Emission factors and characteristics of ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, and particulate matter at two high-rise layer hen houses

Air pollutants emitted from confined animal buildings can cause environmental pollution and ecological damage. Long-term (>6 months) and continuous (or high frequency) monitoring that can reveal seasonal and diurnal variations is needed to obtain emission factors and characteristics about these pollutants. A two-year continuous monitoring of ammonia (NH3), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), carbon dioxide (CO2) and particulate matter (PM10) emissions from two 218,000-hen high-rise layer houses (H-A and H-B) in Indiana, USA was conducted from June 2007 to May 2009. Gaseous pollutant concentrations were measured with two gas analyzers and PM10 concentrations were measured with three Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalances. The operation and performance of ventilation fans were continuously monitored with multiple methods. Only the emission rates calculated with valid data days (days with more than 18 h, or 75%, of valid data) are reported in this paper. The two-house and two-year mean ± standard deviation emissions per day per hen for NH3, H2S, CO2, and PM10 were 1.08 ± 0.42 g, 1.37 ± 0.83 mg, 76.7 ± 14.6 g, and 20.6 ± 22.5 mg, respectively. Seasonal emission variations were demonstrated for NH3 and CO2, but not evident for H2S and PM10. Ammonia and CO2 emissions were higher in winter than in summer. Significant daily mean emission variations were observed for all four pollutants between the two houses (P < 0.05), and between the two years from the same house (P < 0.01) except for CO2 at one house. Carbon dioxide originated from manure decomposition was >9% of that from bird respiration. Emissions of CO2 during molting were about 80% of those during normal egg production days. Emissions of H2S were not a major concern due to their very low quantities. Emissions of PM10 were more variable than other pollutants. However, not all of the emission statistics are explainable.