Smithfield Foods' effort to turn manure into biofuel at Utah plant fails after three years

After three years, Smithfield Foods has sold its biofuel plant, because the main ingredient — pig manure — did not have enough nutrients to make process profitable, reports Janie Gabbett for Meatinplace.com.

"The goal of Smithfield BioEnergy was to capture methane from manure provided by Smithfield's Circle Four Farms swine production operation near Milford, Utah, convert the methane into bio-methanol, and then convert that — along with animal and vegetable fats — into bio-diesel fuel," Gabbett writes.

Initial estimates based on government data assumed the manure's nutrient content would be strong enough, but in actuality, the "animal manure produced on Smithfield's farms proved to be more than 50 percent below published data estimates," Gabbett writes. The company attributed the levels to animal genetic improvement, improved feed conversion, reduced water volume used in production systems and precisely formulated animal diets.

Beacon Energy Corp. bought the plant. Smithfield has similar methane-capturing projects in Tar Heel, N.C., Plainwell, Mich., and Green Bay, Wis. (Read more)