Dunkerton Cooperative — Dunkerton, IA
Dunkerton Cooperative had been working out of their old fertilizer plant for about 35 years and decided it was time to update to a new plant. The old plant was a 3,000 ton plant with a Waconia mix tower system that was the same age as the plant. A Ranco volumetric blender was added to supplement mixing capacity in 1987.
In 2009 a new 12,000 ton plant was built by Marcus Construction and Ranco was selected to supply the equipment. We have the ability to unload rail or truck at a rate of 400 Ton/hr. On the mixing side we have a 4-bin 250 Ton/hr declining weight mixing system. We also put up 4-30 ton load out bins that allow us to premix ahead of time, to greatly speed up the truck loading process. We have the ability to load straight product or blended semi loads in a very timely manner. Our computer system is automated by Kahler Automation and does a fast and efficient job of making fertilizer loads with very little waiting. It’s a system that will allow us to expand the storage space by double and still use the same mixing equipment. We are very happy with the performance and service that we have received from Ranco and their employees.
Harlyn Vander Linden
General Manager
System Specifications
Receiving System:
- Electric rail car opener
- 400 TPH drag paddle
- 36” wide slider bed transfer conveyor
- Receiving bucket elevator – 400 TPH
- 36” wide slider bed overbin tripper conveyor
Blending/Load-out system:
- Four bin Declining Weigh blend system rated at 250 TPH blend speed
- Three micro-additive bins
- Two chemical impregnation systems
- 92’ of blend auger
- Load-out bucket elevator – 250 TPH
- Four 30-ton weigh hoppers on Ranco built heavy beam structure
- 18” electric rack and pinion gates on all four tanks allow over 800 TPH discharge rate
