**Fact Sheet - Smithfield Packing Company, Inc.**
**Renewal -- NPDES Permit NC0078344**

**Page 1** 

### DENR / DWQ / NPDES Unit
FACT SHEET FOR NPDES PERMIT DEVELOPMENT

NPDES Permit No. NC0078344

Facility Information

**Applicant/Facility Name Smithfield Packing Company, Inc. / Tar Heel Divisio**  **n WWTP Applicant Address**  **P.O. Box 99, Tar Heel, North Carolina 28392 Facility Address**  **15855 NC Highway 87 West, Tar Heel North Carolina 2 8392**  **Permitted Flow (MGD) 3.0 MGD**  **Type of Waste 98% Industrial; 2% Domestic**  **Facility Class IV**  **County Bladen**  **Facility Status Renewal**  **Regional Office Fayetteville** 


### Stream Characteristics

**Receiving Stream Cape Fear River**  **Stream Classification C**  **Drainage Area (sq. mi.) 4900**  **Drainage basin Cape Fear**  **Summer 7Q10 (cfs) 795**  **Subbasin 03-06-16**  **Winter 7Q10 (cfs) 1035**  **Stream segment 18-(26)d**  **30Q2 (cfs) 1600**  **303(d) Listed No**  **Average Flow (cfs) 5000**  **State Grid St. Pauls H23SE**  **IWC (%) 0.58**  **8- Digit HUC 03020201** 



### Summary **The Smithfield Packing Company, Tar Heel Division ( Smithfield) is a hog slaughtering and**  **pork packing plant constructed in 1992 that current ly harvests an average of 32,000 hogs**  **per day weighing approximately 267 lb/hog. The pri mary products are fresh cuts. By**  **product operations include blood and hair collectio n, viscera handling and inedible**  **rendering. The plant operates two shifts five or si x days per week. All process wastewater is** 
**treated at the Tar Heel Division WWTP. Public hear ings have been held for the last three**  **times this permit has been renewed.**

**Since the time of the issuance of the previous perm it, Smithfield has obtained two permit** 
**modifications and five authorizations to construct new wastewater treatment facilities**  **(ATCs). The first modification was issued on May 8 , 2009, to allow all effluent TRC values**  **reported below 50 μg/L quantification level to be d eemed compliant with the permit. The**  **second modification allowed the company flexibility in its work schedule. It changed the**  **weekly maximum production limit from 176,000 hogs s laughtered per week to 352,000 hogs**  **slaughtered per 2-week period.**

**The first authorization to construct (ATC) was issu ed on November 29, 2007, for three new**  **floating surface aerators, one in each existing nit rification reactor. Another ATC was issued**  **on March 7, 2008 for the replacement of existing di ffusers in three aeration basins. On**  **October 6, 2008, an ATC was issued for the installa tion of two carbon source storage tanks,**  **one 2-million gallon aeration basin, and sludge fac ility improvements. On June 18, 2010, an**  **ATC was issued for the installation of a centrifuge sludge dewatering system. The final ATC**  **was issued on July 8, 2010, for a backup liquid chl orination/dechlorination system.** Fact Sheet
Renewal -- NPDES NC0078344

Page 2 **During the previous permit renewal period, Smithfie ld could not comply with new effluent**  **guideline requirements for total nitrogen. DENR fi led a consent judicial order against**  **Smithfield Packing Company, Inc. on July 13, 2007, to allow the company to enact a legally**  **enforceable schedule of compliance. In response, S mithfield constructed new treatment**  **systems, including two 10,000-gallon carbon source storage tanks (ATC 078344A04).** 

**There was also a third party challenge from an envi ronmental group named Citizens for**  **Clean Industry, Inc. This challenge was related to many issues, including the previously**  **mentioned compliance issue with the new effluent gu idelines, groundwater withdrawals, and**  **Smithfield’s requested increase in the number of ho gs processed. The challenge resulted**  **in a mediated partial settlement issued March 17, 2 008.** 

**Wastewaters are generated from the production areas , trailer wash, truck maintenance**  **garage, and sanitary facilities. In addition, tanke rs bring wastewater (waste pickle, meat**  **purge) from other facilities to the site for treatm ent. The facility is regulated under the**  **Federal Effluent Guidelines for Meat and Poultry Pr oducts, 40 CFR 432, Subpart B -**  **Complex Slaughterhouses.**



### Description of Treatment Facilities **Preliminary Treatment Facilities**

 **Raw waste storage pit - receives wastewater from pa cking plant, pens, utilities**  **buildings, and truck wash**

 **In-channel, self cleaning screen**

 **Dissolved air flotation (DAF) system**

 **Centrifuge system for dewatering residuals**

 **Holding tank for skimmings and bottom solids with p olymer flocculation** 

**Domestic Wastewater Treatment System (0.06 MGD; sep arate system)** 

 **Equalization basin**

 **Packaged activated sludge system - Effluent is comb ined with the effluent from**  **the process wastewater treatment system; residuals are sent to PWC Cross** 
**Creek WRF**

**Process Wastewater Treatment Facilities (3.0 MGD)**

 **Anaerobic splitter structure - receives pretreated wastewater** 

 **Two anaerobic basins with floating covers and bioga s collection system** 

 **Anoxic splitter structure**

 **Three anoxic basins with mixers**

 **Aeration splitter structure**

 **Four aeration basins with subsurface diffusers**

 **Clarifiers splitter structure**

 **Four final clarifiers**

 **Four tertiary (fuzzy) filters (one dedicated to the reuse system)** 

 **Reaeration chamber with coarse-bubble diffuser syst em** 

 **UV disinfection system combined with chlorination/d echlorination** 

 **Final effluent wet well - treated wastewater can be discharged to the river or to**  **the effluent storage lagoon**

 **Effluent storage lagoon - 90 MG capacity - receives first flush stormwater from**  **packing plant and off- quality effluent. From this lagoon, flows may be pumped to**  **the final clarifiers, the tertiary filters, or the aeration basins.** Fact Sheet
Renewal -- NPDES NC0078344

Page 3 **Reuse System for Plant (2 MGD) A portion of the flow from the final clarifiers is**  **diverted to the reuse system. This water is filtered and disinfected and then may be u**  **sed at the plant for cleanup in the pretreatment area and at the spray bars for the rot**  **ating screens, cleanup in inedible rendering, processing of casings and chitterlings,**  **blowing hairs to rendering, and cleaning the pens. After passing through a dedicat**  **ed tertiary filter and the ammonia condensers at the utility building, reuse flow can**  **be returned to the re-aeration basin.**



### Compliance Review **Reporting from BIMS was examined for monitoring rep ort violations from January 2008 until**  **August 2011. There were several exceedances of the total fecal coliform limit from** 
**November 2008 until June 2011. This was addressed when the facility installed a backup**  **liquid chlorination/dechlorination system (Authoriz ation to Construct issued July 8, 2010).**  **Additionally, there was one exceedance of the month ly total nitrogen limit in January 2011**  **and two oil & grease weekly limit exceedances in Se ptember 2009. The company attributed**  **the oil & grease exceedances to laboratory error.**

**Daily TSS limits were exceeded four times in Januar y and February 2010. A new centrifuge**  **system for dewatering sludge was installed in late 2010 (see Authorization to Construct**  **dated June 18, 2010) to address the solids issue.**

**The existing permit has special conditions regardin g the number of hogs which may be**  **processed on a bi-weekly and annual basis. The lim its of 390,000 hogs slaughtered per**  **two-week period and 8,488,000 hogs slaughtered per year (subsequently 9,500,000 hogs**  **per year) were not exceeded.**

Table 1. Miscellaneous Data

001 Average Flow (MGD) 001

Max Daily Flow (MGD) Average annual

Groundwater withdrawal (MGD) Average hog production (hogs/2-weeks) Effluent BOD

(mg/L)

**2008 2.00 3.52 1.41**

**2009 2.13 4.34 1.50 2.87** 

**2010 2.38 4.17 1.63 6.39** 

**2011 2.28 3.33 1.59**  **305,978 4.93** 

Table 2. Effluent Data: 1/1/2009 – 6/30/2011

BOD Ammonia TN TSS Fecal Coliform Dissolved Oxygen
lb/d ay lb/day mg/L lb/day count /100 m L mg/L

**Average 91.6 5.07 121 385 27.9 (geometric**  **mean) 7.6** 

**Maximum 508 60.6 248 5043 1900 10.1**

**Minimum 9.5 < 0.1 21.2 51.4 < 1 5.3**Fact Sheet
Renewal -- NPDES NC0078344

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### Reasonable Potential Analysis **A reasonable potential analysis using DMR data was conducted for pollutants of concern for**  **which monitoring is required in the present permit. These are aluminum, copper, nickel,**  **zinc, fluorides, and chlorides. None of the parame ters showed any reasonable potential to**  **cause an exceedance of water quality standards. In addition, the facility has passed all of**  **its quarterly toxicity tests. Since these paramete rs were being monitored at the**  **recommendation of previous public hearing officers, it was proposed that they continue to be**  **monitored during the next permit period.**



### Instream Monitoring Data **Smithfield is a member of the Middle Cape Fear Rive r Basin Association. The Association**  **monitors two stations in the Cape Fear River near t he Smithfield discharge, B8302000**  **located near Tolarsville, upstream of Smithfield’s discharge, and B8305000, at Tar Heel**  **downstream from Smithfield’s discharge. As shown o n the following tables, a comparison of**  **the upstream data with the downstream data shows th at the facility’s discharge did not**  **significantly impact the Cape Fear River during thi s review period.** 

Table 3. Station B8302000 - Near Tolarsville - Cape Fear River Upstream from
Smithfield

**5/ 1/03/05 -12/16/09** **DO pH** **Conductance Fecal** **Coliform Total** **Suspended solids** **Turbidity NH3N** **TKN NO2 NO3** **TP**

**mg/L SU**  **μmhos/cm /100 mL**  **mg/L NTU**  **mg/L mg/L**  **mg/L mg/L** 

**Median 7.5 6.7 126 34.2 9 9.1 0.06 0.6 0.73 0.13**

**Max 13.2 7.6 232 76 77.4 0.29 1 1.53 0.37**

**Min 5.1 4.6 64 1 2.9 0.02 0.2 0.26 0.02**

Table 4. Station B8305000 Tar Heel, NC - Cape Fear River Downstream from Smithfield

**1/07/05 -12/16/09 DO** **pH Conductance** **Fecal Coliform** **Total Suspended** **solids Turbidity** **NH3N TKN** **NO2 NO3 TP** 

**mg/L SU**  **μmhos/cm /100 mL**  **mg/L NTU**  **mg/L mg/L**  **mg/L mg/L** 

**Median 7.4 6.7 133 29.4 9 9.9 0.05 0.6 0.99 0.17**

**Max 13.1 8.5 228 87 70.2 0.27 3.1 2.56 0.4**

**Min 5.3 5.7 63 1 3.8 0.02 0.2 0.36 0.02**

Effluent Guidelines **Prior to the previous renewal in 2004, EPA revised the guidelines for the Meat and Poultry**  **Industry (40 CFR 432) in 2004. In order to provide time to update the plant’s treatment**  **facilities to meet a more stringent total nitrogen limit, a judicial consent order was issued by**  **DWQ on July 13, 2007. The company has substantiall y complied with the requirements of** 
**this order.**Fact Sheet
Renewal -- NPDES NC0078344

Page 5 **The Smithfield Packing Company’s Tar Heel plant is a complex slaughterhouse processing**  **more than 50 million pounds per year. The applicabl e section of the guidelines is 40 CFR**  **432.25 (b) New Source Performance Standards. Limit s for BOD, Oil & Grease, and TSS are**  **based on production, which is defined as live weigh t killed (LWK), or the total weight of**  **animals slaughtered. Total nitrogen and ammonia lim its are concentration based. The**  **average production over the past three years was 8, 222,000 lbs/day, or 8222 1000-pounds** 
**LWK.**

Table 5. Effluent Guidelines Limits **:**

Parameter EG Limitations (40 CFR 432) Calculated EG Limits (lb/day)

Daily Maximum Monthly Avg. Daily Maximum Monthly Avg.

**Ammonia (as N)*** **8 mg/L 4 mg/L 200.16 lb/day 100.08 lb/day** 

**BOD  ** 0.42 lb/1000 lb LWK 0.21 lb/1000 lb LWK** **3453 lb/day 1727 lb/day**

**Total Nitrogen*** **194 mg/L 134 mg/L 4853.88 lb/day 3352.68 lb/day** 

**O&G  ** 0.16 lb/1000 lb LWK 0.08 lb/1000 lb LWK** **1315 lb/day 658 lb/day**

**TSS  ** 0.5 lb/1000 lb LWK 0.25 lb/1000 lb LWK** **4111 lb/day 2055 lb/day**

**Fecal Coliform** max 400/100mL**

***(432.25(b)(1))**  (432.22(a)(1))** 

Table 6. Existing and Proposed Limits :

**Parameter** Existing Limits Comments

Monthly Average Daily Maximum

**Ammonia**

**summer 30.0 lb/day (2.0 mg/L)**  **60.0 lb/day (7.5 mg/L)**  **No changes**

**Ammonia**
**winter 60.0 lb/day (4.0 mg/L)**  **120.0 lb/day (8.0 mg/L)**  **No changes**

**BOD summer 250 lb/day 500 lb/day (30 mg/L)**  **No changes**

**BOD winter 500 lb/d 1000 lb/d (45 mg/L)**  **No changes**

**Total Nitrogen 134 mg/L 194 mg/L No changes - Efflu ent Guidelines** 

**O&G 319.6 lb/day 639.2 lb/day**  **No changes - WQ-based**

**TSS 998.7 lb/day 1997.5 lb/day**  **No changes - Effluent Guidelines**

**Fecal Coliform 200/100 mL 400/100 mL**  **No changes - Effluent Guidelines for daily max; monthly avg. based on NC**  **WQ standards**



### Summary of Proposed Modifications to Permit

 **Condition A (4) (c) was modified to reduce the maxi mum groundwater usage to**  **an annual average of 1.78 million gallons per day.**

 **The language in condition A (4) (b) regarding maxim um annual production was**  **updated.**

 **The description of the treatment system on the supp lemental page was modified**  **to include new treatment equipment.**Fact Sheet
Renewal -- NPDES NC0078344

Page 6 

### Proposed Schedule of Permit Issuance **Draft Permit to Public Notice: November 22, 2011 Permit Scheduled to Issue: January 2012**  **Permit Expiration Date: October 31, 2016**



### NPDES Unit Contact **If you have questions regarding any of the above in formation or on the attached permit,**  **please contact Gil Vinzani at (919) 807-6395 or at gil.vinzani@ncdenr.gov.** 

**S IGNATURE**  **:** [O RIGINAL SIGNED BY G IL V INZANI ] **D ATE**  **:** 1-12-2012