Robinson Constr.

Scope Of Work

In November 2011 Green Plains Renewable Energy (GPRE) announced that BlendStar LLC would build, own, and operate a new ethanol unit train terminal on the BNSF Railway in Birmingham, Alabama. GPRE selected Robinson Construction Company as the general contractor for the $12.2 million project. The new terminal delivers 385,000 barrels of ethanol per month via 96-car unit trains and over the road trucks. Utilizing eight off-loading pumps, four transfer pumps, a fully-automated rail unloading system, and two above ground storage tanks with 160,000 barrels of storage, the terminal simultaneously loads and unloads rail cars while providing 24-hour truck loading from its four-lane truck load out canopy. The facility’s process and piping design was completed to allow for the future addition of biodiesel storage and delivery components. Robinson Construction Company was asked to bid GPRE’s state of the art facility because of the relationship that was built during the successful completion of a previous project with GPRE’s project manager. Robinson provided the lowest bid and provided several value engineering ideas during the bidding process, several of which were selected for the final design.