Smithfield Foods: N.C. Facility Producing Renewable Natural Gas

By Michael Dabaie

Smithfield Foods Inc. said that it is producing renewable natural gas from the wastewater-treatment system at its Tar Heel, N.C., pork processing facility, in partnership with Duke Energy Corp. (DUK) and OptimaBio LLC.

The company's Tar Heel, N.C., project uses a gas upgrading and injection system operated by OptimaBio LLC, a bioenergy-project developer. The system uses the facility's three million-gallon-per-day wastewater-treatment system to collect and clean biogas through an existing on-site digester and convert it into RNG.

Once converted, the RNG is injected into the Piedmont Natural Gas system, and then transported to Duke Energy to produce electricity, the company said.

Smithfield said that to date, this is one of its largest renewable energy projects involving wastewater, and its first in North Carolina. Smithfield also has "wastewater-to-energy" projects at its Milan, Mo.; Grayson, Ky.; and Sioux Falls, S.D., facilities, which are used to power their modified steam boilers.

Write to Michael Dabaie at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 08, 2020 09:07 ET (14:07 GMT)

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