Cocoran, Calif.-Agriculture equipment builder Sawtelle and Rosprim is working on an ammonia-powered irrigation pump that will comply with some of the strictest emissions regulations in the country, according to the company’s president, Terry Kwast. “We intend to have a prototype ready for our 2007 irrigation season,” Kwast told Green Markets. The prototype will be powered by an engine developed by Hydrogen Engine Center Inc. of Algona, Iowa, to respond to tighter limits on emissions from diesel engines in California’s San Joaquin Valley, where most of Sawtelle and Rosprim’s pumps are in use. Kwast said the goal is to provide pumps with an environmentally friendly drive that will meet the stricter emission requirements. With the ammonia drive the engine will have zero or near zero greenhouse gas emissions from a fuel that the agricultural community is already familiar with. Kwast added, “The distribution infrastructure already exists for NH3 in the agricultural community and the ag community is already familiar with handling requirements.”
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