Photo courtesy of Behlen.
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The industry tends to have cycles that are affected by many factors, including political problems, drought, currency devaluation and government finance programs, noted one supplier.
Overall, suppliers reported the greatest demand for new projects and expansions has been in Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and Mexico. The Black Sea region continues to dominate the demand for new construction, particularly Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
With 60% of the world’s arable land and tremendous post-harvest losses, Sub-Saharan Africa has increasing demand for safe and effective grain storage, one supplier noted.
But some regions won’t be able to produce enough cereals due to a shortage of water. Water scarcity is particularly pronounced in the Near East/North Africa and South Asia regions, one supplier said. That means several areas will need to increase imports and exports.
“It also means an increase in capacity because the possibility of building suitable harbors is limited,” the supplier said. “The availability of food will still differ a lot from country to country, which makes higher frequencies of food transfer necessary.”
High performing ship loading and unloading systems in combination with large storage installations will help reduce the geographically uneven distribution of food.
In the United States, lower corn prices and increased yields have spurred growth, particularly in the ethanol industry.
Additional trends include increasing demand for feed mills driven by an increase in poultry consumption. Others are receiving construction requests for milling/meal plants.
Complete solutions continue to be a trend with customers asking for an established local partner/supplier who has the capability to assist with building permission and other support in contact with local authorities. Customers want to work with suppliers who can deliver turnkey projects and provide support, back up and experience with international projects and customer relations.
Projects are larger and more complex, which is impacting completion dates that seem to be moving further out in the construction season. Customers are requesting considerably more construction detail pertaining to every aspect of the project, especially for larger projects.
“The layout and footprint of each project is very important to the efficiency of the farming cycle,” one supplier said. “Because of this, they are requesting more information during the site planning phase.”
Silo capacities are increasing, and to maximize the land area in order to control costs, cylinder heights are increasing. One supplier said they have a contract for 20,000-tonne silos with a cylinder height of 29 meters.
Customers are requesting bins that seal better to improve fumigation as well as higher rust protection due to more aggressive climatic conditions. In addition, they are looking for value-added services such as blending, scaling, samplers and increased material handling speed.
Energy efficiency is important as well as dust and noise control. Older elevators located in the outskirts of urban areas are under pressure from local authorities to extend or refurbish plants, one supplier said. For new installations, customers want control systems with remote monitoring and automation, minimizing the amount of personnel needed for operation. The cost of operations, with a focus on personnel, is becoming a key challenge worldwide, one supplier said.
The cost of raw materials for grain storage and handling equipment has a direct effect on the final price of the silo and ancillary equipment. A careful balance is needed between holding steel stock with the financial costs compared to a minimal stock level and the risk of possible price fluctuation, a supplier noted. This is particularly a concern considering the reduction in the number of European suppliers offering the required quality, grades and thickness of steel.
This supplier has developed their own software to monitor the required stock levels to ensure customers have the best price within acceptable lead times.
“The cost of civil construction is having an increasing effect on the total price of a silo storage project, especially when having to consider piling that may be necessary,” the supplier said. “Clients should consider this in the very early stages of the project.”
Technical advice is available based on the specific mode of silo, wind speeds, local seismic activity, snow loads, soil conditions and the number of fill/empty cycles, all of which can impact the final civil construction design, and therefore costs.
Photo courtesy of AGI.
Port terminal opens in Ukraine
Completed over two years, the Risoil Terminal on the Black Sea in Chornomorsk Commercial Seaport in Odessa Oblast, Ukraine, has been recognized as the second-best achievement in port infrastructure projects in the nation. The terminal is a main collection and transfer point in the export of sunflower oil and provides interim storage for companies such as Cargill, Kernel and Archer Daniels Midland Co.
Risoil handles vegetable oils, grains and meals.
The facility began operations in March 2016 after the first two stages were complete. It showcases several of Ag Growth International’s (AGI) commercial product offerings, including Hi Roller belt conveyors and AGI storage bins. With handling capacities up to 1,000 tph and 1.6 million tonnes per year, the 25 Hi Roller conveyors located throughout the plant allow the commodities to be moved quickly from the in-loading to out-loading sites.
The site features Hi Roller conveyors exclusively throughout the plant, which allows the grain and other commodities to flow seamlessly from one end of the plant to another and provides handling and care for the grain as it is transferred. Another notable aspect of the terminal is its storage capacities. AGI’s 13 storage bins located at the terminal have a combined capacity of 85,000 tonnes and 1.1 million tonnes annually.
AGI, based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, worked with Risoil Terminal earlier in the first and second phases of the project to provide them an interim custom conveying solution using AGI’s Batco conveyors. Risoil Terminal used the Batco conveyors for in-loading and out-loading capabilities, which allowed the terminal to become functional during the construction periods of the project.
Photo courtesy of Sweet.
Kasavi Comercial adds Material Handling Equipment
Over the last 14 years, Kasavi Comercial SA de CV has worked with Sweet Manufacturing, Springfield, Ohio, U.S., for many phases of its commercial grain facility in central Mexico. Overall, the facility processes many varieties of grain, primarily wheat, at up to 20,000 bushels per hour.
The most recent expansion project at the facility included two horizontal Flite-Veyor models 1826 and 2426 drag conveyors, totaling 354 feet. The conveyors are supported by a Silver Span catwalk, which is supported by four 8-foot by 4-foot intermediate support towers.
Sweet Manufacturing has partnered with Kasavi since 2003 to provide premium material handling equipment for several loadout grain points and multiple railcar reception locations. In addition to this expansion and within the last few years, Kasavi has added three Silver-Sweet bucket elevators and more than 624 feet of Flite-Veyor 26 series horizontal drag conveyors.
Those elevators are supported by three 8-foot by 8-foot Goliath Support Towers, while the conveyors are supported by a Silver Span catwalk.
Photo courtesy of Symaga.
Nibulon builds transshipment terminal in Ukraine
Nibulon is continuing its expansion in Ukraine with a transshipment terminal at Voznesensk in the Mikola?vska region. The facility has storage capacity of 76,000 tonnes and daily capacity to load 12,000 tonnes on water transport. The facility, which handles wheat, maize and barley, has received 200,000 tonnes of grain since opening in July 2016.
Symaga, based in Madrid, Spain, supplied storage silos for the project, including 12 silos model SBH 2139/16 and four silos model SBH 1528/14.
Symaga has been a long-term supplier for Nibulon, but this project was the first time Symaga closed a contract directly with Nibulon. So far this year, Symaga has closed contracts for four new grain elevators in Ukraine with Nibulon.
Photo courtesy of Bühler.
Bangladesh facility adds to import services
A new 50,000-tonne wheat and rice import facility at the port in Mongla, Bangladesh, will provide grain import services for the entire western half of the nation and ensure the basic supply of grain for its growing population. It started operations in March.
The Ministry of Food and Disaster Management’s facility includes a design to receive wheat and rice from vessels coming into the port. Bühler, based in Uzwil, Switzerland, provided equipment including four 30-tph bagging lines; trough chain conveyors with 200-tph capacity; 200-meter-long belt conveyors with 200-tph capacity; 58-meter-tall elevators with a capacity of 200 tph; certified bulk and truck weigh systems; and fully automated facility controls.
Bühler is currently working on quotes for various strategic sites planned in Bangladesh under the large modern food storage project being financed by the World Bank.
Photo courtesy of FRAME
Wipasz expands in Poland
Wipasz SA wanted one company to handle the supply of silos and associated equipment as well as the design and manufacture for expansion of its storage facility in Zadabrowie, Poland.
FRAME srl, based in Bologna, Italy, was able to meet the demand, and provided total storage capacity of 60,000 tonnes of wheat along with the design and manufacture of 1,500-mm wide catwalks, catwalk support towers and access platforms. The facility primarily handles corn. FRAME previously supplied No. 2 FP 30/33 silos to the company.
For the expansion, FRAME supplied No. 4 FP 30/33 and No. 8 FC 7/29 silos with accessories. Each FP silo measures 27.29 meters in diameter with a cylinder height of 29.11 meters and total height of 37.01 meters. Volumetric capacity is 18,439 cubic meters with 14,383 tonnes each based on wheat at 750 kgs/m3 + 6% compaction.
Along with catwalks, access ladders and platforms, FRAME also supplied aeration and a PC-based temperature sensing system. Grain ladders are incorporated in the silos due to the client’s concern in respect of damage to the stored maize. Each silo incorporates two no gravity sidewall discharge facilities to load the maize directly into trucks.
Photo courtesy of Cimbria.
Major Egyptian storage project
Cimbria, based in Thisted, Denmark, has supplied 23 grain silo plants to Egypt, with a total storage capacity of 1.38 million tonnes and a value of more than $100 million. Within nine months, Cimbria has completed delivery of the 23 silo projects, each with a capacity of 60,000 tonnes. Financing was provided by the United Arab Emirates to Egypt.
The equipment supplied included:
- 276 silo bins at 5,000 tonnes each with sweep auger
- 450 x 200 tph chain conveyors – 9 km in total
- 92 x 200 tph bucket elevators – 4 km in total
- 23 x 200 tph Delta 167 Mega cleaners
- 2000 x Q30 pneumatically operated valves and slides
- 23 sets of motor control panels with PLC and SCADA
- 23 sets of Unitest temperature monitoring and inventory measuring systems
- At least 20 million nuts and bolts
The past year has been extremely busy for Cimbria’s Site Operations Department, which has been involved in the supervision of installation at 23 different sites in Egypt. During the installation, testing and commissioning period, Cimbria’s staff of almost 50 supervisors, engineers and project leaders have been posted to Egypt.
Cimbria’s project department has 180 employees at its disposal who are responsible for a range of functions, including sales, project design and engineering, delivery, assembly and after-sales service. After completing the project design, and manufacturing the many plants, the complete shipment filled around 500 40-foot containers packed with equipment and another 800 containers with round steel silos, Cimbria said.
Contractually, there was a detailed plan for testing each conveying line for a specified number of hours without failure, as well as testing the holding capacity of one full silo at each plant. All tests have exceeded specified capacities, the company said.
In the last 25 years, Cimbria said it has delivered an almost uninterrupted succession of grain facilities to Egypt, with more than 40 reference plants having been completed. These reference plants proved to be invaluable in connection with negotiations to secure this gigantic new order, Cimbria said.
Since 2012, Cimbria has had its own sales office in Egypt, and its staff has played a huge role with this order. Cimbria said its silos help minimize losses, a crucial factor in Egypt since much of the locally produced grain is stored in open outdoor sack storage facilities, with enormous losses as a consequence.
Photo courtesy of Chief.
Ragasa expands in Mexico
Ragasa SA de CV recently expanded its edible oils and vegetable processing plant in Monterrey, Mexico. The facility, which handles soybeans, has total grain storage capacity of 220,000 tonnes. It can unload one silo every 36 hours.
Chief Industries, based in Kearney, Nebraska, U.S., supplied 10 commercial grain silos with a capacity of 22,000 tonnes (801,000 bushels) each. The expansion included the addition of two Essmueller receiving elevator legs with a capacity of 1,500 tph and Hi-Roller infeed belt conveyors with loading capacity of 1,500 tph and unloading at 600 tph.
Photo courtesy of Denis.
French cooperative plans grain storage expansion
During planning for its recent storage project, Interface Céréales, a French cooperative located in west of France, took into consideration future expansion. This year, the cooperative has decided to complete the project by doubling the line with four silos, bringing total storage capacity to 20,000 tonnes.
For the first 10,000 tonnes, Denis Company, based in Brou, France, provided the handling and cleaning equipment as well as sweep augers for the four silos from Privé Company. MTE Company managed the assembly and installation of equipment.
The silo is composed of a passing pit with unloading chain conveyors, a very high handling tower with belt and buckets elevators to favor the work by gravity.
The silo also contains a rotary drum cleaner NR 404 with 250-tph capacity. The silos have been equipped with integral sweep augers to achieve gravity capacities to 250 tph for a 100-tph residual capacity. These sweep augers (type BM) are equipped with sweeping brushes, mounted on the sweep auger to avoid the need for manual sweeping in a dusty atmosphere. This equipment ensures a clean floor in two rotations.
Photo courtesy of Silos Cordoba.
Turkey processing facility in Russia creates need for feed
In anticipation of an end-to-end turkey meat processing plant being constructed in the Tambov region of Russia, Procavi constructed a new plant for the storage, cleaning and drying of wheat, oats and barley. It will provide grain to the feed factory.
Tambovskaia Indeika, a Russian joint venture of Grupo Fuertes and Grupo Cherkizovo, is building the end-to-end turkey meat processing plant. Grupo Fuertes is a leader in turkey meat production in Spain with a 52% market share and is the fourth-largest producer in Europe while Grupo Cherkizovo is the largest vertically integrated meat and feed producer in Russia.
The first phase of the project for the integral production and commercialization of turkey meat in Russia already has been inaugurated, with a total investment of more than €125 million. Production is expected to reach 50,000 tonnes of meat per year.
The social and economic impact of the project is significant, as it will create 1,000 direct jobs in the Tambov region. In addition, during the next year, there are plans to create an agricultural section with cereal cultivation that will serve as a base to feed the turkeys. It will have more than 10,000 hectares of land in the Pervomaisky region.
It took about two years for Silos Cordoba, based in Cordoba, Spain, to construct the grain storage and handling project for Procavi. It supplied a range of storage silos, including: six silos model 32.08/16 with 17,237 cubic meters of capacity each; four silos model 9.17/12 45º with 1,063 cubic meters of capacity each; and 10 silos model 6.88/08 60º with 425 cubic meters of capacity each.
Loading is done at a rate of 200 tph and unloading at a rate of 120 tph. The chain conveyors and bucket elevators have a capacity of 200 tonnes and 100 tonnes, respectively. Raw materials are received by train and truck. The project also included pre-cleaners, dryers, filtration systems, screw conveyors and elevator towers.
Photo courtesy of Superior Grain Equipment.
Ag Central integrates soybean facility in Tennessee
Ag Central Farmer’s Cooperative recently completed a new grain receiving, drying, storage and processing facility in Greenback, Tennessee, U.S. In addition, the two-year project also included the integration of a new soybean cleaning, roasting, milling and processing unit.
Superior Grain Equipment, based in Kindred, North Dakota, U.S., provided two Superior 60-foot diameter, 12-ring commercial storage bins with a capacity of 117,500 bushels per bin. The company also supplied six Superior 15-foot diameter, 5-ring wet holding and milling hopper tanks, each with a capacity of 3,300 bushels, and an Excel Model 1610 mixed flow grain dryer that is 16-feet tall with 10 tiers.
Photo courtesy of Tornum.
Finnish grain terminal integrates old with new
Hankkija OY decided to build a new grain terminal for its feed facility at the same location in Turku, Finland, as its existing facility, which was built in 1972. The challenge for supplier Tornum, based in Kvanum, Sweden, was integrating the old with the new. Connecting existing equipment with new is a challenge functionally and adaptively. But Tornum used its experience from similar projects around the world to deliver a turnkey solution to Hankkija.
It took one year to complete the facility, which handles oats, barley, wheat, peas and broad beans.
The facility included eight storage silos with a total volume of 14,000 cubic meters; an intake building equipped with a Tornum receiving pit; elevators and conveyors with 120-tph intake; 10 60-tph conveyors for grain transportation to the feed factory; a cleaning machine; two filters for aspiration; a pit filter; a flow scale for intake to the factory; and a Tornum Autodoc control system integrated with the existing factory.
Photo courtesy of Lambton.
Lambton installs commercial bins in Mexico
EPCO Solutions Agroindustriales added two commercial silos to its corn facility in Navojoa, Sonora, Mexico. Lambton, based in Wallaceburg, Ontario, Canada, provided the two 48-foot diameter, 16-ring commercial stiffened silos. The project took eight weeks to complete.
With an expected maximum capacity of 3,193 m3, 4” sidewall corrugation, two stiffeners per sidewall sheet and a 1-ring bin door with step, there was a definite need for new storage. The silos can withstand conditions such as 185 km/h wind; seismic zone 1 (UBC97); and soil class D. They have a 325-degree structured roof, 5.454 kg peak load and include roof cap, ladder, manhole access and two wind rings.
Photo courtesy of Sioux Steel.
Sioux Steel completes first project in Thailand
Sioux Steel, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, U.S., recently completed its first project in Thailand with the supply of silos to Tanawat Farms, a feed mill in Thailand.
The project took a month and a half to complete and included two 2,068-tonne silos with a 42-foot diameter and 18 rings. The silos hold corn.
Photo courtesy of SCAFCO.
New corn storage, drying facility in Venezuela
SCAFCO Grain Systems Co., based in Spokane, Washington, U.S., under the supervision of its dealer Occitech C.A., built a new corn storage and drying facility in Barquisimeto, Venezuela.
The project for Concentrados Colaca took a year and nine months to complete. The facility has a total storage capacity of 18,300 tonnes.
SCAFCO supplied six model 5457ESZ4 grain storage silos with 16.46 diameter, a 17.37-meter eave height and a 22.06-meter overall height. Each can store 3,050 tonnes of corn for seismic zone 4 conditions and 144-kph wind speeds. The company also supplied two model 1507SHBTZ4 west holding hopper silos with a capacity of 100 tonnes of corn each; one model 1503HBT-60 waste hopper bottom silo with capacity of 80.9 cubic meters; four bucket elevators at 60 tph; eight chain conveyors at 60 tph; one support tower measuring 2.44x3.05x32 meters with switchback stairway; and four catwalks.
The facility includes new grain drying technology, one of the first in Venezuela. The dryer was supplied by Matthews Company and includes a Legacy 2550 and Pinnacle Lite Dryer controls that run a moisture-based system that adjusts the dryer’s speed based on incoming and outgoing moisture readings.
While the facility mainly handles corn, it also handles sorghum, wheat and other cereals.
Chernozemie opens oilseed facility in Russia
Chernozemie LLC recently completed a storage facility for processing and crushing of oilseeds in a special economic industry zone in Terbuny, which is in the Lipetsk region of Russia. Behlen, based in Columbus, Nebraska, U.S., received the order and started shipments for the project in 2015. Design development took seven months and construction took a year and a half. The project was completed in 2016.
For the new facility, Behlen provided 15 flat-bottom silos measuring 28 meters in diameter and 25 meters to the peak and seven commercial hopper silos. The total storage capacity provided by Behlen is more than 5.5 million bushels and close to 190,000 cubic meters.
Behlen has worked with the engineering and construction company Adept Complect, with offices in Rostov, Russia, on a number of projects in the region. This was its first time working with this end customer.
United Co-op expands in Iowa
United Co-op recently expanded its existing corn facility in Stratford, Iowa, U.S. Everything at the site, with the exception of the super structure under the hopper bin, was manufactured by Sukup, based in Sheffield, Iowa, U.S., and sold by Dakin Ag. The project took five months to complete.
One feature of the site is a 1,400-bushel receiving pit that feeds a 15,000-bushel-per-hour wet receiving leg that allows quick turnaround for farmers who deliver to the facility.
The project included a 90-foot, 27-ring commercial bin; a 48-foot, 24-ring commercial wet holding bin; 15,000-bph bucket elevator; two 6,000-bph bucket elevators; 16-foot support tower; overhead hopper bin; Hy-Flight drag conveyor; and Sukup steel building.
Behlen provided 5.5 million bushels of storage for Chernozemie’s facility in the Lipetsk region of Russia. Photo courtesy of Behlen.
