BEULAH - For the first time in its history, the county's only synthetic gasification plant will be what's called a "black plant."

Dakota Gasification Co., will completely shut down operations in order to do a top to bottom maintenance and systems work over.

The black plant status will occur next year, starting sometime in early summer and remain that way for about one month. The project will involve several hundred contract workers in addition to the plant's regular work force of 700. It also will cost DGC millions of dollars in lost revenue and contract labor.

The plant was constructed in the early '80s and produces 160 million cubic feet of synthetic natural gas daily, for pipeline delivery to the Chicago region. The black plant will come in its 20th year of operation.

The plant has had maintenance turnarounds on a regular basis, but not to this extent.

DGC was designed to make synthetic gas from lignite coal in two separate production lines, or trains. On previous turnarounds, one or the other train was shut down for maintenance every year, while the other train still produced gas.

DGC spokesman Daryl Hill said shutting down both production trains will allow maintenance of equipment both trains have in common. Common equipment includes such components as the water treatment plant and the cooling tower.

Hill said the black plant period will be an extremely busy time and it's likely work will run on a 24-hour, seven-day schedule. He said plant managers already have 700 maintenance and inspection items on a checklist of things to be done and the list could get longer. The black plant status may be 16 months into the future, but planning is well under way.

"People are already planning what we need to do, who to do it and what can be done in that time window," Hill said.

Once planning is complete, some of the maintenance work will be put out for bid.

Typically, what'll be needed are a sizable number of skilled crafts and trades, like iron workers, boilermakers and electricians hired by contractors, Hill said.

(Reach reporter Lauren Donovan at 888-303-5511, or scoop@ndonline.com.)