Discipline: Technology and Engineering
Subcategory: Environmental Engineering
Arndreya Howard - Prairie View A&M University
Co-Author(s): Hongbo Du, Ph.D., Prairie View A&M University; Venkata S.V. Botlaguduru, Ph.D., Prairie View A&M University; Raghava R. Kommalapati, Ph.D., Prairie View A&M University
Animal Feeding Operations (AFOs) contribute to air pollution and global climate change (GCC) through the release of ammonia (NH3), particulate matter (PM), hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, N2O). Although numerous studies have estimated particulate and gaseous pollutant emission factors for cattle feedlots, dairy and poultry operations, the data pertaining to goat farm operations is minimal. This research contributed to the existing knowledge on air pollutant emissions from AFOs by monitoring CO2, CH4, O3, NH3, H2S, PM2.5, and PM10 concentrations for 33 days at three locations on a goat farm. This monitoring data were used to determine emission factors and their correlation to meteorological parameters such as temperature, solar radiation, and humidity. The three selected monitoring sites are located inside a goat barn, next to a manure lagoon and along the banks of an irrigation pond at the International Goat Research Center, PVAMU. Teledyne API gas analyzers and aerosol monitors were used to determine hourly average concentrations values, and a multiple regression analysis was used to determine correlations between air quality and meteorological parameters. The Weather Underground database sponsored by the Weather Channel supplied the meteorological data for this research. The maximum hourly average concentrations of CO2, O3, H2S, PM2.5, and PM10 inside the goat barn were 526.2 ppm, 88.3 ppb, 1.8 ppb, 161.11 µg/m3, 212.17 µg/m3, respectively. The maximum concentrations of CO2, O3, H2S, PM2.5, and PM10 at the irrigation pond were 643 pm, 108.6 ppb, 0.8 ppb, 59.82 µg/m3, 133.71 µg/m3, respectively. The highest concentrations of CO2, O3, H2S, PM2.5, and PM10 at the manure lagoon were 414.6 ppm, 39.8 ppb, 1.9 ppb, 18.26 µg/m3, 129.35 µg/m3, respectively. In the goat barn, the emission factor for ozone and PM2.5 was 1.5 µg/ head-day and 29.3 µg/ head-day. The manure lagoon had a carbon dioxide and PM10 emission factor of 14.1 g/ head-day and 161.1 µg/ head-day. The maximum concentrations of air pollutants monitored were above current health and government regulated thresholds. The regression results for the manure lagoon and irrigation pond had the highest positively correlated results with O3 for temperature and solar radiation. The correlation coefficient for ozone was 0.77 and 0.93 for solar radiation and temperature at the manure lagoon while the irrigation pond had ozone correlation coefficients of 0.69 and 0.77 for solar radiation and temperature. There was no significant relation between carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulfide, particulate matter and meteorological factors. This study estimates emission factors for goat farm operations and suggests that meteorological factors could intensify the level of air pollutants found at animal farms. A potential risk is present at these AFOs and climate characteristics pose a danger to the environment and human welfare.
ERN Conference Abstract- Revised.docxFunder Acknowledgement(s): This study was supported by the US National Science Foundation through the CREST Center for Energy & Environmental Sustainability (CEES), award # 1036593, at Prairie View A&M University.
Faculty Advisor: Raghava R. Kommalapati, rrkommalapati@pvamu.edu
Role: The part of the research that I did was conduct the setup and implementation of all three monitoring campaigns, collect and organize the meteorological data, and ran the multiple regression statistical analysis.