ROWAN, Iowa - Before NEW Cooperative completed its new feed mill at Pomeroy, IA in 2017, it already had started on its newer, almost identical mill in north central Iowa near its 4.5-million-bushel branch elevator in Rowan.
On July 8, 2018, the first load of feed was manufactured at the 500,000-tpy Rowan mill. Feed Department Manager Kent Nolting calls the new mill a “mirror image” of the mill at Pomeroy.
“The layout is backward from Pomeroy because of the space where we had to build the mill,” Nolting says, “but otherwise, it’s the exact same mill.”
Both slipform concrete mills were built by Younglove Construction, L.L.C., Sioux City, IA (712-277-3906).
NEW Coop General Manager Dan Dix says the company has operated the grain elevator at the site since 2012. “We didn’t expect the kind of volume we were getting, and we needed to find a home for all of that corn,” he says.
So in addition to the Rowan feed mill, the coop also added 2 million bushels worth of corrugated steel storage at the elevator. “Every bushel of that corn is destined for the feed mill,” Dix says.
Jensen Builders Ltd., Fort Dodge, IA (515-573-3292), erected two GSI tanks – a 135-foot-diameter tank holding 1.23 million bushels and a 105-foot-diameter tank holding 788,000 bushels. The larger tank has 91-foot sidewall and 126-foot peak, while the 105-foot tank has a 99-foot sidewall and a 127-foot peak.
The tanks are outfitted with outside stiffeners, flat floors, and 14-inch LeMar zero-entry bin sweeps. The large tank has a 16-cable Tri-States Grain Conditioning grain temperature monitoring system, while the smaller tank has an 8-cable system. A series of six 50-hp Decatur Aeration centrifugal fans provides 1/10 cfm per bushel to the big tank, while four 50-hp centrifugal fans provide 1.8 cfm per bushel on the 105-foot tank.
Servicing the new tanks is a new 1,200-bushel receiving pit and Global Fabrication Pro-Line 20,000-bph leg outfitted with 20x8 Maxi-Lift Tiger-Tuff buckets mounted on a 22-inch belt. A set of 20,000-bph Global Fabrication Pro-Line overhead drag conveyors carry grain to the new tanks. All of the tank filling equipment is kept in place by a 14-foot-x-14-foot-x-160-foot Global Fabrication tower.
The tanks empty onto a 7,000-bph above-ground Global Fabrication Pro-Line drag conveyor running back to the leg. Another 7,000-bph Global Fabrication Pro-Line drag, supported by a 195-foot-span Global Fabrication catwalk, carries grain to the feed mill.
Younglove constructed a 162-foot-tall feed mill on a 42-foot-x-95-foot footprint. As part of the slip, the mill includes 22 ingredient bins and 20 finished feed bins holding an average of 4,200 tons. There are two 9-ton weigh lorrys, each located directly over two loadout bays.
All feed milling operations are under the control of a CPM Beta Raven automation system.
Incoming whole grains are ground on one of two 400-hp Bliss hammermills or on a triple-stack RMS roller mill with 12x52 rolls before being sent to ingredient bins.
Ingredients are mixed in a 135-tph Scott 9-ton dual-ribbon mixer in an average of three minutes per batch with a mixing coefficient under 5.0.
The mill operates two pelleting lines with enough space to add a third line if necessary. Each line uses a 400-hp CPM Model 7932 pellet mill outfitted with a CPM steam conditioner using steam generated by a 250-hp Cleaver Brooks boiler. Pelleting operations continue with a Bliss counterflow cooler. An APEC fat coater adds fat to the pellets.
NEW Coop operates an eight-truck fleet out of Rowan. Trucks are loaded while parked in the two loadout bays using a movable weigh lorry system that can deliver a full mixed load in less than 10 minutes.
Nolting says the mill is on track to achieving full production capacity.
Reprinted from GRAIN JOURNAL November/December 2018 Issue
Reprinted from Grain Journal November/December 2018
