Smithfield moves into gas production

Friday, April 8, 2016

The largest pork-producing company in the world is months away from opening the largest manure-to-energy project of its kind in the United States.

Nine Smithfield Foods farms housing almost two million pigs in Missouri are involved. The US$120 million project, begun in 2014, involves installation of impermeable covers and flare systems on 88 existing lagoons, each capable of holding about 15 million U.S. gallons. The hog manure will produce approximately 2.2 billion cubic feet of pipeline-quality renewable natural gas annually, equal to 17 million gallons of diesel fuel. The equivalent of 850,000 tonnes of CO² will be prevented from entering the atmosphere. Rain will be kept out of the lagoons and odour reduced.

The builders are Missouri-based Roeslein Alternative Energy and ABUTEC (an acronym for Advanced Burner Technologies.), based in Georgia. According to press releases and reports, ABUTEC will install 1.5 megawatt electrical generators to deal with excess methane, letting Smithfield access about US$1 million-worth of carbon credits. Duke Energy in North Carolina will purchase the gas to meet clean energy requirements for power generation. Blake Boxley, Director of Environmental Health and Safety for Smithfield Hog Production, says this project can be replicated across the country.  BP