Electrochemical Ammonia Monitor for Agricultural Operations

Ammonia emissions from extensive agricultural operations such as livestock (beef, dairy, poultry, swine and horses) have gained much attention in recent years due to the adverse effects of these emissions on public health and outdoor air quality. Ammonia is considered an important pollutant due to its role as a precursor in fine particulate matter formation and its impact on ecological nitrogen balance. Therefore, various federal agencies such as the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have shown strong interest and support to develop, test and verify appropriate ammonia monitoring instrumentation. There is a wide range of potential applications for an inexpensive and selective ammonia monitor because of the impact of ammonia on human health and the need to control ammonia emissions to the atmosphere. These applications include environmental, chemical industry, automotive and medical diagnostic. In this Phase II program the emphasis will be placed on design and development of a low-cost, compact monitor for accurately and rapidly detecting ammonia released to the environment from agricultural operations such as livestock (beef, dairy, poultry, swine and horses).