Case Study
Smithfield Foods — Tar Heel, NC
Covered lagoon digester and biogas destruction system at Smithfield's Tar Heel pork plant, destroying over 55,000 tCO2e of methane annually.
The Challenge
Problem
Smithfield's Tar Heel facility is the world's largest pork processing plant, slaughtering over 32,000 hogs per day and generating enormous volumes of high-strength organic wastewater. The open lagoon system was producing an estimated 55,000 tCO2e per year in methane emissions, drawing regulatory scrutiny from NCDEQ and community complaints from neighboring Bladen County residents.
Our Approach
Solution
EFI designed and installed a covered lagoon digester system with dual enclosed flares, continuous H2S scrubbing, and cloud-based monitoring across the facility's primary and secondary wastewater lagoons. The system captures and destroys methane from processing wastewater while maintaining the existing treatment flow. A redundant flare configuration ensures 99%+ uptime for carbon credit verification.
Outcomes
Results & Metrics
Key Outcomes
- 55,000+ tCO2e destroyed annually
- Dual enclosed flare system with 99%+ uptime
- Zero odor complaints since commissioning
- Carbon credit revenue stream established
- NCDEQ compliance achieved ahead of schedule
- Cloud monitoring with automated regulatory reporting
“At our scale, environmental compliance isn't optional — it's existential. EFI delivered a system that handles the volume of the world's largest pork plant and turned a regulatory liability into a revenue stream.”
VP Environmental Affairs, Smithfield Foods
Related Work
Similar Projects
Poultry / Food ProcessingPerdue Farms — Lewiston, NC
Food Processing / AgricultureSunMaid Growers — Kingsburg, CA
Food ProcessingJBS — Worthington, MN
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