Milling & Baking News - February 28, 2017 - 11

Italgrani to expand milling
operations in St. Louis
ST. LOUIS - Italgrani USA, St. Louis, on
Feb. 21 announced a significant expansion
of its milling operations at its milling complex in St. Louis. The expansion will encompass three components: an expansion
of finished goods storage, a new 8,000-cwt
daily capacity durum mill and an expansion of the company's bagging capabilities.
The new finished goods tower will include 19 storage tanks and will be operational by the third quarter of 2017. It will
enhance Italgrani's existing storage capacity and provide greater flexibility in serving customers.
The new 8,000-cwt durum mill, which
was expected to be operational by the end
of the second quarter of 2018, will be located adjacent to the existing durum milling unit in St. Louis. The existing mill will

continue to operate both during the new
mill's construction and afterward.
The new mill will enable Italgrani to
serve its growing customer base as well as
provide substantially more capacity to produce durum fancy patent and durum extra

fancy patent flour. In addition, the new mill
will provide more flexibility and additional
capacity to produce the company's organic
semolina and flour products, Italgrani said.
The bagging capacity expansion,
which was expected to be completed by
the first quarter of 2018, will be located on
the Italgrani campus. This new building

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will allow for greater capacity to serve
customer volume requirements and will
provide greater flexibility to produce a
variety of products more efficiently.
The three projects represent a significant investment and, coupled with the
substantial existing infrastructure at the
St. Louis location, will allow Italgrani to
continue to be responsive to its customers' growing needs well into the future,
the company said.
Italgrani USA currently operates a
20,000-cwt daily capacity durum mill in
St. Louis. This facility was built in 1987
and has been expanded several times
during the past 25 years. The durum mill
is supported by a 4-million-bu grain elevator located adjacent to the mill. The
complex has the capability to receive
shuttle trains of grain.
Italgrani also operates three grain elevators in North Dakota and maintains a
grain trading office in Minneapolis. MBN

U.S. grain dust explosions at
10-year low in 2016

those on conveyer belts and elevators.
Grain dust was confirmed as the main
source of fuel in three of the incidents but
could not be confirmed in two of the othWEST LAFAYETTE, IND. - A total of five Hinton, Iowa, and Tate & Lyle in Fran- ers, the report said.
"The two most important factors in
grain dust explosions occurred in the Unit- cesville, Ind.), and one in a feed mill (JCG
preventing an explosion are keeping the
ed States in 2016 - a 10-year low - accord- Farms in Rockmart, Ga.).
Two of the fatalities occurred at Tate & facilities clean and the equipment in good
ing to an annual report issued by Purdue
University's Department of Agricultural Lyle's grain elevator, and one occurred at working condition," said Kingsly Ambrose, Ph.D., assistant profesand Biological Engineering.
sor of agricultural and biologiAlthough the total number X
U.S. agricultural dust explosions
cal engineering at Purdue. "If
of explosions was lower than
2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
the facility is clean, then the
in recent history, two of the
amount of potential fuel is
incidents resulted in the first
Number
7
19
8
11
9
10
7
7
8
5
minimized. If the equipment
reported fatalities since 2013.
Fatalities
0
0
0
0
6
0
1
0
0
3
is in good working condition,
According to the report,
Injured
6
9
12
17
4
8
7
14
10
8
there is less chance of ignithe five grain dust exploSource: Dr. Kingsly Ambrose, Purdue University
tion."
sions in 2016 compared with
Performing regularly schedeight in 2015, seven in 2014
uled equipment maintenance is a key first
and a 10-year average of 9.2 per year. Two JCG Farms feed mill.
Reported causes of ignition last year in- step in preventing fire and explosion.
of the explosions occurred in grain mills
"We can be happy that the number of
(FS co-op in Ixonia, Wis., and White En- cluded sparks, possibly generated by statergy's gluten plant in Russell, Kas.), two ic electricity or friction between machine explosions is down, but it's important to
in grain elevators (Central Valley Ag in parts, and overheated bearings, such as stay vigilant," Dr. Ambrose said. MBN

United Sugars begins distribution
from dome near Chicago
MONTGOMERY, ILL. - United Sugars
Corp. on Feb. 2 commenced its first
shipment of refined beet sugar from its
new bulk sugar transfer facility about 45
miles west of Chicago, the company said
on Feb. 21.
The $40 million facility includes a
134-foot-high and 183-foot-wide bulk
storage dome that holds 60,000 tonnes
(1.3 million cwts) of sugar, the largest
free-standing sugar storage facility in
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the United States. It is able to transfer
about twice its storage capacity annually.
In addition to the 26,000-square-foot
dome, the 20-acre facility includes a
17,000-square-foot transfer facility and
about a mile of railroad track.
"Customer
requirements
change
frequently, and this facility will allow
us to quickly and easily respond to
their needs and avoid interruptions
in supply," said Dirk Swart, executive

vice-president, industrial sales and
marketing at United Sugars. Customer
benefits include local access and efficient
distribution, proximity to food and
beverage manufacturing facilities and
flexibility, the company said.
The facility was built and financed by
the American Crystal Sugar Co. and will
be operated by United Sugars, which
also manages sales and distribution in
the area.
United Sugars originally had hoped
to begin shipments from the facility by
the end of 2016. Customer audits were
conducted during January. MBN
Milling & Baking News XFebruary 28, 2017 / 11

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Milling & Baking News - February 28, 2017

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