Specialty Crush Plant Aiming to Process Oilseeds and Boost the Industry
In late November, the Crookston, MN-based Ag Innovation Campus (AIC) began processing oilseeds at its $24 million specialty crush plant, with a goal of promoting new and unique products, creating jobs, and boosting the local, regional, and national farm economy.
Tom Slunecka, acting CEO of the AIC and CEO of the Minnesota Soybean Research & Promotion Council (MSR&PC), tells Processing Journal the AIC also plans to become an incubator for agricultural innovations that will provide universities, commodity groups, and private companies with access to affordable processing that aims to lower costs while promoting the growth of value-added products.
Once established, the facility will become the home for private industry to create products that benefit many groups from the farm to consumers, states Slunecka, who has been MSR&PC CEO for 11 years.
The MSR&PC is the third largest checkoff organization in the United States, with a mission of funding research and promoting soybeans.
Phase One of Three
Opening the crushing plant completes a five-year process initiated by the MSR&PC and marks the first phase of a three-phase project. The project’s second phase consists of establishing an office complex and laboratories for research. Phase three includes installing “discovery bays” that will be available for renting by businesses, universities, and start-ups for short- to medium-term use for product testing.
Another part of phase three will be providing a home for biodiesel production.
“We’ll also be able to do a lot of education,” Slunecka says. “We’ll be able to train tomorrow’s operators, and we’ll be able to inform international teams about the value of U.S. soybeans and the value of U.S. technology. That’s really when the project will start to advance agriculture not just here in Minnesota but across the country.”
Slunecka notes that the creation of the AIC has been spearheaded by Minnesota’s farmers. It has been designed, he says, to serve as an incubator for agricultural innovations, with a goal to foster new and novel products, create jobs, and increase the value of agriculture in the region, state, and nation.
In addition, it will research higher-quality specialty soybeans as well as new strains of oilseed crops. “The focus of the AIC is on oilseed crops, not just soybeans,” Slunecka clarifies. Crops such as camelina, pennycress, industrial hemp, canola, sunflowers, and several other oilseed and cover crops will be studied.
The AIC has been organized as a non-profit entity that is managed by MSR&PC, the Minnesota Soybean Growers Association, and other key stakeholders. Along with support from MSR&PC and the soybean checkoff, other entities – including Farmers Union Enterprises, the Minnesota Legislature, and city of Crookston – have invested in the project. Slunecka says the project is seeking new board members from its investors.
The origins of the AIC, he adds, go back to a time when the MSR&PC wanted to promote Minnesota-grown high-oleic soybeans, which contain a special oil quality that commands a premium price in the marketplace. However, the high-oleic soybeans needed to be shipped to other states for processing, which added thousands of dollars and extra time to the promotional project. The AIC was seen as a solution to that barrier.
Crushing Capacity
The plant has the capacity to crush nine semi-truck loads daily, or about 240 tons. The AIC will produce an estimated 240 tons of soybean meal daily, equaling a total of 62,400 tons of soybean meal annually, according to Slunecka. It will process 3 million gallons of oil a year. According to the latest study, the AIC will produce approximately 4,356 tons of soybean hulls a year.
With three independently operated mechanical crush systems, the AIC will be able to crush organic, non-genetically modified, and genetically modified soybeans. Consumers want to know more about where their food comes from, and livestock farmers need to trace their feed, Slunecka notes, so the plant will be able to provide information about the origin of the processed products.
Oilseeds processed by the plant will be supplied by local farmers, who grow more than enough oilseed crops to serve the plant’s needs. In the first year or two, the oil produced by the AIC will be processed into biodiesel or renewable diesel, Slunecka states.
The Crookston area has the lowest soybean prices in the United States, he adds, and the demand created by the AIC will help boost those prices. “Most importantly, producers in the area run diversified operations and often grow four or five different crops so they can introduce new types of oilseeds that will add to their diversification. Livestock production in the area is increasing, with Minnesota ranked No. 1 in turkey production, and new poultry, dairy, and hog production facilities are being built in the area. Those facilities will add to demand for the meal produced by the AIC.”
Plasma Blue
Oil from the plant will supply Plasma Blue, LLC, a for-profit new biodiesel process company, currently owned by the MSR&PC. Slunecka says that Plasma Blue uses technology created at the University of Minnesota that was based on research funded by the MSR&PC. Plasma Blue is a freestanding, for-profit company owned by investors, Slunecka notes, and has a licensing agreement to use the technology. Plasma Blue needed an oil supplier for its biodiesel production, he explains, so it will have a symbiotic relationship with the AIC crush plant.
The Plasma Blue plant uses electricity powered by wind and solar energy sources instead of natural gas, Slunecka says, which makes it more environmentally friendly than other biodiesel plants.
It also can make biodiesel using ethanol instead of methanol. “We can use renewable electricity and renewable oil from corn or soybeans with renewable ethanol to make non-petroleum liquid renewable fuel.” The technology can be adapted affordably for expansions with existing plants or for a new, standalone plant.
In addition to Plasma Blue, there also are more than 10 processing technology companies looking for large quantities of vegetable oil, meal, and hulls to prove their technologies at full scale, he mentions. There also are six seed companies working with oilseed crops that need a facility where they can process large enough quantities of their crops to prove they can bring value to customers. A few startup companies are also looking to do large-scale demonstration work at the AIC.
Slunecka concludes that the AIC promises to spark a revolution for the oilseed industry. “That’s why we need AIC. We need it to make sure new technologies can come to market.”
Jerry Perkins, contributing editor
From the 4Q 2024 Processing Journal