanol has drawn much attention from a range of investors and today this is one of the segments of greatest prominence in the Brazilian economy.
Currently in Brazil there are about 450 sugarcane processing plants, be it to produce sugar or ethanol. Combined these plants are capable of crushing about 550 million tons of sugarcane per year. All estimates predict that this market will continue growing rapidly over the next decade, since more investments are expected in the sector.
Historically this is a sector highly fragmented, dominated by family businesses. Over the past decade, however, the market has been the scene of a rapid and intense process of consolidation. Today it is increasingly common to find in that market some of largest multinational industrial groups, instead of the traditional family businesses from Brazil. The customer profile has changed dramatically and with it the kind of products and services demanded.
COMPANY'S ROLE IN MARKET DEVELOPMENT
The sector’s growth was driven by both new plants as well as by significant improvement in productivity of the plants already installed. From the 90s on new methods of harvesting, transporting and processing of sugar cane were introduced, and Procknor Engenharia had, and continues to have, a leadership role in introducing new technologies in the Brazilian market.
Thanks to its vocation to the constant search for technological innovations, Procknor Engenharia was the first to introduce some of the most important technologies used in industry today. Among them is worth mentioning:
- The first continuous vacuum pan with solid horizontal tubes. Today there are over 40 equipments installed;
- The first plant for production of high quality inverted liquid sugar using ion exchange resins;
- The first continuous centrifugal for A massecuite;
- The first metallic silo for refined granulated sugar maturation;
- The first system for real-time sugar color measuring in the production line;
- The first sugarcane shredder that precludes the use of cane knives sets;
- The first installation of an absorption chiller to produce chilled water for cooling of the alcoholic fermentation;
- Several mechanical stirrers for vacuum pans with low energy consumption;
- Numerous mechanical stirrers for fermentation tanks with low energy consumption;
During the last few years Procknor Engenharia has built a strong tradition in designing and starting up greenfield projects to produce ethanol, sugar and sell electricity produced from biomass. They are also a number of thermoelectric power stations installed in existing plants for the sale of surplus electricity.
All this has made Procknor Engenharia an outstanding company in the recent process of modernization of industrial sugarcane in Brazil, and this experience has also been exploited in several projects overseas.