As the dominant gaseous base specie in the atmosphere, ammonia (NH3) contributes to various environmental processes, such as aerosol formation, soil acidification, and aquatic eutrophication. Globally, domestic animal waste produces the largest fraction of atmospheric NH3. Intensive commercial swine operations in the Coastal Plain Region of eastern North Carolina support approximately 10 million hogs and release an estimated 250 tons of NH3 per day. The swine operations produce hogs using waste treatment lagoon and spray technology. The coupled mass transfer with chemical reactions model used in this study predicts the flux of NH3 across a waste treatment lagoon-atmosphere interface. The model incorporates the dependence of NH3 flux on lagoon temperature, lagoon pH, wind speed, and the concentration of Total Ammoniacal Nitrogen (TAN) in the lagoon. A comparative analysis between NH3 flux measurements from hog waste treatment lagoons located in central and eastern North Carolina and output from the coupled mass transfer with chemical reactions model indicates that the model output reflects the diurnal pattern of NH3 flux.
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