1. 1
Predicting Greenhouse Gas Emission Reductions
Potentially Achieved by Nutrient Management Practices:
RTI International’s CLEANEASTTM Project Case Study
2013 Greenhouse Gases & Animal Agriculture Conference
Dublin, Ireland
June 2013
Presenter: Marion Deerhake1
Co-authors: Z. Hendren, PhD1, N. Ubaka-Blackmore1
1RTI International

2. Presentation Outline
 Overview of RTI’s CLEANEASTTM Project
 Characterization of data used for modeling
 GHG modeling methods and assumptions
 Results
 Future Work
2

3. 3
CLEANEASTTM Project Overview
TM
 A congressionally funded, EPA Cooperative
Agreement awarded to RTI and its sub-
agreement partner, North Carolina State
University to serve 27 states east of the
Mississippi River, by:
 Providing confidential, no-cost technical
assistance to livestock and poultry
operations in the eastern U.S.
 Promoting educational outreach about
environmental issues and Best
Management Practices (BMPs).
 CLEANEAST™ was active from 2007-2012.

4. Characterization of Modeling Data
 Four hundred twenty-ninety (429) farm operations
participated in CLEANEAST™
 190 farms with dairy cattle were modeled
 Attributes of farm data used for modeling:
 Farm location
 Number of animals for each growth stage
 Average weight
 Manure storage practice(s) in use
4
Manure Management System Categories
CLEANEAST™ Category IPCC Category
Lagoon system Lagoon system
Aboveground liquid storage Liquid/slurry
Deep pit system Liquid/slurry
Earthen storage/storage pond Liquid/slurry
Dry waste storage Solid storage
429 CLEANEAST™ Operations

5. GHG Modeling Methods
 IPCC1 Tier 2 approach to estimate CH4 and N2O
productions on a per animal basis:
Where:
EFi: annual emission factor (kg) for animal type i (e.g., dairy cows);
VSi: daily VS excreted (kg) for animal type i;
Boi: maximum methane producing capacity (m3/kg of VS) for manure produced by animal type i;
MCFjk: methane conversion factors for each manure management system j by climate region k; and
MS%ijk: fraction of animal type i's manure handled using manure system j in climate region k.
1IPCC 2006, 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, Prepared by the National Greenhouse gas Inventories
Programme, Eggleston H.S., Buendia L., Miwa K., Ngara T. and Tanabe K. (eds). Chapter 10: Emissions from Livestock and Manure
Management 5
Emissions (kg/yr) = Emission Factor (kg/head/yr) • Population (head)
N2O EF = default values
CH4 EFi = VSi • 365 days/yr • Boi • 0.67 kg/m3 • Σjk MCFjk • MS%ijk

6. GHG Modeling Methods (Cont’d.)
 University of Georgia’s College of Agriculture and
Environmental Sciences (UG CAES), Extension
Engineering Handbook1
 Used for Dry Matter Intake (DMI) estimates for mature
dairy cows
 All other dairy cow growth stages used the IPCC
defaults for DMI
1Table H1.4: Approximate Feed Requirement for Dairy Cows on Dry Matter Basis
6

7. GHG Modeling Assumptions
Calculation Assumptions:
 Quantity of manure generated is directly proportional to
the reported number of dairy cow in each manure
system
 Average annual temperature of 10oC, based on farm
locations
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8. Modeling Results
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Comparison of CO2-eq emission estimates if all operations
switched to one of the four IPCC manure storage practices
Liquid-slurry (with a natural crust) is a practical manure management practice for dairy farms and is a
preferred system for minimizing Greenhouse Gas emissions. If all CLEANEAST™ dairy farm
participants moved to a liquid-slurry system with natural crust (e.g. aboveground liquid storage,
earthen storage pond), CO2-eq emissions from this population would drop nearly 50%.
€189K ($240K)
€296K ($394K)
€178K ($237K)
€100K ($133K)
€46K ($61K)
€ -
€ 50,000
€ 100,000
€ 150,000
€ 200,000
€ 250,000
€ 300,000
€ 350,000
0
10,000,000
20,000,000
30,000,000
40,000,000
50,000,000
60,000,000
Actual manure
storage conditions
Dry waste storage Lagoon Liquid/slurry (w/
natural crust)
Liquid/slurry (w/o
natural crust)
Emission Estimates
(kgCO2-eq/yr)
EU CO2 Trade Cost @ €6.2/tCO2 ($8.25/tCO2)

9. Feasibility of Adopting New Practices
 Physical feasibility of converting system
 Dry manure systems would require additional water to
convert to liquid/slurry; 35% of the modeled systems fall
into this category
 Additional land is required to develop a liquid/slurry
system
 Operator’s experience
 Operating a new manure management system would
require learning new skills and techniques; 46% of the
modeled systems were not liquid/slurry systems
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10. Feasibility of Adopting New Practices
(Cont’d.)
 Economic feasibility is a major factor considered to
determine an operation’s manure storage selection
10
Manure Storage Practice Manure Consistency
Approximate Cost
$/1,000 gal manure
Lagoon <5% dry matter $36 (€27)
Liquid/slurry (no natural crust) 5-10% dry matter $78 (€58.50)
Liquid/slurry (with natural crust) 5-10% dry matter $78 (€58.50)
Dry waste storage >15% dry matter $88 (€66)
Data from a Minnesota Natural Resources Conservation Service survey of manure storage facility costs in 1993.
Cost estimates based on 500,000-gallon storage capacity. Cost per 1,000 gallons will usually be less for larger storages
and more for smaller storages. The relative cost of the different types of facilities may be more consistent and accurate
from one region to another over time.

11. Future Work
 Collection of farm specific data could be performed to
enable using Tier 3 calculations, e.g.,
 Feed type and consumption rates
 Conduct regional sensitivity analyses, e.g.,
 Temperature conditions
 Nutrition practices
 Other barriers to using better waste methods
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12. Acknowledgements
The CLEANEASTTM Project was a Congressionally-funded
project administered through a cooperative
agreement between the U.S. EPA and RTI
International.
North Carolina State University’s Animal and Poultry
Waste Management Center was a sub-agreement
recipient.
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13. 13
Marion Deerhake, RTI International
med@rti.org +001(919) 316-3410
Zachary Hendren, RTI International
zhendren@rti.org +001(919) 541-6605
Nneka Ubaka-Blackmoore, RTI International
ncubaka@rti.org +001(919) 541-6171
TM
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