Odor, total reduced sulfur, and ammonia emissions from animal housing facilities and manure storage units in minnesota

The quantification of odor, total reduced sulfur (TRS), and ammonia (NH₃) emissions from animal housing facilities and manure storage units is essential for the development and implementation of improved setback evaluation methods and tools. This observational study measured odor, TRS, and NH₃ levels emitted from more than 200 animal housing facilities and manure storage units on 85 farms in Minnesota. Emissions were highly variable in accordance with observations from other large air quality studies. Possible reasons for the large variation in emissions data included differences between sampling sites and season or ambient temperature. Odor, TRS, and NH₃ emissions were typically highest from swine housing facilities and concrete tanks containing swine or dairy manure. Pearson's correlation matrix calculated significant (p < 0.05) and strong correlations between odor and TRS emissions (r = 0.947) and odor and NH₃ emissions (r = 0.954) from swine housing only. Therefore, TRS and/or NH₃ emissions from swine housing facilities are potential proxies for odor emissions. This study was strictly observational and not a controlled experiment. Thus, odor TRS and NH₃ emissions reported in this study may not apply to other geographic locations.