Characterization of Atmospheric Ammonia Emissions from a Commercial Chicken House on the Delmarva Peninsula

• Published in: Environmental science & technology Vol. 38; no. 10; pp. 2769 - 2778
• Main Authors: Siefert, Ronald L, Scudlark, Joseph R, Potter, Amelia G, Simonsen, Kirsten A, Savidge, Karen B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 15-05-2004
• Subjects: Agriculture; Air Pollutants - analysis; Ammonia; Ammonia - analysis; Ammonia - chemistry; Animals; Applied sciences; Atmosphere - chemistry; Atmospheric pollution; Chickens; Delaware; Dispersed sources and other; Environmental science; Exact sciences and technology; Gases; Housing, Animal; Kinetics; Maryland; Measurement; Models, Statistical; Monte Carlo Method; Nitrogen - analysis; Normal Distribution; Pollution; Pollution sources. Measurement results; Poultry; Water - chemistry; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Weather; United States; North America; Delaware Bay; America; Chesapeake Bay; Delaware; Maryland; Delmarva Peninsula; USA, Chesapeake Bay; USA, Delmarva Peninsula; Atmospheric condition; Atmospheric fallout; Pollutant behavior; Poultry; Intensive rearing; Emission content; Troposphere; Livestock farm; Plume; Gauss function; Modeling; Transport process; Ammonia; Watershed; Pollution source; Air pollution; Agriculture; Atmospheric dispersion; Anthropogenic factor
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/es0345874

A three-dimensional sampling grid using passive collectors was used to characterize the downwind gas-phase ammonia plumes originating from a commercial chicken house on the Delmarva Peninsula in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Inverse Gaussian plume modeling was used to determine the source strength of the chicken house and the corresponding chicken emission factors. A total of seven field deployments were performed during two different flocks with a sampling duration ranging from 6 to 12.6 h. The deployments occurred during weeks 3, 4, and 5 of the 6-week chicken grow-out period in the months of May−July 2002. The ammonia emission factors ranged from 0.27 to 2.17 g of NH3-N bird-1 day-1 with a mean of 1.18 g of NH3-N bird-1 day-1. Weighted emissions factors that accounted for the nonlinear increase in ammonia emissions over the 6-week grow-out period were also calculated and ranged from 0.14 to 1.65 g of NH3-N bird-1 day-1 with a mean of 0.74 g of NH3-N bird-1 day-1. These weighted emission values would correspond to an annual release of approximately 18 × 106 kg of NH3-N to the atmosphere from broiler production on the Delmarva Peninsula. This assumes that the emission factors in this study are representative for the entire year with varying meteorological conditions and are representative of all chicken husbandry practices. The Delmarva Peninsula could represent a significant source of nutrient nitrogen to the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay watersheds through atmospheric deposition when considering the size of this annual release rate, the relative short atmospheric lifetime of ammonia due to deposition, and the proximity of the Delmarva Peninsula to the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays.