Environmental Technology Verification of Ammonia Monitors at Two Animal Feeding Operations

The goal of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program (www.epa.gov/etv) is to verify the performance of commercial-ready environmental technologies through the generation of objective and quality-assured data so that potential buyers, users, and permitters of such technologies can make informed purchase and application decisions. A verification test of seven ambient ammonia monitors is being conducted as a collaborative effort between the ETV Advanced Monitoring Systems (AMS) Center and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to generate meaningful performance information on these technologies under realistic operating conditions. The test is being conducted in two month-long phases at separate animal feedlots. The first phase of the test is being conducted in September for four weeks at a swine finishing farm in Ames, Iowa. The second phase of the test will be conducted in October at a cattle feedlot in Bushland, Texas. The monitors being tested include both open-path systems as well as point source monitors, including photoacoustic monitors, ion selective electrodes, tunable diode lasers, and chemiluminscent monitors. Each of these are continuous monitors and provide real-time or near real-time measurements of the ammonia concentration. Preliminary results from this verification test will be presented.

⁽¹⁾Battelle, Atmospheric Science and Applied Technology Department, 505 King Avenue, Columbus, Ohio 43201

⁽²⁾U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Soil Tilth Laboratory, 2150 Pammel Drive, Ames, Iowa 50011

⁽³⁾U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Exposure Research Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709