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Ammonia Emissions from Swine Houses in the Southeastern United States
Author(s) -
Harper Lowry A.,
Sharpe Ron R.,
Simmons John D.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq2004.4490
Subject(s) - environmental science , ammonia , animal waste , atmospheric sciences , zoology , greenhouse gas , environmental engineering , ecology , waste management , chemistry , biology , engineering , organic chemistry , geology
Ammonia (NH 3 ) from confined animal feeding operations is emitted from several sources including lagoons, field applications, and houses. This paper presents studies that were conducted to evaluate NH 3 emissions from swine finisher and sow animal houses in the southeastern USA. Management and climate variables including animal weight, feed consumption, housing gutter water temperature, total time fans operated per day, house air temperature, house ambient NH 3 concentration, and animal numbers were measured to determine their individual and combined effect on NH 3 emissions. Ammonia emissions varied on daily and seasonal bases with higher emissions during warmer periods. For finishers, the summertime housing emissions on a per‐animal basis were 2.4 times higher than wintertime (7.0 vs. 3.3 g NH 3 animal −1 d −1 ) or 3.2 times higher when compared on an animal unit (AU) basis (1 AU = 500 kg) because of climate and animal size differences between measurement periods. For summertime, the emission factor for the finishing pigs was 7.8 times higher than for sows on an animal basis and 25.6 times higher on an AU basis. Simple models were developed for housing emissions based on (i) all measured factors that were independent of each other and (ii) on three commonly measured management factors. The two models explained 97 and 64%, respectively, of variations in emissions. Ammonia emissions were found to be somewhat less than other studies on the same type housing due to more representative housing concentration measurements and calibration of exhaust fans; thus, emission factors for these type houses will be less than previously thought.