Novel System to Reduce Air Pollution from Poultry Production Systems

PROJECT TITLE: Novel System to Reduce Air Pollution from Poultry Production SystemsOrganization: TDA Research Inc.Project Director: Dr. Ambalavanan JayaramanProject Summary/Abstract: (one page - non-proprietary)Ammonia emissions are one of the major air quality concerns at the global national andregional levels. Ammonia emissions from poultry farms account for 27% of the U.S. totalatmospheric ammonia emissions. High ammonia levels are a concern both inside and outside thepoultry house; it is a precursor of acid rain and significantly compromises poultry welfare. It isnot just malodorous but has significant hazardous effect on the health of caretakers. Ammonialevels are particularly important during winter in cooler climates where ventilation may bereduced to conserve heat. Therefore there is a great need to reduce ammonia emissions frompoultry farms to reduce the harm to animal and human health and the environmentIn this SBIR project TDA Research Inc. (TDA) is developing a sorbent and catalyticammonia conversion system that integrates a high-capacity ammonia sorbent and an ammoniaoxidation catalyst together into a single system to remove ammonia from poultry house air downfrom 20 Parts per Million (ppm) or more to the Parts per Billion (ppb) levels and then convert theadsorbed ammonia into benign gaseous nitrogen and water vapor eliminating the need fordisposal. TDA's ammonia removal system is a simple drop in solution that can be integrated intoexisting poultry (and other animal) farm air handling systems. TDA's system will control theNH3 emissions from poultry farms keeping them to less than 1 Parts per Million (ppm) in theexit air. The process is continuous and simple providing uninterrupted ammonia removal. Thissystem could also be used to maintain low ammonia levels (less than 20 ppm the recommendedmaximum ammonia level for chicken health is 25 ppm) in poultry houses (and other indooranimal housing facilities).The new technology is a simple affordable automated drop-in solution for mitigation ofhigh ammonia levels found in poultry houses. It will not disrupt the regular day to dayfunctioning of the farm as seen with other ammonia removal technologies.TDA's system usesan energy efficient system similar to ones long used in building HVAC (Heating ventilation andair conditioning) systems to increase the energy efficiency and provide humidity control. In thepoultry farm case the same system design is adopted to house ammonia removal sorbent andcatalyst while reducing the size and pressure drop (concerns with current technologies). TDA'stechnology platform can potentially be expanded later to also control humidity inside poultryhouses and other animal housing facilities.In the Phase I effort we demonstrated a high regenerable ammonia adsorption capacity of3 > 3.4 mg/cc (i.e. 3.4 kg NH removed per m of sorbent) with a thermal swing of between3 -1 adsorption at 30 and desorption at 250°C at a very high space velocity of 108000 hDuring the Phase II project we will design and fabricate a sub-scale prototype ofammonia remoal unit to fully demonstrate the technology under simulated poultry air at TDA fora minimum of 1000 hours. In Year 1 we will work with an academic Poultry ScienceDepartment to do multiple sub-scale test campaigns of 2-3 weeks each to obtain data on ourprototype assembly's performance.