PROJECT
Bottom Loading Racks 

CLIENT
Countrymark Cooperative, LLC 

LOCATION
Switz City, IN (2002)
Peru, IN (2004) 

SYNOPSIS
These two loading racks were designed to replace old, existing top loading truck racks at existing terminals owned and operated by Countrymark Cooperative, a farmer-owned cooperative that owns and operates a refinery, a pipeline, and several terminals in Indiana.  In both projects, skid-mounted loading racks were developed, which permitted the skids to be fabricated, assembled, and tested in a shop, before being brought to the site.  This approach allowed the remainder of the facility construction to proceed at the same time that the skids were being fabricated.  As a result, the construction duration of the projects could be compressed.  This was an important consideration, since much of the construction of both loading racks was accomplished by Countrymark personnel.

Both of these loading racks included:

• Bottom loading of multiple products
• Blending of multiple products
• Ethanol blending into gasoline products
• Injection of various additives into the products, including dye injection
• Combustion of collected loading-generated vapor
• Automated loading by means of a vendor-supplied Terminal Automation  System
• New piping, as required, and some new pumps
• Provision for future enhancements like biodiesel blending and additional new pumps.

PERSONNEL
Larry J. Hoover, P.E.; Milan Cramer; Stan Brown; Ken Schumacher; and Michael Harmon all worked on this project.