Click on “Download PDF” for the PDF version or on the title for the HTML version.


If you are not an ASABE member or if your employer has not arranged for access to the full-text, Click here for options.

Direct Measurements of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Ground Level Area Sources in a Dairy Operation

Published by the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers, St. Joseph, Michigan www.asabe.org

Citation:  International Symposium on Air Quality and Manure Management for Agriculture Conference Proceedings, 13-16 September 2010, Dallas, Texas  711P0510cd.(doi:10.13031/2013.32615)
Authors:   Md Saidul Borhan, Sergio Capareda, Saqib Mukhtar, William Brock Faulkner, Russell McGee, Calvin B Parnell Jr.
Keywords:   CH4, CO2, N2O, free-stall dairy, EPA Method TO-14A, emissions factor, season

A new protocol similar to EPA method TO-14A was used to quantify and report variations in greenhouse (GHG) emissions from different ground level area sources (GLAS) in a free-stall dairy in central Texas during summer and winter. A week-long sampling was performed during each season. Seventy five and 66 chromatograms of air samples were acquired from six delineated GLAS (loafing pen, walkway, barn, silage pile, settling basin and lagoon) of the same dairy during summer and winter, respectively. Three primary GHGs were identified from the dairy operation during sampling period and the gas chromatograph (GC) was calibrated for methane (CH4), carbon dioxide (CO2), and nitrous oxide N2O. Estimated overall emission factors (EFs) for CH4, CO2 and N2O during summer for this dairy were, 100, 2192, 2.9 kg hd-1 yr-1, respectively. In winter, estimated overall EFs for CH4, CO2 and N2O for this dairy were, 19, 2726, 1.3 kg hd-1 yr-1, respectively. Overall CH4 and N2O EFs in summer were about 5.2 and 2.2 times higher than those in winter for this free-stall dairy. This seasonal variation was due to ambient temperature, dairy waste loading rates, and manure microbial activity of GLAS.

(Download PDF)    (Export to EndNotes)