Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Civil/Mechanical/Manufacturing Engineering
Arndreya Howard - Prairie View A&M University
Co-Author(s): Hongbo Du and Raghava Kommalapati, The Center for Energy & Environmental Sustainability, Prairie View A&M University
Studies have shown particulate matter and the contaminates found in particulates impact the air quality significantly. Researchers have identified some of these pollutants as dust, bio-aerosols, ammonia, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and ozone. These pollutants have harmful effects on the respiratory systems of humans and can cause health defects such as lung diseases, heart attacks, and pneumonia. Many speculations have inferred that organic poultry farming is more beneficial to the environmental and human health than conventional commercial farming. This study investigates the validity of those statements by using a Thermo Scientific pDR 1500 aerosol monitor and Teledyne Advance Pollution gas analyzers to determine the pollutants found in the particulate matter emitted from organic poultry farms compared to conventional commercial poultry farms. The data will be compared to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards to determine their harmfulness. The pDR 1500 aerosol monitor has the capabilities to quantify particulate matter ranging from PM10 to PM4 by use of photometric technology. While the Teledyne Advance Pollution gas analyzers uses Beer-Lambert law to quantify the amount of gas in a particular area by use of infrared radiation traveling through a sample chamber filled with the desired gas. Samples will be collected from three organic poultry farms and three conventional commercial poultry farms in Texas during the morning, noon, and evening hours. This equipment will give close to accurate readings of the amount of gas and particulate matter emitted from these poultry farms during a workers average work day. The National Ambient Air Quality Standards for particulate matter is 15.0 µg/m3, the standard for sulfur dioxide is 0.5 ppm, the standard for carbon monoxide is 35 ppm, the standard for nitrogen dioxide is 53 ppb, and the standard for ozone is 0.07 ppm. It is projected that the organic poultry farms will have higher emissions than the conventional commercial poultry farms. However they both will have higher emission than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, therefore there is a strong need to reduce these harmful pollutants from the farm emissions. Suggestions of bio-filters, litter treatment, and a change in dietary approaches have been made in an effort to reduce these emissions.
Funder Acknowledgement(s): CREST Center for Energy and Environmental Sustainability
Faculty Advisor: Raghava Kommalapati, rrkommalapati@pvamu.edu
Role: For this research my part focused on contacting the poultry farms to get access to collect the data samples and conducting background research on this topic. After the data samples were collected I began writing the final report showing my conclusions from the data collected and other relevant information found.