Enhanced Dispersion and Removal of Ammonia Emitted from a Poultry House with a Vegetative Environmental Buffer

Kyoung S. Ro, Hong Li, Cathleen J. Hapeman, Lowry A. Harper, Thomas K. Flesch, Peter M. Downey, Laura L. McConnell, Alba Torrents and Qi Yao
Additional contact information
Kyoung S. Ro: ARS Coastal Plains Soil, Water & Plant Research Center, USDA, Florence, SC 29501, USA
Hong Li: Department of Animal and Food Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA
Cathleen J. Hapeman: ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, USDA, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
Lowry A. Harper: Trace-Gas Emissions, Harper Consulting Company, P.O. Box 772, Watkinsville, GA 30677, USA
Thomas K. Flesch: Department of Earth and Atmospheric Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB T6G 2R3, Canada
Peter M. Downey: ARS Hydrology and Remote Sensing Laboratory, USDA, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA
Laura L. McConnell: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Alba Torrents: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Qi Yao: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA

Agriculture, 2018, vol. 8, issue 4, 1-11

Abstract: Vegetative environmental buffers (VEBs), which are composed of tolerant trees, shrubs, and tall grasses, can be used to control and reduce the transport of ammonia (NH 3 ) emissions from animal feeding operations (AFOs). However, the effectiveness of VEBs has not been quantitated. In this study, we measure the dispersion and removal of NH 3 in simulated emissions from a small broiler house that was equipped with a VEB. The dispersion enhancement due to the VEB was estimated by comparing the measured downwind concentration of the co-released tracer gas, methane (CH 4 ), to the theoretical CH 4 concentrations at the same distance downwind without the VEB. The accuracy of the theoretical downwind concentrations calculated using the forward Lagrangian stochastic (fLS) technique was 95%, which was validated by comparing the measured and calculated CH 4 concentrations in a separate experiment without the VEB. The VEB enhanced the dispersion of CH 4 and reduced the downwind concentration to 63% of the theoretical concentration. In addition to dispersion, the VEB removed another 22% of the NH 3 , resulting in a net 51% decrease of the theoretical downwind concentration. These results clearly demonstrated that the VEB was effective both in dispersing and removing NH 3 emitted from the broiler house.

Keywords: vegetative environmental buffer; broiler house emission; ammonia removal; dispersion enhancement; Lagrangian dispersion analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q10 Q11 Q12 Q13 Q14 Q15 Q16 Q17 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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