Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 0:44
Today’s episode features an industry leader who’s been at the forefront of the soy crush boom. Stay tuned for insights you don’t want to miss. Hello and welcome to the Whole Grain show. We hope you find it a great way to take learning on the go. We appreciate you continuing to share this episode with your network, where listeners from 73 different countries have connected with the program so far. My name is Jim Lenz, your host and producer of the show and the director of global training and education at GEAPS. Where the mission of the Grain Elevator and Processing Societies to champion, enact and serve the global grain industry and our members At GEAPS. We work to be the global community and thought leader for the grain industry which feeds and fuels the world. Thanks for listening today and joining the network of thousands of other grain handling and processing professionals across the globe taking strategic steps to grow professionally. The Whole Grain Show will give you the competitive advantage to win at work so you can make more of an impact.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 1:43
Today we’re thrilled to have a special guest with us who brings a wealth of experience in the soybean processing sector, from his early days in soybean processing back in 2007 to his current role as the plant manager at Oxbow Crush in Greenwood, mississippi. Danny Lane has seen it all. In this episode, danny will take us through the intricacies of the soy crush process, discussing the booming market dynamics, highlight the latest technological advancements and share insights on the economic factors shaping the industry. Plus, we’ll dive into what it’s like working in a soy crush facility and explore the future growth projections of this exciting sector. All that and more coming up next. All right, our guest for today started his career in the soybean processing industry in 2007. I’ve worked in the agriculture industry since 2000. He is the plant manager at Oxbow Crush in Greenwood, mississippi. He has been a member of the International Oil Mill Superintendents Association, or IOMSA, since 2017, and the NFPA or the National Fire Protection Association, 36, which covers the standard for solvent extraction plants. He’s been on that technical committee since 2017. Lee has also worked for three different grain processing companies and understands how grain processing is done in different climates. Danny was recently elected to the International GEAPS Board of Directors.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 3:17
Thank you for your participation in Whole Grain, Danny. Yeah, thanks for having me, James. I’m happy to be here Now. We have not covered the soy crush industry and that’s the only podcast, so excited about that. But before we begin to allow our listeners to get to know you. Do you have a mantra or success quote that you live by professionally? You know I do.
Danny Lein: 3:35
Back when I was a shift supervisor at my first crush plant that I ever worked for, I had a superintendent by the name of Mark McCormick and he would always say to me there’s always room for improvement. We would have issues out in the crush plant, we would go, we’d get them taken care of and I’d just be happy that they were taken care of and everything was running good. And I’d go to Mark and say hey, we got it. And he would look through and he would say there’s always room for improvement. And that has always stuck with me and it’s honestly the truth and it doesn’t just pertain to the soy crush industry, it pertains to every day in life.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 4:11
Absolutely Now, danny, could you share what your earlier roles were like in the soybean processing industry and what your responsibilities are today in your current role as plant manager? And then, even to add greater context, could you share some information about Oxbow Crush, the soybean processing company where you serve as plant manager?
Danny Lein: 4:33
Yeah. So I started out sweeping the floors at a soybean crush facility and then I went into an operator role, ran prep extraction, meal loadout, oil loadout, pellet mill operator, and being able to do everything from the ground up is honestly the best way to do it. You know, I do know some people who step right into a manager’s role and they kind of learn on the fly, but in my opinion my personal opinion starting out at the bottom and working your way to the top, that’s the best way to do it in my opinion. And as for Oxbow Crush, we process crushed soybeans here, which we break the soybean down into soybean oil, soybean meal and soybean oats.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 5:22
Can you share your role as plant manager with the organization?
Danny Lein: 5:24
As a plant manager, I oversee the whole facility. I have a production manager, an elevator manager, a maintenance manager and an engineering manager that reports me, and they have their own departments and people that report to them. But as for my role, it is to make sure that those guys have all the tools that they need to be successful and safe.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 5:44
Nice, thank you. Let’s talk about soy crush process. You touched on a little bit what you know, the big picture, what your plant does, but let’s talk about products and uses, just develop some greater context. So soy crush refers to the process of crushing soybeans, as you said, to separate them into two primary products. You have soybean oil and soybean meal. Can you describe the process of a soy crust facility?
Danny Lein: 6:09
Yeah. So the beans will come in either truck or via rail, and we’ll unload the beans, clean the beans, we’ll dry the beans down to the moisture that we want and then what we’ll end up doing is tempering the beans, where the beans will go into what we call tempering tanks. And once you dry the beans down and this is for conventional dehauling, for the, for the people that are in the soybean processing, they’ll know what I’m talking about on that and what will happen is the kernel will actually shrink and the haul will stay the same size. That’s what tempering is. So in that silo, say you get some beans, that silo say you get some beans that are 9% moisture, you get some beans that are 10% moisture. They will all come together and temper down and a soybean is 93% kernel and 7% hull, so that bean will actually pop out of the hull, which makes it easier for de-hulling. So what we’ll do then for the next step is we’ll run these beans through cracking mills.
Danny Lein: 7:05
Which a cracking mill? There’s many different manufacturers. You’ve got Roskamp, buehler, french DeSmit, you know, so on and so on. It’s kind of like the difference between buying a Ford, chevy or a Dodge. Right, they’re doing the same thing, but it’s just personal preference. So how those work is you’ve got two sets of rolls in these cracking mills and the first they’re corrugated rolls. So as the bean goes down into the first roll, it breaks it into half. Then it’ll go down into the second roll and break it into quarters, and then now the hall is loose.
Danny Lein: 7:40
So what we’ll do is we’ll send these cracked beans to what we call aspirators and we use air to suck the hull off of the bean, off of that cracked bean, because a hull is much lighter than a bean. So as the air is going through, it’s lifting the hulls and allowing the beans, the cracked beans, to drop. So the hull is basically fiber. Well, it is fiber, but mostly fiber. So what we do is we want to remove the hulls, because if we leave the hulls in these beans that we send to process, it’ll lower the protein of the soybean meal. So we want to take those hulls away. And then we use those hulls, we’ll run them through a pelletizer and they get sent for feed you know, for cattle or whatever to a feed mill and they’ll use that to add to their feed. And then we’ll take those cracked soybeans that.
Danny Lein: 8:39
So imagine a soybean that’s broken down into quarters we got each bean is about four pieces and we’ll heat it up and we got to heat it to the core of that bean. Soybean that’s broken down into quarters We’ve got each bean is about four pieces and we’ll heat it up and we’ve got to heat it to the core of that bean and that’s called conditioning. So the whole point of that is to make the bean more pliable so that when we run it through our flaking mills it can help rupture the oil cells, if that makes sense rupture the oil cells, if that makes sense. So after it leaves the conditioner and we normally run them up to about 150, 155 degrees it goes into what’s called flaking mills and these flaking mills are just big steel rolls that are spinning extremely fast and have hydraulic pressure that pushes them together. And as you feed these cracks into these mills it actually smears them and turns them into a flake. And what that has done, it has increased the surface area. For when it goes to extraction, it has ruptured the oil cells.
Danny Lein: 9:41
I always like to tell everyone that those flaking metals just beat it up right, break everything down, so that way it’s easier for extraction. So then what we call. Then there is raw flakes. So then those raw flakes get sent to what’s called an extractor where we use a chemical solvent called hexane. And what hexane is is is it’s a degreaser, kind of like non-dish soap. So let’s just say you wake up in the morning, you’re frying yourself a pan of bacon and you go to wash that uh pan of bacon. If you don’t use the degreaser, you just use hot water, it’s kind of hard to get it off right right and then also you heat it up.
Danny Lein: 10:22
It’s a lot easier to get it off with hot water than it is cold. So we heat up the hexane and then the hexane goes over the bed of flakes in the extractor and it goes through the flake, the raw flakes, and pulls the oil out with it as it goes. So then what we do is now we’ve got two different streams we technically got three because the hulls are going off to a certain area and now we’ve got what’s called a massilla and that’s a mixture of soybean oil and hexane, so that massilla will get sent to distillation comps where we will flash off the boiling point of hexane commercial grade hexane and hexane is 156 degreesane and hexane is 156 degrees. Commercial-grade hexane is around 140 degrees. But in these distillation columns, which is basically just a tube and bundle heat exchanger, we inject steam and heat up the tubes that the bacillus is going through and it flashes the hexane off. And what we got there? We’re under a high vacuum. We’re under about 20 inches of mercury vacuum. So what that does is it even lowers the boiling point. You know, boiling point water is 212 degrees. While you put it under a vacuum you put anything under a vacuum, the boiling point lowers Right. So that’s why we use mercury vacuum on our distillation columns and it’ll go through a series of distillation columns and we flash all the hexane out and then you have crude soybean oil that’s left.
Danny Lein: 11:59
And then we have the raw flakes that went through the extractor. Well, now that they are, when they go into the extractor’s, raw flakes that went through the extractor. Well, now that they are, when they’re going to the extractor’s raw flakes, they’re yellow because you have oil in them. Well, now they’re called white flakes as they leave the extractor and if you look at them they’re just they’re really, really white because took all the oil out, but they’re full of hexane. So we need to get that hexane out. And they also have what’s called in there is urease, which is bad for animals. So we need to cook these flakes down. We need to flash off the hexane and we need to cook down the flakes. So it goes through a DTDC, which stands for a desulbentizing toaster and a dryer cooler. So these flakes go into a DT, will flash off the hexane and we’ll cook it down and then it’ll go into the DC section and we’ll dry it down and then we’ll cool it down and then it’ll go to storage.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 12:56
Very nice explanation, really interesting.
Danny Lein: 13:00
We use hexane and we try to recover as much hexane as you can. You want to reuse it. A properly running crush plant can take a one gallon. One gallon hexane can be used a thousand times wow, that’s interesting right there. So yeah, we will, we’ll take up. So when we flash this hexane off, it turns into vapors and then they go to condensers and we cool it back down to a liquid and we reuse it.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 13:23
Really interesting. Let’s get into the soybean oil, soybean meal, after it leaves your facility. But just big picture wise, I think it’s good to know what are those end uses, yeah absolutely so.
Danny Lein: 13:38
The soybean meal is roughly about 47% protein, so it’s very, very high protein, which makes it really good for feed for chickens, turkeys, hogs, cattle and humans as well. Like I had one company I worked at, we would make non-GMO soybean meal and we would ship to Japan and it would be used for soy sauce. You know there’s plenty of uses that can be done. And then, as for soybean oil, it’s in so many things, like, for instance, you go to the grocery store and you buy a bottle of vegetable oil off the shelf and you’re going to go home and fry some fish in it or chicken or whatever. That is soybean oil. It’s in cosmetics, it’s in fuel, it’s in margarines. I mean, there’s just so many uses for it.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 14:24
Now we are seeing a boom in the soy crush industry. You have been heavily involved in this sector of the grain industry since 2007. I think our listeners would be interested in understanding many of the factors that are driving this growth. And can you provide an understanding for the global demand? And what about the export markets? Where or what are the key destinations for soy products?
Danny Lein: 14:49
there’s a lot of a lot of demand for it and a few of the big reasons. Why is the biofuels? You know that’s kind of the kicker right there. Another demand is for for feed, for food, for food and fuel. You know those. Those are the two big ones. The population of the world just keeps getting bigger and bigger and it’s going to continue to get bigger and bigger and we need to be able to feed all the people in the world. And a big demand for exports for the US is we have a very, very good soybean here.
Danny Lein: 15:21
Very good soybean, we get a good growing season, good soil, I mean it all makes a difference.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 15:28
And I was just out by my uncle’s, and the soybeans there are really looking good here.
Danny Lein: 15:35
That’s good, it’s out in Mississippi.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 15:37
To me, yes, great climate, great soil, good partners and producers to make that happen. To get it to where you’re at Now, let’s kind of shift a little bit and dig into technological advancements surrounding the soy crush industry. Let’s first focus on processing innovations. What are some of the latest technologies you can share within the soy processing industry that you’ve seen?
Danny Lein: 16:00
Well, technology has really come a long way since I first started operating. The first plant that I started operating at, we just had a push button board. You know, you’d go up to that board and you’d push this button to start this drag. You’d push this button to start this crack and melt, this button to start this flaking melt and you knew if it was running, if the light was red or green. Right, it’s come a long way.
Danny Lein: 16:23
We now use HMIs, which is a human machine interface, which is a computer that you go to and it’s got graphics on it. It can tell you the pressure of the vessels, it can tell you the temperature of the vessels, it can tell you the amps of the motors. Back when I was an operator I didn’t have that opportunity. If I wanted to know what the vacuum was or what the amps were, I’d go out in the field, read a gauge, where now, just at your fingertips, then you can look all that information up and it’s good for keeping that, for trending that information. There’s all kinds of technologies that are coming out there and they just keep getting better and better Soil crush facilities are examining ways for efficiency improvements and, of course, cost reductions.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 17:06
are there any other examples you want to share?
Danny Lein: 17:09
that’s a site that facilities are applying for cost effective and efficient systems the biggest thing is save as much energy as you can, and that comes down to heat exchangers, reusing your wastewater, reverse osmosis equipment, things like that. There’s all kinds of ways to improve efficiency. Back to the first question that you brought up, a slogan I used to live by there’s always room for improvement. You know every time that you think you’ve got something and it can’t get no better. Just keep digging, you’ll find it.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 17:41
Now let’s shift to economic factors driving the growth in the soy crush industry. We can start by looking at two areas investment trends and market prices. In terms of investment trends, what does the current landscape look like from your perspective?
Danny Lein: 17:58
Yeah, Well for investment trends. There’s definitely a lot of crush expansions that have been going in the US, you know, not only there, but overseas as well. You know, like I said, there’s just a demand and we need to try to fill that demand and that’s what everyone is going for.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 18:16
You have worked in the industry since 2007. You’ve worked in the agriculture industry, generally speaking, since 2000. What do you want people to know, though, about the soy crush industry that has not already been stated? It is a great career.
Danny Lein: 18:34
I highly recommend people to get into the soybean industry because it is a very great career and I don’t care how long you’ve been doing it. I’ve known many, many people who have made a career out of this, and we all say the same it is a very great career and I don’t care how long you’ve been doing it. I’ve known many, many people who have made a career out of this, and we all say the same it is a very great career and it’s a very rewarding career, because when you go out into the plant and you look around and you try to figure out how to make something better, it’s very rewarding when you’re able to make something better and there’s always something to learn. You could be doing it for 20 years, 30 years. You see something new all the time, something you’ve never seen before.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 19:12
It truly is rewarding. Thanks for sharing that. I think you have certainly piqued the interest of people who may know a little bit about it, know information about that. That brings up another question that I think a lot of industries are facing, certainly niches within the agriculture industry. Why is that struggle to find quality talent?
Danny Lein: 19:29
in the soy industry challenging. Well, you know, ever since COVID, everyone’s been having a hard time trying to find help, but not only that. With all the expansions that have been going on, it almost seems to me that there’s more jobs and there are people in the industry. I feel that would be one of the reasons why we’re having a hard time finding as much help as we need, which is why I highly encourage people to look into this industry if they’re looking to make a career, Because you know there’s a big difference between a job and a career. Do you want to do something, just a bunch of clock and work nine to five, or do you want to have something that you care about, feel rewarded with?
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 20:04
That’s about what it comes down to, the future is bright, then, for the soy crush industry. You’re saying, oh. I would say so very much. That leads to the next area growth projections. Danny, we’ve discussed a boom in the soy crush industry and what’s driving the growth. Do you have any projections or predictions for the next five to 10 years in the soy crush industry, any emerging markets, potential growth areas? Or perhaps you can speak on the upcoming technologies and research in soy processing? What are the potential game changers for the industry?
Danny Lein: 20:36
Well, as for technology that you mentioned that, like all the companies that I’ve listed prior, that the manufacturers that make the equipment that we use in the soybean industry, they’ve got very good teams, very good teams for research and development. They got people out in the field trying to figure out how they can make something better and they bring it back to their labs and they do a great job. So, I mean, the possibility is endless on that for when it comes to technology, but I truly believe this industry is going to keep growing, growing as it is, just because I don’t see a demand leap anytime soon, that’s for sure.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 21:10
Great to know. Thanks for sharing that, Danny. You were a member of IOMSA.
Danny Lein: 21:14
Well, iomsa, the International One Mill Superintendent Association, jeeps absorbed everything from IOMSA, including the members. GEAPS just has a whole lot more people than what I’ve owned since I had it, which is great. My very first GEAPS Exchange I went to, I couldn’t believe the size. Not only the size but the camaraderie that people had, friendly people were and just coming up and introducing themselves to me. Because I ended up going by myself and I thought, well, probably not going to know anyone, ain’t going to have no one to talk to. But it was the total opposite. Actually, I met quite a few people I knew and got to meet a bunch of people that I did not know and made a lot of friends out of them. Not that I never did that in IOMSA but with GEAPS it’s just so much bigger than what IOMSA was.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 22:09
Thanks for sharing. Danny, we thank you for being a member of GEAPS and for your contribution to today’s important message on the GEAPS Whole Grain Podcast. We know many of the individuals listening today in the show are GEAPS members, but there’s also a large contingent who work in the grain industry and who are not currently members of GEAPS. Before we conclude, I’d love to start a sentence and I would love for you to conclude that sentence.
Danny Lein: 22:30
Being a GEAPS member means Knowledge and camaraderie those two things. Like I said, I went to my first exchange two years ago and my mind was blown on everything that was there. It’s just a huge, huge convention. There’s so much to learn and so many good people there to meet. It’s one of those things where you meet people and you just bounce ideas back and forth to each other. Even if you got someone in the soy crush and someone in the ethanol, you know you’re processing grain. It’s not 100% the same, but a lot of the stuff. I mean you know you’re processing grain. It’s not 100% the same, but a lot of the stuff. I mean you’re using pumps, you’re using drag conveyors, you’re using elevator buckets, things like that. I mean you get to talk to people and you get to bounce ideas off of and then it helps you understand someone else’s process along with yours and you get to pass on knowledge to them as well.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 23:20
That passing on knowledge is key, and so being a Jeeps member, that is a key piece to that and the camaraderie forming a community. Thank you for expressing that. And then, within that, can belong to a Jeeps chapter, and I know, danny, you are a member of the Jeeps Gulf South chapter. Some of our listeners may be interested in joining a GEAPS chapter. Could you offer a voice to the benefits of being involved in a Jeeps chapter? You know events, meetings. What are the tangible benefits of becoming involved in GEAPS chapters in general and then, furthermore, what makes a GEAPS Gulf South chapter so special?
Danny Lein: 23:59
What makes?
Danny Lein: 23:59
it so special is the people, by all means, and it’s just a bunch of great folks. And when you go down to the meetings, don’t feel shy, Don’t feel bashful. Sit down at a table. Make a point. If you go with, say, you go with three people from your company, make a point to leave them and go sit at a different table and meet the other folks that are there. You will not be disappointed. And meet the other folks that are there. You will not be disappointed.
Danny Lein: 24:22
That’s why I have to say what’s special about the South chapter and the importance of being part of a chapter is you know GEAPS whole is great. You know you got your annual exchange. But being part of a chapter, you get to be around the people that are close to you and then, like going to the convey or exchange, then you get to be around people that are throughout the US and Canada, you know, and then you get to learn things about grain, what’s different in different regions of the country, things like that. And then when you go to your chapters, you get to learn about what other things that are going on in your area. It’s well worth the experience, it’s well worth the knowledge and, honestly, the camaraderie is just awesome.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 25:07
Thank you for stating that, and you’re right. There’s people from all sorts of variety of different niches within the industry, the people from other countries. We have representatives from well over 20 different countries at Exchange every year and actually this podcast has listeners from over 72 different countries. So we’ll conclude this now by thanking you so much for having the show. It’s a special treat for you to discuss the booming soy crush industry. Thank you for serving as guests in Whole Grain and for spending valuable time with Jeep’s Whole Grain podcast listeners. I thank you for having me on. This is great. Whole Grain podcast listeners. Thank you for making time to engage with the Whole Grain show for your personal and professional development. If you want to share this episode with someone who could benefit the Whole Grain show for your personal and professional development. If you want to share this episode with someone who could benefit the Whole Grain podcast audio player. Show notes, important links and the transcript of the show are available on the Jeeps website at www. geaps. com/wholegrain. The podcast can also be reached on your favorite podcast app, such as Apple Podcasts, google Podcasts, amazon Music, spotify, pandora. There’s so many more. While you are on the podcast app, don’t forget to leave us a five-star reading. That helps others find the show that much easier.
Jim Lenz, GEAPS: 26:12
The Whole Grain Show is a production of GEAPS the Grain Elevator and Processing Society. The Grain Elevator and Processing Society is the largest organization dedicated to advancing the grain handling and processing industry. Be sure to check out www. geaps. com that’s g-e-a-p-scom. The whole grain podcast offers a terrific opportunity to spotlight your business. If you and your organization want to sponsor an episode and be a featured guest, please reach out to me. Jim lens, director of global education at the green elevator and processing society and host and producer of the show. My email is james@ geaps. com. We look forward to hearing from you. Have yourself a great day and thanks for listening to Whole Grain.
