Continued Growth - CHS Adds Concrete Workhhouse at Erskine, MN For More Receiving and Shipping Capacity

New 1.15-million-bushel concrete workhouse built in 2022 by Vigen Construction at CHS train-loading facility in Erskine, MN. Image courtesy of Vigen Construction

Ever since THE greenfield grain elevator at Erskine, MN was built in 2006, the need for more receiving and shipping capacity has been consistent.

According to General Manager and Senior Director of Operations James Hardy, the facility experienced long lines during busy times and needed improvements on how grain was distributed throughout the facility. “Our goal with this project was to be able to more efficiently meet growing demand,” he says.

The first step to making these enhancements came in 2014 when CHS erected a 105-foot diameter GSI steel tank, a project led by Vigen Construction. The 650,000-bushel tank upped the facility’s storage capacity to 1.8 million bushels.

The original elevator included five steel tanks and a 50,000-bph bulk weigh system to load 116-car unit trains.

In 2022, the cooperative expanded the site with a new 1.15-million-bushel concrete workhouse.

“Vigen has been excellent to work with,” says Hardy, who has spent his 13-year grain industry career with CHS. “The team is reliable and provides quality construction. The job superintendent and millwright crews are local, so they can easily respond when we have requests.”

Hardy is also a big believer in concrete tanks. “Concrete cuts the loading time for shipping trains in half (compared to steel tanks) and increases the flexibility we have to handle different commodities and grades," he explains.

Phase 1

Work on the site started in October 2022 and the first load of grain was delivered in November 2023.

The new concrete workhouse consists of eight 40-foot-by-130-foot slipform tanks (123,700 bushels each) with three full interstice bins (32,500 bushels each), and two half interstice bins (13,000 bushels each). For aeration and unloading, each tank has a North American Equipment Co. combination Luft Kanal air-assisted aeration system and unloading floor. A set of eight AGI 50-hp centrifugal fans supply a minimum of 1/10 cfm per bushel per tank. Each tank also has a pair of 2-hp roof exhausters.

A three-bay truck receiving shed was built to receive grain at 25,000-bph per pit. Each pit has a Vigen dust collection system. Once the grain is dumped, an AGI Hi Roller 25,000-bph enclosed belt conveyor moves the grain to three Schlagel 25,000-bph bucket elevators, outfitted with one row of 26x10 Maxi-Lift Tiger Tuff CC elevator buckets. Once elevated, each leg distributes grain through a 30,000-bph GSI gravity screener prior to a Schlagel distributor feeding any of three Schlagel 25,000-bph fill drag conveyors.

With air assist from the KanalSystem floors, the tanks empty onto a below ground 90,000-bph AGI Hi Roller enclosed belt conveyor which feeds the new workhouse’s 45,000-bph Schlagel shipping leg, outfitted with two rows of 24x10 Maxi-Lift Tiger Tuff CC buckets, and also the three 25,000-bph receiving legs. Four of the tanks have sidewall draw-offs to empty into trucks. The shipping leg and the three receiving legs then feed a Vigen 90,000-bph bulk weigh system enclosed in the concrete workhouse for loading unit trains.

The project also included a new 7,000-bph GSI Zimmerman grain dryer, the site’s second, doubling the facility’s drying capacity. A Schumacher Elevator four-person, 1,000-pound special purpose personnel manlift was installed to provide access to the top of the concrete tanks and to the bucket elevators.

Phase 2

To provide more flexibility between the existing elevator and the new workhouse, a second phase of the project was started in February 2024 to reclaim grain from the existing elevator back to the new workhouse. Vigen installed a new 60,000-bph AGI Hi Roller enclosed belt conveyor underneath the six steel tanks back to the new workhouse’s bucket elevators. Then in June, Vigen installed additional drag conveyors above the steel tanks to fill them from the workhouse at 25,000 bph. The conveyors are supported by a Warrior 314-foot-long 12-foot wide handrail truss which is supported by two-column Warrior support towers. To serve the new receiving pits, the site's second truck scale was added. The 80-foot-long Rice Weighing Systems scale was installed by Prairie Scale Systems.

Hardy believes the expansion will better meet the needs of local farmers. “We were limited to 40,000-bph receiving capacity with the original elevator, but now we are over 115,000 bph,” he says. “We can now receive three commodities at once, doubled our drying speed, and we have increased on our wet grain storage by 400%.”

Hardy also believes the flexibility of having the two facilities tied together will increase overall efficiency. “The two facilities basically operate as one, which helps streamline our work processes.”

The elevator handles three commodities: corn (35%), soybeans (35%), and wheat (30%). However, following the completion of the expansion, Hardy says the trend will be toward more corn volume.

The facility can load 116-car unit trains on the BNSF shipping soybeans to the Pacific Northwest; corn to the central United States, Pacific Northwest, and Canada; and wheat to mills across the United States.

With the expansion, Hardy predicts Erskine’s grain volume will exceed 20 million bushels in 2025, compared to 11.5 million bushels over the past five years.

CHS

Headquarters: Inver Grove Heights, MN

Annual Volume: Retail operations in more than 450 communities in 16 states serving more than 1400,000 customers. Through them each year CHS originates more than 700 million bushels of grain.

Annual Revenues: $31.9 billion

Number of Members: 900 cooperatives, 75,000 producers

Services: Energy, crop nutrients, seed, crop production products, grain marketing services, production and agricultural services, animal nutrition products, foods and food ingredients, and risk management services