Boriack, Cale Nolan (2007-04). Design and performance of an ammonia measurement system. Master's Thesis. Thesis uri icon

abstract

  • Ammonia emissions from animal feeding operations (AFOs) have recently come under increased scrutiny. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has come under increased pressure from special interest groups to regulate ammonia. Regulation of ammonia is very difficult because every facility has different manure management practices. Different management practices lead to different emissions for every facility. Researchers have been tasked by industry to find best management practices to reduce emissions. The task cannot be completed without equipment that can efficiently and accurately compare emissions. To complete this task, a measurement system was developed and performance tested to measure ammonia. Performance tests included uncertainty analysis, system response, and adsorption kinetics. A measurement system was designed for measurement of gaseous emissions from ground level area sources (GLAS) in order to sample multiple receptors with a single sensor. This multiplexer may be used in both local and remote measurement systems to increase the sampling rate of gaseous emissions. The increased data collection capacity with the multiplexer allows for nearly three times as many samples to be taken in the same amount of time while using the same protocol for sampling. System response analysis was performed on an ammonia analyzer, a hydrogen sulfide analyzer, and tubing used with flux chamber measurement. System responses were measured and evaluated using transfer functions. The system responses for the analyzers were found to be first order with delay in auto mode. The tubing response was found to be a first order response with delay. Uncertainty analysis was performed on an ammonia sampling and analyzing system. The system included an analyzer, mass flow controllers, calibration gases, and analog outputs. The standard uncertainty was found to be 443 ppb when measuring a 16 ppm ammonia stream with a 20 ppm span. A laboratory study dealing with the adsorption kinetics of ammonia on a flux chamber was performed to determine if adsorption onto the chamber walls was significant. The study found that the adsorption would not significantly change the concentration of the output flow 30 minutes after a clean chamber was exposed to ammonia concentrations for concentrations above 2.5 ppm.

publication date

  • December 2005