Sunflower Seed Processing Facility

CLIENT
National Sun Industries, Inc.

The world’s largest sunflower seed processing plant of its kind was built in Enderlin, North Dakota, for National Sun Industries, with Ibberson performing engineering and construction management services.

This multi-million-dollar facility involves crush sunflower seeds to be extracted oil for protein meal and crude sun oil, as well as flax and rapeseed products. The latest in crushing equipment and technical design features would be combined with the plant’s own source of energy, in the form of sunflower hulls, to generate steam power.

The NSI facility was completed in slightly over one year. Covering 35 acres, the operation is expandable to twice its current size. Storage capacity is currently 30,000-plus tons of sunflower. On a daily basis, the plant processes more than 1,500 tons of seeds and produces 600 tons of oil.

Receiving capabilities are geared for truck and rail. Trucks can be emptied every six minutes, or ten units per hour. Rail cars may be unloaded at a rate of 150 tons per hour.

In addition to oil and seed meats processing, sunflower meal may be ground, pelletized and stored on site. Two 70,000 pound per hour steam boilers fuel the energy center. The steam drives two 4,650 kilowatt turbine generators, producing more than twice the power needed for the plant. Surplus power is sold to the local power company.