Frito-Lay Snack Food Plant Achieves Ambitious Net-Zero Goal

Frito-Lay Casa Grande, Arizona, USA

Design-build delivery enabled Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo, Inc., to meet its renewable energy, process water reuse and schedule objectives in Arizona.

Our clients are pioneers in reducing their operational impact on the environment through water conservation, energy use reduction and waste minimization. In Casa Grande, Arizona, an ambitious project is allowing Frito-Lay's snack food manufacturing plant to run entirely on renewable energy and recycled water while producing nearly zero waste. As part of this initiative, CDM Smith designed and built a 650,000-gallon-per-day process water treatment and recovery system that recycles up to 75 percent of the plant’s process water—enabling Frito-Lay to reduce its annual water use by 100 million gallons.

of process water recycled per day

75 ^%

of process water recycled per day

of daytime electricity produced by photovoltaic solar panels

100 ^%

of daytime electricity produced by photovoltaic solar panels

The advanced purification system incorporates screening, sedimentation, membrane bioreactor (MBR), activated carbon, ultraviolet, low pressure reverse osmosis, water stabilization and chlorine disinfection to treat the effluent to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency primary and secondary drinking water quality standards. Meeting these standards enables Frito-Lay to safely reuse its process water to wash and move potatoes and corn. This is the first U.S. food processing plant that produces drinking water quality process water to be reused in food production.

The facility also freed up land, previously used for the pre-treatment and land application of wastewater, for a 5-megawatt photovoltaic solar system that produces almost all of the plant’s daytime electricity needs. CDM Smith completed the entire photovoltaic solar installation, including 36 acres of photovoltaic panels on dual-axis ground-mount systems, single-axis concentrated photovoltaic collectors and dish collectors with Stirling© engine generators.

With 80 percent of construction debris recycled for beneficial reuse, the facility now sends less than 1 percent of its overall waste to landfill.

The Casa Grande facility was the first snack food manufacturing facility in the United States to be awarded LEED® Existing Building Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, thanks to educational elements, enhanced process layout and energy-efficient motors. Additionally, with 80 percent of construction debris recycled for beneficial reuse, dewatered potato peelings and corn kernels sent to local farms for feedstock, and recovered potato starch sold for other manufacturing uses, the facility now sends less than 1 percent of its overall waste to landfill.

The Casa Grande facility was the first snack food manufacturing facility in the United States to be awarded LEED® Existing Building Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Nearly all of the plant's daytime electricity needs are provided by a 5-megawatt photovoltaic solar system, which includes 36 acres of photovoltaic panels on dual-axis ground-mount systems, single-axis concentrated photovoltaic collectors, and dish collectors with Stirling© engine generators.

Beyond streamlining design and construction, the design-build process integrated CDM Smith's and Frito-Lay's technical engineers to efficiently select the best components for this first-of-its-kind facility. 3D/4D design also brought the plant's complex technology to life in real time and allowed for a future computerized maintenance management system to maintain equipment and track costs—adding to the client’s confidence in this sustainable water reuse system.