Ammonia Emission from a Large Mechanically‐Ventilated Swine Building during Warm Weather

Abstract

Ammonia (NH3) emission from a grow‐finish swine (Sus scrofa) building with an underfloor manure storage pit was evaluated during warm weather from 26 June to 25 September. Average daily mean (ADM, covering all measurement days) outdoor temperature was 21.8°C. Ammonia concentrations, ventilation rates, and temperatures were continuously measured or recorded and 88 d of reliable data were obtained. Air samples were taken at wall and pit exhaust fans and in the pit headspace. The NH3 concentrations were monitored on‐site with a chemiluminescence NH3 analyzer. Ventilation rates were calculated based on operation of five wall fans, four pit fans, and the fan static pressure. The NH3 emission rates were calculated by multiplying simultaneously measured NH3 concentrations and ventilation rates of wall and pit exhaust fans. The ADM of building NH3 concentration (mean concentration of all sampling locations) was 3.9 mg m−1. The ADM building NH, emission (sum of the emissions from all ventilation fans) was 11.2 kg d−1, equivalent to 145 g d−1 per AU (animal unit = 500 kg animal weight). The ADM emission per AU was higher than other reported values, probably due to warmer temperatures and higher ventilation rates. The building NH3 concentrations were inversely proportional to the indoor temperatures (r = −0.66) and ventilation rates (r = −0.59) and correlated well to total pig weight (r = 0.49). The building NH3 emission rates were correlated to total pig weights (r = 0.52) and ventilation rates (r = 0.41) and were not well correlated to indoor temperatures (r = 0.12).

Seasonal Odor, Ammonia, Hydrogen Sulfide, and Carbon Dioxide Concentrations and Emissions from Swine Grower-Finisher Rooms

“…The large variations of odor emissions may be attributed to different swine manure collection systems (flush, pull plug, scrape, and deep-pit) and different ventilation systems (natural and mechanical ventilation). Ni et al 10 conducted an extensive study of NH 3 emissions from a finishing swine building in Indiana. A total of 88 days of data were collected by taking continuous measurements during warm weather from June 26 with 887 19.4-kg pigs to September 25 with 874 83.1-kg pigs.…”

“…In the literature, large variability in odor and gas concentrations and emissions from different swine production facilities during specific monitoring periods were observed. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15] However, few setback models consider diurnal and seasonal variation in odor and gas emission rates. 13 This may cause large uncertainties in calculated setback distances using emission rates measured at randomly selected times.…”

A Review of Ammonia Emissions From Confined Swine Feeding Operations

“…From mechanically ventilated buildings, NH 3 emission is generally obtained by measuring NH 3 concentration in the inlet and exhaust air streams and multiplying the difference by the ventilation flow rates (Burton and Beauchamp, 1986;Heber et al, 2001;Ni et al, 2000a). For naturally ventilated buildings, the ventilation rate can be estimated using tracer gas or carbon dioxide or sensible heat balance methods (Demmers et al, 1998;Heber et al, 2001).…”

“…There is one set of data for winter months (Heber et al, 1997) and no emission data for fall months. The longest continuous measurements were conducted for the period 26 June to 25 September, a total of 90 d (Heber et al, 2000;Ni et al, 2000a). Some of the emission rates in table 2 were single-day measurements conducted over 12-h in September (Zhu et al, 2000a).…”

Summertime Concentrations and Emissions of Hydrogen Sulfide at a Mechanically Ventilated Swine Finishing Building

“…The mean mass of the pigs after n days in the building was calculated with equations 5 and 6 (Ni et al, 2000a) assuming a mean pig growth rate of 0.75 kg/d. The total live mass in the test building increased from 17,000 kg on 26 June to 73,000 kg on 25 September.…”