TY - JOUR
T1 - Spatial variability of mixing ratios of ammonia and tracer gases in a naturally ventilated dairy cow barn
AU - Mendes, Luciano B.
AU - Edouard, Nadège
AU - Ogink, Nico W.M.
AU - van Dooren, Hendrik Jan C.
AU - de Fátima F. TinÔco, Ilda
AU - Mosquera Losada, Julio
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - The use of the tracer gas ratio method to estimate emissions from naturally ventilated (NV) livestock barns excludes the need of monitoring ventilation rates. However, it requires accurate measurement of tracer release rate (QT) and a representative estimate of the mixing ratio between pollutant (P) and tracer (T) gases([P]/[T]-). While the quality of QT simply depends on using an accurate commercial mass flow controller, determination of a representative mixing ratio [P]/[T]- is not trivial, since the NV livestock barn airspace presents complex movements that might be dependent on spatial vertical and cross horizontal dimensions. The goal was to assess the spatial variability of concentrations of the artificial tracer gas sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), the metabolic carbon dioxide (CO2) and the pollutant ammonia (NH3), along with their mixing ratios ([NH3]/[CO2], [NH3]/[SF6], [CO2]/[SF6]), inside a NV dairy cow barn. The results indicated that the vertical variability of the calculated mixing ratios became more stable with increase in height, reaching approximately constant values above the animal occupied zone. Using both the metabolic CO2 and the artificially injected SF6 as tracer gases led to a homogeneous spread in behaviour of mixing ratios along V and HC directions. Finally, the possibility of finding a zone within the barn airspace where mixing ratios are considered to be representative for the whole barn, and the implications of applying artificial or metabolic tracers are discussed.
AB - The use of the tracer gas ratio method to estimate emissions from naturally ventilated (NV) livestock barns excludes the need of monitoring ventilation rates. However, it requires accurate measurement of tracer release rate (QT) and a representative estimate of the mixing ratio between pollutant (P) and tracer (T) gases([P]/[T]-). While the quality of QT simply depends on using an accurate commercial mass flow controller, determination of a representative mixing ratio [P]/[T]- is not trivial, since the NV livestock barn airspace presents complex movements that might be dependent on spatial vertical and cross horizontal dimensions. The goal was to assess the spatial variability of concentrations of the artificial tracer gas sulphur hexafluoride (SF6), the metabolic carbon dioxide (CO2) and the pollutant ammonia (NH3), along with their mixing ratios ([NH3]/[CO2], [NH3]/[SF6], [CO2]/[SF6]), inside a NV dairy cow barn. The results indicated that the vertical variability of the calculated mixing ratios became more stable with increase in height, reaching approximately constant values above the animal occupied zone. Using both the metabolic CO2 and the artificially injected SF6 as tracer gases led to a homogeneous spread in behaviour of mixing ratios along V and HC directions. Finally, the possibility of finding a zone within the barn airspace where mixing ratios are considered to be representative for the whole barn, and the implications of applying artificial or metabolic tracers are discussed.
KW - Animal occupied zone
KW - Livestock barns
KW - Metabolic and artificial tracers
KW - Sampling strategy
KW - Tracer gas method
U2 - 10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2014.11.011
DO - 10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2014.11.011
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84913528831
SN - 1537-5110
VL - 129
SP - 360
EP - 369
JO - Biosystems Engineering
JF - Biosystems Engineering
ER -