As Bay State Milling Company rolled out its new HealthSense® high-fiber flour—derived from a group of high-fiber wheat varieties—the privately-held company needed a unique bulk storage facility to maintain the quality and integrity of product.
"This is not a commodity wheat that can be stored conventionally," said Drew Teigland, Project Engineer. "Bay State partners with farmers to grow these varieties, which we then own and store until needed."
Bay State selected its flour mill at Tolleson, Ariz., about 25 miles west of Phoenix, to add one million bushels' worth of slip-form concrete wheat storage to the facility’s existing 1.6 million.
The flour miller selected McCormick Construction Co. in Greenfield, Minn. as the general contractor and millwright on the grain elevator annex.
Also taking extensive part in the project were VAA LLC, based in Plymouth, Minn., which developed bid specifications, drew up preliminary contracts, and did structural engineering; and Knobelsdorff Enterprises, Goodhue, Minn., which served as electrical and automation contractor.
Specialized Wheat Storage
The grain elevator addition at Tolleson consisted of 40 storage tanks—24 round hopper tanks and 16 interstices—a section for a receiving bulk weigher and cleaner, and a three-hopper truck and rail receiving building. The large number of tanks provided a large number of separations. The slip-form structure contained 5,700 yards of concrete and 785,000 pounds of steel rebar.
The large hopper tanks stood 21.5 feet in diameter and 129 feet tall. Each had a steel hopper bottom at a 45° slope.
Since turnaround was quick, none of the slip-form tanks were equipped with aeration or grain temperature monitoring. However, the tall tanks and the interstices were equipped with BinMaster non-contact radar level sensors and BinView® inventory management software to monitor wheat levels in real time.
The Movement of Grain
In the receiving shed, adjacent to the elevator annex, Bay State receives wheat at 10,000 bushels per hour (bph) via both rail and truck, with the bulk of volume coming by rail. Handling equipment for incoming wheat is set at 10,000 bph.
- The pit hoppers empty onto a 10,000-bph AGI Tramco drag conveyor, which feeds another AGI Tramco incline drag.
- This, in turn, feeds a Schlagel 10,000-bph leg equipped with a single row of Maxi-Lift 16x8 TigerTuff buckets, mounted on a 17-inch Continental belt.
- The leg deposits grain into a C&A Scale 10,000-bph receiving bulk weigher for destination weights.
- Wheat is then sent to one of four 3,800-bushel surge bins.
- The operator has the option of sending grain from the surge bins to an AGI Tramco loadout drag for loading to a railcar or truck. The primary route from the surge bins, however, is to a Bühler TAS pre-cleaner.
"The intent of the Bühler cleaner is to remove light wheat, or anything significantly larger or smaller," said Teigland. "We will likely only be removing 0.5% to 1% of the impurities in the process, but we are conditioning the wheat so it is more stable and consistent in storage.”
From the cleaner, wheat is sent to an AGI Tramco cross-conveyor, and up a Schlagel cleaning leg to rooftop drags to storage. Storage tanks empty onto AGI Tramco drags for transport into the mill. Near-infrared (NIR) data is used in a recipe system to blend wheat on the go using a set of 44 Bühler flow balancers.
Data is supplied by in-line ProFoss NIR testers located just before the bulk weigher and on reclaim from storage when blending into the mill. The units read moisture, protein, amylose, and total dietary fiber.
"With BinMaster, railcars and trucks are analyzed continually and data is recorded every 15 seconds," Teigland explained, "which will give us a great composite sample as opposed to a grab sample. This sets us up better for when we ultimately blend wheat with our recipe system."
Material Measurement & Management in Milling
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