The Utah Natural Resource Conservation Service awarded a Conservation Innovation Grant (CIG) to The Camelid Center.  The grant period will run from September 2010 through July 2012.  Pre-applications for this grant were solicited by the Utah NRCS in April 2010 and final full applications from the Utah NRCS short list of pre-applications, were due in June 2010.  These applications where prepared under a teaming agreement between The Camelid Center and PacaPower, LLC. 

The grant, “Demonstration of Innovative and Scalable Approach to On-Farm Renewable Energy Production Utilizing Alpaca Manure Digestion and Methane Destruction” will apply the innovative use of proven anaerobic digestion technologies to collect and use methane from waste produced by a relatively new sector of livestock (alpacas), for improved environmental performance, and renewable energy production.  The project will build an anaerobic digester to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of alpaca manure digestion.   Products of anaerobic digestion include digested solids and liquids, which are used as soil amendments or liquid fertilizers, and methane, which is the primary component of the gas that can be used to fuel a variety of energy applications. The technology can be applied to innovatively and beneficially manage manure wastes while producing the following benefits:

• Reduce Costs:  Anaerobic digestion of manure wastes reduces costs through the avoidance of disposal fees on small farms where on-site disposal or use of the manure produced is not feasible and/or environmentally detrimental. 

• Produce a Renewable Energy Source:  The digester gas may be used for heating and may be of large enough volume to fuel an electrical generator.

• Control Odors:  Odors from anaerobically digested manures are reduced.  

• Benefit the Environment: Anaerobic digestion of farm animal waste provides several environmental benefits. Heated in the digester destroys more than 90 percent of disease-causing bacteria and reduces chemical oxygen demand (COD) in digested material.  Farm practices that reduce bacteria and COD protect aquatic ecosystems that may receive runoff from the farmed land.  Digested manure contains more plant-available nitrogen for crop production, resulting in less nitrogen build-up in soils, and less impact to surface water and groundwater.  In addition, because each ton of methane released to the environment produces approximately 21 tons of (CO2), the capture and destruction of methane gas that would otherwise be released from stockpiled manure eliminates a significant source of Green House Gas (GHG) release to the atmosphere.  

• Generate Three New Revenue Streams:  Carbon credits can be produced and sold on the basis of reducing GHG emissions via the destruction of methane gas.  At present, carbon credits sell in the US from $3.50 to $30 per ton of CO2.  Since methane gas destruction prevents release of approximately 21 times the equivalent of CO2, carbon credit values translate to between $74 and $630 per ton of methane gas destroyed. Renewable energy, whether produced by methane that is used as a fuel, or by use of methane to produce electricity in a generator, earns the producer renewable energy credits.  Digested manure is also a superior quality, marketable fertilizer.

The objectives of this project are to collect data necessary to refine digester design and operational needs, and to derive data for developing this and similar economical digestion systems for small scale alpaca producers.  This project will design, build, operate, and monitor an anaerobic digester for alpaca manure using proven technologies (mesophilic; 90^o to 110^o F, complete mix digestion) to demonstrate the performance characteristics of alpaca waste digestion. 

The Project will produce data and information measuring system throughputs including:

• Gas production and characteristics,

• Feedstock requirement characteristics,

• Fertilizer quality, and

• Capital and operational costs.

The demonstration project will be located at The Camelid Center and Alpaca Valley Farms near Moroni Utah.  Alpaca Valley Farms has about 650 alpacas which produce an estimated 1300 pounds of manure daily.   Project Developer PacaPower, LLC will assist The Camelid Center in technical aspects, management, and reporting for the project.  We will continue to update you on our progress and thank you for your interest.

We are now ready to keep the camelid community up to date with the research and education being conducted at The Camelid Center.  Our mission is to provide information to the camelid community that will benefit each producer. If you want to know more, feel free to call and talk to us.

Research being conducted includes:
   Digestion dynamics of the camelid compartment 1.  We have baseline data that will be ready in the next couple of days.  Check back.

   Progesterone levels in pregnant female alpaca of different body conditions.  This research won't be ready for an update until next year when the progesterone samples are analyzed.

   Scalability and efficacy of an alpaca manure digester.  We have just received a grant to do this project, so we are now working on the initiation of this work.  We plan to have picture and data to present as the project progresses.

So we are busy and excited to be online and looking forward to sharing the data and updates as time goes by.

Thanks for your interest.

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