Ammonia and amine contributions to the atmosphere from animal production

Authors: Silva, Philip - Phil

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/20/2019
Publication Date: 11/6/2019
Citation: Silva, P.J. 2019. Ammonia and amine contributions to the atmosphere from animal production. Meeting Abstract. Paper No. 23.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: In recent years, a greater focus in the atmospheric community has been placed on reduced nitrogen contributions to the atmosphere. There is greater uncertainty in reduced nitrogen budgets due to the dominance of agricultural and area source emissions. However, data suggest that ammonia is one of the air emissions that has been increasing in recent decades, and it is unclear the full extent of the contributions. Agriculture is a source where available emissions information from different source categories is lacking. In this presentation we will discuss gaps in agricultural emissions inventories and their impact on understanding of atmospheric chemistry and modeling of air quality. We will also discuss experiments conducted to measure concentrations of ammonia and organic nitrogen (amines) at animal feeding operations. Experiments have been conducted from swine, dairy, poultry, and mink operations. Ammonia concentrations near animal facilities are measured at very high part-per-million levels near source. Organic nitrogen compounds such as amines are typically present a couple orders of magnitude lower than the ammonia. While indications are that ammonia is elevated at all of them, the organic-nitrogen contributions appear different from the limited studies we have conducted. It will take more work to verify whether this is generally true, but this could potentially provide a method for distinguishing nitrogen emissions between different agricultural sub-sectors.