BIOKYOWA: GIANT TANKS SET IN PLACE AT NEW PLANT

A half-dozen giant storage tanks have been set into place at the BioKyowa Inc. L-lysine plant in Nash Road Industrial Park.

The tanks -- each about 50 feet long, 21 feet in diameter and weighing more than 150,000 pounds -- were moved through the Southeast Missouri Regional Port Authority by Girardeau Stevedores to trucks that hauled them to BioKyowa as part of the company's $35 million expansion of its agriculture feed-supplement plant.

Lone Star Heavy Haul Co. of Gainesville, Texas, trucked the tanks, which came from Japan, to the plant.

Construction also is continuing on BioKyowa's $50 million Kyowa Foods plant.

BioKyowa and Kyowa Foods are wholly owned by Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. Ltd. of Tokyo, Japan.

Expansion of the L-lysine plant and construction of the Kyowa Food plant were announced in 1998. They represent a total investment of $85 million and 100 new jobs.

"The expansion of the L-lysine plant should be completed in May of 2000," said William Hinckley, plant manger of BioKyowa Inc. The target date for the new food-supplement plant is September of 2000.

The expansion will provide space to manufacture two new feed-grade amino acids, L-theonine and L-tryptophan, and will increase capacity up to 25,000 metric tons a year for L-lysine. The combined capacity for the two new feed-grade products will be about 5,000 metric tons a year.

The project calls for a 10,000-square-foot and 15,000-square-foot processing plant, a 13,000-square-foot warehouse extension and two other buildings with a combined 10,000 square feet, and the six new storage tanks.

"We're looking at about 48,000 square feet in the expansion plans," said Hinckley.

This marks the second major expansion for BioKyowa, which started operations here in 1982 with a $25 million plant and 70 employees.

The first major expansion was completed in 1991 and involved a $15 million project that doubled production. It involved an 11,000-square-foot warehouse and expansion of production facilities.

Kyowa Food, a new company of Kyowa Hakko Kogyo Co. Ltd., will produce food seasonings. Initially the plant will employ 50 people.