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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lubbock, Texas » Cropping Systems Research Laboratory » Cotton Production and Processing Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #208658
Title: The design and evaluation of a source sampling system for cotton harvesters

Author
item Wanjura, John
item SHAW, B - TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
item PARNELL, JR., C - TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
item CAPAREDA, S - TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
item LACEY, R - TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: ASABE Annual International Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/17/2006
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Source testing of emission concentrations from agricultural operations, including cotton harvesting, has not been performed. The emission factors used by regulators today were all developed from studies using concentration data measured by ambient samplers at some distance downwind of the operation. A dispersion model was used to estimate the PM10 emission rates from the harvester based on the measured downwind concentrations. There are two primary sources of error in the protocols used to develop the current emission factors. First, the sampling equipment used to measure the downwind PM10 concentrations has an inherent bias which causes the samplers to measure PM10 concentrations in excess of the true concentrations. Second, the dispersion model used to back calculate the emission rate from the harvester has been shown to overestimate downwind concentrations from agricultural sources. It is anticipated that emission rates determined from source testing of the harvesting machine will be more accurate than previous estimates. The initial source sampler design was fabricated and tested on a six row cotton picker under field conditions during the 2006 cotton harvesting season. Initial results indicate that the source sampler performed well. Several design modifications are being investigated to improve the separation efficiency and exhaust stream sampling train. The objective of this paper is to report on the design and evaluation of the source sampling system.