Great Plains Synfuels Plant to conduct ‘brown plant’ turnaround

Each year, Dakota Gasification Company's Great Plains Synfuels Plant strategically plans maintenance turnarounds to optimize and maintain process equipment. Planning of these turnarounds involves extensive discussion and teamwork to safely and efficiently execute the work.

A scheduled “brown plant” turnaround, in which a majority of the Synfuels Plant will be out of service except for only a few utilities, will be held in September. Over 3,200 maintenance tasks are planned and roughly 25 separate contract crews will assist plant staff to safely complete the planned work. Additionally, several Dakota Gas retirees will be utilized to support various projects. “The retirees have a tremendous amount of turnaround experience, so they will be a great resource,” Senior Vice President and Synfuels Plant Manager Dale Johnson said. 

Johnson said a turnaround of this size takes employees from many different facets to be successful, including Basin Electric’s Procurement team, which has been instrumental in ensuring parts and materials are on site in time for the outage and securing the best contractors to complete the work; the Dakota Gas Marketing team and N-7, which are working with customers to prepare them for interruptions in product shipments; and Synfuels Plant personnel, who have done an “impressive job” of prioritizing work, collaborating on scope and sequencing, and working together to ensure everything is identified and organized to safely and efficiently complete the turnaround.