DOI: 10.2478/eces-2014-0006
ECOL CHEM ENG S. 2014;21(1):71-77
Ying-Ying XU1 and Jiu-Nian GUAN2*
MEASUREMENT AND ANALYSIS OF AMMONIA EMISSION
FROM A PIG FARM IN THE NORTHEAST OF CHINA
POMIAR I ANALIZA EMISJI AMONIAKU Z CHLEWNI
W PÓŁNOCNO-WSCHODNIEJ CZĘŚCI CHIN
Abstract: China is the largest swine production country in the world. The fast development has consequently
brought various environmental issues which have already seriously threatened the environmental quality. This
study is aimed to measure the concentrations of NH3 in the pig houses in the selected pig farm, try to conclude
characteristics on the concentration change and the correlation between the concentrations and the environmental
factors. The NH3 concentration was monitored in two fattening pig houses. The concentrations fluctuated between
11.0 and 26.9 ppm, 11.0 and 28.5 ppm respectively during the measurement periods, peaking at the early morning
and in the afternoon before cleaning. The concentrations of NH3 correlated to the indoor temperature in winter,
whereas, there was no correlation between relative humidity and NH3 concentrations.
Keywords: NH3 concentration, pig houses, relative humidity, indoor temperature
Introduction
With the development of large-scale livestock farms and the increment of public
awareness on environmental quality and protection, the issue of air pollution related to
livestock production has addressed attention to the governments, relevant institutions and
researchers all around the world. In 1980s, the study on the effects of air pollution on
human and animal health in livestock and poultry farm has already been launched in the
North America and Europe [1]. In recent years, research on this issue is getting much more
attention, and the various contents were involved such as the component analysis of air
pollutions, pollutants removal method, real-time environmental monitoring and pollution
control research, modeling the distribution, fate and transport of air pollutants, and impacts
on public health [2-4]. NH3 is a colorless and gaseous irritant which is lighter than air and
soluble in water. NH3 is the most abundant alkaline constituent in the atmosphere, which is
considered to be the crucial factor on air quality and has a significant influence on the
1
Key Laboratory of Songliao Aquatic Environment, Ministry of Education, Jilin Jianzhu University, Xincheng
Road 5088, Changchun 130118, China, phone +86-0431-84566408
2
Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shengbei Road 4888, Changchun 130102, China
*
Corresponding author: [email protected].
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Ying-Ying Xu and Jiu-Nian Guan
animal welfare and human health [5, 6]. This noxious gas may cause eye irritant, respiratory
ailment such as coughing, upper respiratory tract bleeding, excessive secretion, etc. and also
can directly influence on the growth of people [7]. High NH3 concentrations are usually
found in the air within livestock confinement houses, and the intensive livestock farm has
become a significant contributor to the NH3 emission in the atmosphere. Literatures show
that a pig farm with an annual fattened stock of 108,000 heads gets an emission rate as
15.9 kg/h of ammonia (NH3) with the pollution radius of 4.5-5.0 km.
The total NH3 emission of China was 13.57 kt in 1992, accounting for 55% of the total
emission in Asia, of which fertilizer application, livestock and poultry took the percentage
of 46, 29 and 0.9% respectively [8]. The first NH3 emission survey in China was presented
by Sun and Wang, the results showed that the NH3 emission in China reached 12 Mt in
1993; the animal source and N-fertilizer application was the major contributor with the
proportion of 52 and 33% respectively. Livestock source and fertilizer application
accounted for 48 and 41% of NH3 emission respectively in North China region in 2003.
Temperature is an important factor on the NH3 emission. This research measured NH3
concentrations in the pig farm in the northeast of China. The average annual temperature is
1.9ºC and is lower than other areas. The main objectives of this research are to study on the
characteristics on NH3 concentrations comparing the results to the other studies. And
measure the environmental factors (temperature, relative humidity) in the pig fattening
houses during the winter time and try to figure out the concentration change features and the
relation between the concentrations and the environmental factors.
Experimental section
Study area
The research pig farm is located in the Honghe Farmland in the city of Tongjiang
(47°35’N, 133°31’E). The annual precipitation which is in the range of 550 to 600 mm
accounts for over 65 % from June to September. The climate is a typical continental climate
of the northern hemisphere, with cold and dry winters and hot and wet summers. The pig
farm was established in 2003 with a dimension of around 8 hectare with an annual stock of
9,000 swine and 8,000 market pigs or porkers. Their main breeds are Long White
(Belgium), Large White (United Kingdom), and Duroc (France). The pig farm is just
located next to the village and the arable lands.
Pig housing characteristics
The pig farm is separated into two parts by a lagoon. Gestation and farrowing houses
are only set in the west part of the farm, while weaning and fattening houses mainly in the
east, to minimize animal movements.
The pig houses are 50 m long, 8 m wide and 2.4 m high extending from west to east.
The pig houses are separated by a distance of 6 m in order to allow sufficient ventilation
especially in summer days. For air conditioning, a system of false-ceiling is set to provide
space for housing air ducts. The floor for gestation and fattening pigs is concrete, whereas
for the farrowing and weaning pigs is slotted. The ventilation system is either natural or
forced in which the air is sucked in through vents in the windows with two axial ventilators.
Fattening pens are divided into two parts, an indoor living area with concrete floor and
an outdoor area for use during summer season. Outdoor area is provided with a gutter in
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Measurement and analysis of ammonia emission from a pig farm in the northeast of China
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order to drain the urine that is produced by the pigs. In the house, there are two rows of pens
separated by a central aisle of 1m wide, each row has 16 pens. Pens are filled with equal
numbers of pigs, evenly distributed in order to promote balanced feed access to all the pigs
though as explained in the weaning barns the adlib system not always succeed with balance
rations distributions.
Instruments and experimental set-up
BABUC set by LSI (LSI SpA, Italy) was employed in this research to monitor the
concentrations of NH3, indoor temperature and relative humidity in April 2013. BABUC is
a storage acquisition system; the program acquisition rate varies from 1 s up to 24 h; the
operator can choose between many different statistic elaboration sets. It is provided with 11
channels where it is possible to connect different thermo-hygrometric sensors.
NH3 concentrations were monitored in two fattening houses (fattening house A and B)
in the pig farm. The device was placed at 2 m high in the centre of the pig house. The
operative range of NH3 probe is 0-3000 ppm and 0-50 ppm respectively.
Results and discussion
NH3 concentrations in the fattening house A (BABUC)
Figure 1 show the pattern of NH3 concentrations, indoor temperature and relative
humidity in the first fattening house.
Fig. 1. NH3 concentrations, indoor temperature and relative humidity in the fattening house A
(13-15 April, 2013)
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Ying-Ying Xu and Jiu-Nian Guan
The trend of the NH3 concentrations was upwards, the possible reason may be the
windows were closed as well as the ventilation channels, the air exchange was limited, and
therefore NH3 was accumulated in the house. From Figure 1, an upward trend of NH3
concentration also can be observed, furthermore, the concentrations of NH3 remained
relatively constant during the day and night time, while there was a drop of concentration
after cleaning in the morning and afternoon at around 5:00 and 18:00 respectively.
According to the recommended threshold on the concentration of NH3 in pig houses
was 35 ppm, the concentrations of NH3 on the two measurement periods which averaged
17.96 and 20.21 ppm, reached the required standard.
The temperature and relative humidity presented a lower fluctuation, while the pattern
showed the opposite way in most time during the measurements. This may due to the
limited ventilation mentioned above, and the outdoor weather could not influence the indoor
environment condition in a significant way. Furthermore, there was a positive correlation
between NH3 concentrations and indoor temperature during the two monitoring periods with
the Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.95 and 0.71 respectively (P < 0.05). However, there
was no significant correlation between NH3 concentrations and relative humidity (P > 0.05).
NH3 concentrations in the fattening house B (BABUC)
Figure 2 show the pattern of NH3 concentrations, temperature and relative humidity in
the fattening house B.
Fig. 2. NH3 concentrations, indoor temperature and relative humidity in the fattening house B
(16-17 April, 2013)
From Figure 2, the NH3 concentrations fluctuated between 18.8 and 28.5 ppm with the
mean value of 23.73 ppm. In the first day, the concentrations reached to the peak at the
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Measurement and analysis of ammonia emission from a pig farm in the northeast of China
early morning, then decreased rapidly after cleaning, and increased to the summit in the
afternoon, also a drop of concentration presented after cleaning time. However, at night
time, it maintained relatively low level. In the second day, there were two peaks in NH3
concentrations at around 22:00 and 5:00 which may due to the accumulation of the manure,
the concentrations remained constant and relatively low in the day time and similarly
a decline of concentration can be observed after cleaning. The mean NH3 concentration of
the two measurement periods met the required standard.
The indoor temperature was steady during the measurements time while relative
humidity fluctuated relatively sharply. Similarly, there was a strong positive correlation
between NH3 concentrations and indoor temperature in the first monitoring period with the
Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.79 (P < 0.05), nevertheless during the second period,
the indoor temperature extended no significant influence on the NH3 concentrations which
may due to the ventilation condition (P > 0.05). There was also no significant correlation
between NH3 concentrations and relative humidity (P > 0.05).
The NH3 generation is mainly from pig manure and slurry and the fluctuation of the
concentrations of NH3 depends on the combined results of the house type, management
practice such as manure handling schemes, reduced ventilation in cold season, and circadian
rhythm of the pig activities. In this study, the NH3 concentrations fluctuated between 11.0 to
28.5 ppm, even through the mean concentrations met the recommended threshold value
from NY/T 388-1999; the concentrations of NH3 were still in a high level comparing to the
reported researches reviewed in Table 1.
Table 1
Review of NH3 concentrations from pig houses
Country
Ireland
England
Germany
Germany
U.S.
China
China
Taiwan, China
China
Concentration
[ppm]
Mean
Range
N.A.
8.8-8.9
7.8
36.7(max.)
N.A.
10-35
15.9
N.A.
8.4
2.7 -5.0
11.641,3.312
N.A.
N.A.
3.44-10.69
N.A.
3.38-4.15
5.93,6.82
N.A.
1)
Mean concentration of NH3 in winter,
in spring
2)
Animal type
Reference
Farrowers
Weaners
Fatteners
Fatteners
Finishers
Gestation
Fatteners
Finishers
Grower-Finisher
[9]
[10]
[11]
[12]
[13]
Mean concentration of NH3 in summer,
3)
[14]
[2]
Mean concentration of NH3
Emission and concentration of NH3 from livestock production
Domestic animal waste is the main source of atmospheric NH3, which contributes
21.6 Tg of N per year, taking 40% of the total global NH3 emission [15]. In Europe,
80-90% of NH3 emission is produced from agriculture, especially from livestock excreta
[10, 16], similar results were estimated for U.S. [17].
Dong et al studied the NH3 emission from swine barns with similar conditions as the
farm under research in Beijing, the results showed that the occurrence of NH3 concentration
peaks due to the result from the combination of manure accumulation and high ambient
temperature which can be more conductive to manure decomposition and thus NH3
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Ying-Ying Xu and Jiu-Nian Guan
volatilization [19]. It is also reported the diurnal variations of NH3 emission is highly
correlated with the diurnal variation of animal activity partly due to the number of
urinations and defecations behavior of the pigs, which also shows a diurnal variation, being
higher in the daytime than in the night [20]. This study agreed these results. NH3
concentrations maintained a relatively stable course during the time when the pigs were
inactive eg sleeping. High NH3 concentrations were observed in the early morning and in
the late afternoon before the cleaning practice, as a result of continuous accumulation of
manure on the floors leading to NH3 generation by decomposition of the manure. By
contrast, the low concentrations of NH3 were presented after the manure collection and
flushing the floors by water. Since NH3 is easily soluble in water, it can be removed from air
rapidly [14]. Jeppsson found that the NH3 emission is highly correlated to the inside air
temperature [21]. In this research, the similar correlation was also observed in most
measurement periods except the last one may due to the changes of ventilation condition.
Conclusions
NH3 concentrations in the fattening house were measured in this research. The
concentrations of NH3 were between 11.0 and 26.9 ppm, 11.0 and 28.5 ppm. It reached the
peak at the early morning and in the afternoon before cleaning. The concentrations of NH3
correlated to the indoor temperature in winter, whereas, there was no correlation between
relative humidity and NH3 concentrations. Since the pig farm is close to the residential area
in the village and arable lands, the environmental impacts on the health of the population
and growth of crops can be studied further in the future research.
Acknowledgments
Funding support is gratefully acknowledged from National Nature Science Foundation
of China (41101470). We express our gratitude to the Honghe Pig Farm for providing
meteorological data.
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POMIAR I ANALIZA EMISJI AMONIAKU Z CHLEWNI
W PÓŁNOCNO-WSCHODNIEJ CZĘŚCI CHIN
Abstrakt: Chiny są największym hodowcą świń na świecie. Konsekwencją szybkiego rozwoju jest pojawienie się
problemów zagrażających jakości środowiska. Celem badań było dokonanie analizy stężeń NH3 w chlewniach
wybranych hodowli świń, próba oceny zmiany stężeń oraz korelacji między stężeniami i czynnikami
środowiskowymi. Stężenie NH3 było monitorowane w dwóch chlewniach. Stężenia wahały się między 11,0
i 26,9 ppm oraz 11,0 i 28,5 ppm w odpowiednich okresach pomiarowych (wczesnym rankiem i po południu przed
czyszczeniem). Stwierdzono istnienie korelacji pomiędzy stężeniem NH3 i temperaturą wewnętrzną w czasie zimy
i brak korelacji pomiędzy wilgotnością względną i stężeniem NH3.
Słowa kluczowe: stężenie NH3, chlewnia, wilgotność względna, temperatura w pomieszczeniu
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