Facility Feature
United Quality Cooperative Replaces Old Concrete Grain Facility With New One

Parshall, ND — When it came time to expand capacity at United Quality Cooperative’s rail terminal on the CP Rail in Parshall, ND (701-862-3113), the obvious answer would have been to build an annex on adjacent ground.

That might have been a challenge, however, with an in-town location at Parshall’s southern end.

Instead, says Chief Grain Officer J.R. Kassian, the cooperative decided to replace an existing 300,000-bushel slipform concrete house, between 50 and 60 years old, with a state-of-the-art 800,000-bushel concrete structure on the footprint of the old structure .

The $12 million project was already underway when Kassian joined United Quality at the beginning of 2019. He previously worked for CHS at Kindred, ND.

Train-filling capacity, grain segregation needed

“We needed more storage capacity to fill trains on the CP,” Kassian says, “and we also needed the capability of segregating up to 15 different types and grades of grain that are grown in the area.”

In addition, United Quality added a new truck scale and automated truck and scale operations with a CompuWeigh SmartTruck system, as well as automating receiving with the supplier’s SmartPit system.

To build the project, United Quality hired Vigen Construction Inc., East Grand Forks, MN (218-773-1159), as general contractor and millwright on the project. Vigen has done work for the cooperative in the past.

Hope Electric Inc., Hope, ND (701-945-2460), served as electrical contractor and supplied automation software for the elevator, which includes 46 miles of electrical wiring.

VAA, LLC, Plymouth, MN (763-577-9100), provided structural engineering for the main facility along with the design of the upper equipment tower, manlift tower enclosure, conveyor bridge, and fall protection.

Work began in July 2017 with the demolition of the old concrete house and three steel tanks, and construction was being completed just as Grain Journal visited in July 2019.

The new slipform concrete structure consists of 10 large tanks and 14 interstices, four interstices in between the big tanks and another 10 in a square structure at the west end that also houses a bulk weigh loadout scale. The structure utilizes 8,500 cubic yards of concrete and 750 tons of steel rebar.

The 10 big tanks stand 26 feet in diameter and 150 feet tall, holding 65,000 bushels each.

The tanks also are equipped with North American Equipment KanalSystem aeration and air-assist-unload floors. Each floor is powered by a pair of AGI Airlanco 30-hp centrifugal fans and a single roof exhauster. Each pair of fans supplies 1/10 cfm per bushel when used for aeration purposes.

Inbound, outbound truck scales are automated

United Quality installed a second 110-foot pitless truck scale from Prairie Scale to serve as an outbound scale for trucks leaving the property. Both inbound and outbound scales are automated with the CompuWeigh SmartTruck system.

Incoming trucks are weighed and sampled, then directed to one of three receiving pits via a SmartView digital sign. At the receiving pits, a CompuWeigh SmartPit system identifies the incoming load, and if the driver goes to the wrong pit, the system will not allow grain to advance beyond the pit.

Each mechanical pit feeds into a Schlagel 20,000-bph receiving leg equipped with Tapco 20x8 CCLP low-profile heavy-duty buckets. These are mounted on 8-1/2-inch centers on a 22-inch Continental belt.

Adjacent to the legs is a 150-foot-tall hot-dipped galvanized steel switchback staircase designed and built by Vigen and engineered by VAA with OSHA-compliant grip rails. In addition to the staircase, the structure includes a 1,000-lb.-capacity, 11-stop Schumacher manlift.

The legs feed into a large Schlagel 22-duct triple distributor, which can deposit grain onto 20,000-bph overhead Schlagel drag conveyors running out to storage. The operator may run grain through an InterSystems screener ahead of the distributor.

All of the 10 big tanks are equipped with sidedraw spouts for loading trucks or rail. Cleanup is accomplished through zero-entry Kanal floors, and this grain is deposited onto a AGI Hi-Roller 80,000-bph enclosed belt conveyor in a below-ground tunnel.

The reclaim conveyor runs to a Schlagel 60,000-bph loadout leg outfitted with three rows of Tapco 16x8 low-profile buckets on a 52-inch Continental belt. All four of the legs can be used for rail loading for a maximum total of 120,000 bph.

The 80,000-bph Vigen bulkweigher is under the control of the CompuWeigh’s GMS 4000 control system. The system also includes a video camera supplied by Hope Electric that can peer underneath railcars and detect spills.