Ringneck Energy’s shiny new 80 to 100 million gallon/year ethanol plant
was hailed at its grand opening June 25 as the most efficient in the United
States and as a showcase of Sukup Manufacturing Co. material handling and grain
storage equipment.
It is the largest single-site deployment of Sukup equipment both in
number of pieces and in dollar value, said Steve Sukup, vice president and
chief financial officer of Sukup Manufacturing and a member of the Ringneck
Energy board of directors.
“As a company we’ve been expanding our commercial-scale material
handling equipment offerings for the past several years,” he said. “This
project really pulls it all together in a way that shows we can equip big
commercial projects with the grain storage and handling equipment they need.”
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| Sukup chain loop conveyer Image credit: Sukup |
Sukup equipment at Ringneck includes two 105’ diameter, 25-ring grain
storage bins and a 21’ dia., 17-ring hopper bin; several bucket elevators and
conveyors; several catwalks and support towers, including an 18’ x 18’ x 160’
tower; two zero-entry bin sweeps, each with a 12” dia. auger; two buildings,
including a 125’ x 250’ x 40’ warehouse for dried distillers grains and a 65’ x
100’ x 40’ unloading and loading building.
“We wanted to be a Sukup showplace, and hopefully we’ve accomplished
that,” said Walt Wendland, chief executive officer of Ringneck Energy.
Construction of the $130 million Ringneck project began in 2017 and
ended near the end of 2018. Production began in April. The plant was designed
to produce 80 million to 100 million gallons a year of ethanol. It can load a
96-car train of tanker cars in about one week.
“This plant is awesome. It can do really great things,” Danci Baker,
chief financial officer, told Ringneck shareholders at their first annual
meeting prior to the grand opening of the plant.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and Lt. Gov. Larry Rhoden both attended
the event and praised the project. “We’ve been following this for quite some
time,” Noem said, adding that she personally is an investor in the facility and
is pushing to expand the use of ethanol blends in state vehicles.
She and Rhoden said they would like to see South Dakota be a leader in
the ethanol industry, and encouraged the roughly 100 people attending the grand
opening to encourage their friends and relatives to use ethanol products. As
well, they should discourage federal officials from granting waivers to
companies that do not want to blend their fuels with ethanol. Waivers have cost
the ethanol industry billions of gallons, Noem said.
Ron Fagen, chairman of Fagen Inc., general contractor for the Ringneck
plant, has had a hand in construction of more than 100 of the roughly 250
ethanol plants in the United States. He said the Sukup equipment, company
leaders and service personnel are wonderful to work with.
“We’ve never been disappointed with the Sukup products,” he said, adding
that the bins go together remarkably well. He said his first was nearly 20
years ago in Denison, Iowa, and last year built two 156’ dia. Sukup bins at
Elite Octane near Atlantic, Iowa. “Sukup is high-class,” he said, adding that
he recently purchased a Sukup Steel Building for his headquarters in Granite
Falls, Minn.
Sukup Manufacturing Co. has provided equipment for about 40 ethanol
plants since 2004, with the vast majority since 2010, according to Matt Koch,
senior electrical engineer at Sukup Manufacturing. “In the past 10 years we’ve
been the name of the game in ethanol plant grain storage.”
Sukup’s 156’ diameter clear-span bins are the largest in the industry.
Its commercial bin sweeps, mixed-flow grain dryer and advanced control systems
are among 14 products that have won ag engineering innovation awards since 2012
from the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers.
Sukup began offering commercial bucket elevators in 2013 and now has the
capability to lift 60,000 bushels per hour, said Randy Marcks, director of
material handling equipment sales. The company’s commercial drag conveyors
debuted in 2015. While the largest to date conveys 40,000 BPH, there is
capacity for 60,000 BPH, Marcks said.
Expanding into commercial grain handling and storage markets was a
natural progression for Sukup Manufacturing. Since its founding by Eugene Sukup
in 1963 with his invention of a grain stirring machine, the company’s focus for
nearly three decades was on making farm-level grain handling and storage more
safe, profitable and efficient. The company developed a reputation for having
top-notch stirring machines, fans, unload systems and other equipment. Its
launch of automatic continuous-flow grain dryers in 1998 and a line of grain
bins in 2000 helped position the company for larger markets.
Sales of commercial equipment have grown steadily, said company
President Charles Sukup.
“Some people look at grain bins as tin cans – all the same. But that’s
not the case when you look closely at Sukup bins,” he said.
He cited two innovations in grain bin design that have set Sukup bins
apart from those of other manufacturers – sidewall splice plates and
double-ended stud bolts. The splice plates allow laminated sidewall sheets to
be connected end-to-end instead of overlapped. The plates simplify construction
and provide for a more watertight bin than using the traditional method of
overlapping sheets.
The double-ended stud bolts provide a tight seal between bin stiffeners
and sidewall sheets, solving the issue of moisture leaking into the bin through
gaps between stiffeners and laps of laminated sidewall sheets.
“Our people are always looking at issues and developing solutions,”
Charles Sukup said, for both on-farm and commercial equipment. “We’re
definitely a continuous-improvement company.”
Providing equipment that allows ethanol producers to build bigger and
more efficient plants is gratifying work, he said. Ethanol has “been a tremendous
benefit to the country, especially in the Midwest.”
Helping to build an industry that produces clean-burning fuel from a
renewable source, that improves energy security and helps support grain markets
for farmers … It’s an honor to be a part of it all, he said, and it drives the
entire company to work on solutions for any challenges that arise.
The Global Miller
This blog is maintained by The Global Miller staff and is supported by the magazine Milling and Grain
which is published by Perendale Publishers Limited.
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