Grain Processing Corp. Completes Dryer House

Muscatine, Iowa-based Grain Processing Corp. (GPC) has completed its newly constructed dryer house on schedule, but over budget due to additional environmental control requirements.

In March 2014, GPC reached an agreement with the Iowa Attorney General regarding allegations by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources claiming that GPC’s corn facilities violated emissions regulations.

To satisfy the agreement and resolve any emissions issues, GPC agreed to construct a new grain dryer house, and transition from coal-fired boilers to natural gas-fired boilers.

The company’s new dryer house is the result of years of research, and is the largest of its kind in existence - replacing 11 older dryer houses that have been powered down. The benefits of the new technology are already being noted through reduced emissions of sulfur dioxide, lead, and other emissions, and a reduction in the feed drying smell common to wet million operations.

GPC, which is a subsidiary of 88-year-old Kent Corp., says that the total conversion of its coal-fired boilers will be completed no later than mid-July of this year.

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