Dreyfus Plant Adds Storage, Cuts Wait Time
Published: Friday, October 9, 2020
With an eye toward improving the overall efficiency of the unloading process, the Louis Dreyfus soybean crushing facility in Claypool recently put the finishing touches on several multi-million-dollar upgrades. The most obvious are the two long, white storage bins that stand on the north side of the complex. Located between those giant bins are two high-speed dump pits, each with a capacity to accept up to 20,000 bushels of soybeans per hour.
Other improvements include a dedicated truck scale for soybeans as well as two moisture probes instead of just one.
Jeremy Mullins, commercial manager with Louis Dreyfus Commodities in Claypool, said the investment has reduced the amount of time farmers spend waiting in line at the largest fully integrated soybean processing and biodiesel plant in the U.S.
"We went from, during the busy times, maybe 30 minutes scale-in, scale-out time, and now we're down to 10 minutes," he said. "So, it's a huge improvement."
Construction began in the fall of 2018 and concluded a few weeks ago.
The large bins can hold 3 million bushels apiece and are designed for long-term storage. For example, the crushing plant will draw soybeans from these bins during the winter or spring, when there isn't a high volume of product coming into the facility.
Just a few weeks into the 2020 fall harvest, the new storage bins aren't even one-quarter of the way full. But Mullins is confident that a harvest rush bringing as many as 200 trucks per day to the plant will challenge their capacity.
"That's why we built this place," he said. "We have huge crops. The crops are only going to get bigger and bigger, and we need the storage. These (bins) are the most efficient ways to do it."
Prior to the expansion project, the Louis Dreyfus plant could accept soybeans at the rate of only 24,000 bushels per hour through two "legacy" pits located next to the crushing plant. However, with the addition of the new high-speed unloading units, the plant can now handle as many as 64,000 bushels per hour. Mullins said this more than doubles the previous capacity.
Louis Dreyfus takes the soybeans and processes them into meal and oil, the two main products. All of the oil is refined into biodiesel, totaling approximately 100 million gallons per year, while the meal is marketed for livestock feed. However, Mullins says the company is always looking for value-added opportunities. One example is glycerin, a byproduct of biodiesel that is sold to food and pharmaceutical companies. Some of that glycerin has found its way into hand-sanitizer products during the ongoing pandemic.
"All of this storage is to help secure the soybean supply for those other products that we make, the soybean meal, the biodiesel and the glycerin," Mullins said.
He added that the company plans to expand its product line within the next year, offering new feed ingredients and other value-added products.
"We have new, exciting things coming, with huge investments right here in Kosciusko County," he said, adding that the capital expenditures will generate new jobs and help farmers.
"We continue to add value downstream through the products we make that makes the basis stronger here in Claypool," he said. "We've done that from day one."
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