ONIDA, S.D. — Many producers in central South Dakota and the surrounding area haul their corn to the only ethanol plant in the area: Ringneck Energy.
“I would say 80-90% of the corn that we raise every year goes through the plant,” said Todd Yackley, farmer.
However, production at Ringneck Energy in Onida has come to a halt due to an explosion earlier this month that damaged the fermentation area of the plant.
“We are finding that very little equipment was damaged. You know, it was more of a flash than a fire, and that’s really beneficial. The whole fermentation area really wasn’t impacted; the upper level was where most of the damage was done,” said Walter Wendland, president and CEO of Ringneck Energy. “The sheeting is kind of designed to come off in an instance like this and that helps preserve a lot of the equipment.”
The cause of the explosion is still under investigation .
ADVERTISEMENT
“Somehow the vapors, you know the wind didn’t do us any favors I guess is about all I can say,” Wendland said. “You know we have safety devices that keep the ethanol out but the direction of the wind really didn’t help us.”
Ringneck is optimistic that they will be up and running again soon.
“Our fermenters are full, and we would like to be able to at least process that and get those tanks empty,” Wendland said. “Then we will kind of take it from there. You know, if you can ferment, that’s probably 75% of the process, so getting the rest of the process up might not be that big of a chore.”
And with corn in the area looking good this year, producers are relying on the plant to accept their crop.
“Our wheat crop in this area is not up to average to what it usually is, but our fall crops look really good,” Yackley said. “I know there’s a few people that are a little bit worried about it, but on the whole, Ringneck is working with the producers, and I think here in the next 30 days we will kind of know what Ringneck will be doing, and the farmers will either be able to deliver there or maybe possibly other sites.”
The next closest ethanol plant for producers in central South Dakota is Redfield Energy, which is 109 miles from Onida.
“We definitely would have extra expense going that way,” Yackley said. “But I know those other ethanol plants have been in contact with Ringneck, and they are willing to do whatever they can to help Ringneck out, but there also could be some more local delivery too. You know, we have two big main elevators in Onida here that have been really good to work with also.”
While Ringneck plans to be up and running by harvest time, if for some reason they aren’t, this could cause some challenges for producers in the area.
ADVERTISEMENT
“If it’s not open for harvest right away, there will be of course a lot more put in bins. There could be ground piles that in our area there’s not a lot of that that’s been done. There could be delivery to other ethanol plants,” Yackley said. “One thing about Ringneck, they, in the past, they have always been able to take corn a little bit wetter too, so that might hurt in certain areas where guys are normally wanting to cut a little wet and deliver it. So we will just have to see, but I am pretty optimistic that we should be up and going by then.”
As they rebuild, Ringneck Energy officials also are taking safety measures to try to prevent another explosion in the future.
“I know that where the gas came from has been an issue with other explosions, and they thought that they had put the right safety precautions in place, so that’s going to be the total discussion is that,” Wendland said. “Our insurance company ensures 65 ethanol plants, so they are always great about lessons learned and making sure that this doesn’t happen again. I am not sure what we are going to come up with, but the conversation will be around that very fact that, why did it happen and how can we prevent it from happening again."
The Trust Project
