SIGNIFICANTLY INCREASED STORAGE
In 2005, Western Consolidated Coopeative built a 1.2-million-bushel, 110-car train-loading loop track facility on a Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) main line in Twin Brooks, SD to take advantage of a strong Pacific Northwest market.
As northeastern South Dakota producers expanded their corn acreage in the late 2000s to meet growing Asia demand, the Holloway, MN-based cooperative decided in 2010 to add more storage capacity at the elevator which is located on U.S. Highway 12, says Joe Meyer, Twin Brooks location manager (800-382-6535).
After taking bids, the cooperative in 2010 choose SMA, LLC, Monticello, MN (888- 259-9220), to build three steel tanks. The coop then in 2012 came back to SMA to add a flat storage building.
The two projects, totaling 6.2 million bushels of storage, cost $13.3 million. According to General Manager Dean Isaacson, SMA was able to complete the projects in the time frames that Western Consolidated needed. “SMA was competitive, and we felt they did better work, had good service, and were very dependable,” Isaacson adds.
In the summer of 2010, three Chief Titan Series steel corrugated tanks, totaling 2.15 million bushels of storage, were constructed to the northeast of the concrete workhouse.
Two of the tanks measure 105 feet in diameter, 91 feet tall at the eave, and hold 750,000 bushels each. The third tank is 90 feet in diameter, stands 102 feet tall at the eave, and holds 650,000 bushels. All three tanks are flat-bottom with outside stiffeners.
Each of the three tanks is aerated by six Caldwell 50-hp centrifugal fans, with the assistance of six 2-hp roof exhausters providing 1/7 cfm per bushel of aeration on coarse grains. The tanks are not equipped with temperature monitoring or level indicators because of the high turnover of volume at the facility, says Meyer.
Each tank is filled by a 20,000-bph Schlagel enclosed belt conveyor supported by a LeMar catwalk that runs from the main concrete workhouse. The tanks are emptied by GSI bin sweeps that feed a 20,000-bph-Schlagel above-ground enclosed belt conveyor.