Case Studies World's Largest Soybean Processing Cooperative

Soybean Processing Plant

Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado
Project: Food-Grade Coating, Tank Containment Area
Client: Soybean Processing Cooperative

This project involved a plant belonging to the largest cooperative soybean processing company in the world, at a site in Colorado Springs.

Soy is the leading US agricultural export, worth more than $23 billion, with annual US farm receipts totaling over $40 billion. The beans are grown across 75 million acres and make up around 90% of US oilseed production. Livestock farmers are the number one customer for soy meal, taking 98% of it to feed pigs, chickens and cows.

Facilities handling that volume need robust coatings. In this case, the client also wanted a genuinely green product.

40 mils Application Depth
30 min To Touch Dry
24 hrs To Production Restart

The Challenge

Constant Vibration, Temperature Swings, and No Downtime

Processing soybeans is a mechanical business. Beans are reduced to meal, which means substantial vibration and vast volumes of product moving against concrete structures, with additional stress from temperature changes.

The client wanted a high performance coating with exceptional grip on concrete, and it had to meet their sustainability guidelines.

They also wanted production downtime kept to an absolute minimum, with as little disruption as possible to employees working in the general area.

The Approach

Castor Oil and Gypsum, Rated for Potable Water Contact

On the sustainability requirement, Lifetime Green Coatings is made from castor oil and gypsum. The oil comes from castor bean plants and is renewable. The gypsum is potentially recyclable if recovered, because the coating has the unique ability to re-bond to itself for its entire service life, allowing recovered material to be re-incorporated.

It is completely free of VOCs, free of BPA, and non-toxic. It is virtually odorless apart from a mild hint of castor oil, and it is rated for use in contact with potable water. No solvents are used in application or in clean-up.

On downtime, the difference is significant. Many conventional epoxy coatings need up to three days to cure, and longer in cold weather as the curing process slows. That was not workable for a plant that needed to resume throughput quickly.

Why It Works

40 Mils Across the Tank Containment Area

The applicator laid a 40 mil coat across the concrete containment area serving the tanks. Because there is no practical limitation on thickness, the same application also filled crevices in the substrate rather than requiring separate remedial work.

The formulation has over 20 years of history protecting concrete in parking areas, and its adhesion is approximately double that of conventional epoxy. In testing it has been shown to bond even to Teflon.

Tensile Strength	ASTM D412 — 6,000 psi
Compressive Strength	ASTM D695 — 9,400 psi (13,800 psi with quartz)
Elongation	ASTM D412 — 120%
Tear Strength	ASTM D2240 — 330 PLI
Hardness	ASTM D2240 — Shore D 78
Flexibility (1/8" Mandrel)	ASTM D1737 — Pass
Abrasion Resistance (Taber)	ASTM D4060 — 28 mg loss
Gloss	ASTM D523 — 90+
Adhesion (Concrete)	ASTM D4541 — >400 psi (concrete failure), >550 psi primed
Adhesion (Steel)	ASTM D4541 — >2,000 psi
UV Stability	100% UV stable, interior and exterior
Application Temperature	-20°F to 120°F (-29°C to 49°C)
VOC Content	<10 g/l
Food Contact	USDA / FDA certified safe for incidental food contact

Lifetime Green Coatings is engineered for long-lasting performance, with independently tested results across the specifications above.

The Results

Touch Dry in 30 Minutes, Signed Off in 24 Hours

The coating was touch dry in about 30 minutes, its normal setting time, and reached full cure within the standard 24 hours.

At that point it was given a final inspection and signed off, ready for production throughput to resume.

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Soybean Processing Plant

Constant Vibration, Temperature Swings, and No Downtime

Castor Oil and Gypsum, Rated for Potable Water Contact

40 Mils Across the Tank Containment Area

Performance Data

Touch Dry in 30 Minutes, Signed Off in 24 Hours