Fire damages Minnesota Soybean Processors plant
May 11, 2009
BY Susanne Retka Schill
Posted May 26, 2009
A fire Saturday night, May 23, damaged the soybean oil and biodiesel loading area at Minnesota Soybean Processor's facility in Brewster, Minn. At 9:55, alert employees saw smoke in the area and called the Brewster Fire Department, which, in turn, was assisted by a number of area fire departments in responding to the fire.
The fire was contained the area involved with the storage and loading of finished soybean oil and soy biodiesel. No explosion occurred and no injuries resulted, according to general manager Richard Galloway. Damage was limited to load-out equipment, to the insulation on a biodiesel storage tank and to a soybean oil storage tank. Since the event occurred during a holiday weekend evening, only six employees were on site. No loading was happening at the time and no employees were in the area.
The facility was closed on Tuesday, but with no damage to the production facilities or the grain elevator portion of the facility, processing is expected to resume later this week.
Minnesota Soybean Processors is a 2,300 member cooperative that owns and operates a soybean processing plant and 30 MMgy biodiesel refinery in southwestern Minnesota. It processes around 35 million bushels of soybeans annually purchased from nearby farmers in Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota.
A fire Saturday night, May 23, damaged the soybean oil and biodiesel loading area at Minnesota Soybean Processor's facility in Brewster, Minn. At 9:55, alert employees saw smoke in the area and called the Brewster Fire Department, which, in turn, was assisted by a number of area fire departments in responding to the fire.
The fire was contained the area involved with the storage and loading of finished soybean oil and soy biodiesel. No explosion occurred and no injuries resulted, according to general manager Richard Galloway. Damage was limited to load-out equipment, to the insulation on a biodiesel storage tank and to a soybean oil storage tank. Since the event occurred during a holiday weekend evening, only six employees were on site. No loading was happening at the time and no employees were in the area.
The facility was closed on Tuesday, but with no damage to the production facilities or the grain elevator portion of the facility, processing is expected to resume later this week.
Minnesota Soybean Processors is a 2,300 member cooperative that owns and operates a soybean processing plant and 30 MMgy biodiesel refinery in southwestern Minnesota. It processes around 35 million bushels of soybeans annually purchased from nearby farmers in Minnesota, Iowa and South Dakota.
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