By Allan Gerlat, Waste 360.

A $120 million animal waste-to-energy (WTE) operation in Missouri is under way and should begin operations by mid-2016.

St. Louis-based Roeslein Alternative Energy is nearly 50-percent through Phase One of the project, which will generate renewable natural gas (RNG), from several of food producer Smithfield Foods Inc.’s Missouri farms, according to a news release. Phase One involves the installation of impermeable covers and flare systems on the 88 existing manure lagoons at Smithfield Foods large hog finishing farms in northern Missouri. The developments were disclosed at Ruckman Farm, is one of nine Smithfield Foods Missouri hog production facilities involved in the project. That is one of the largest concentrations of finishing hogs in the Midwest. Smithfield Foods in based in Smithfield, Va.